Consumer Information

Student Complaints

SVA takes all student complaints seriously and strives to respond to them in a prompt and efficient manner. Outside of complaints that concern Title IX or grade appeals, these individuals should be contacted for the following matters:

• Academic: Christopher Cyphers, vice president for academic affairs and provost
• Financial: Dennis Mayer, chief financial officer
• Student Services (e.g. Residence Life, Code of Conduct, Student Health and Counseling Services): Javier Vega, vice president for enrollment management and student affairs 

Distance Education and NC-SARA Complaint Process

SVA is an approved participant in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). This is a voluntary agreement among U.S. states and territories that establishes a uniform set of standards for offering specific educational activities to out-of-state students.

NC-SARA guidelines grant students the right to file a grievance if their experience in an online program does not meet their expectations. Please note that this distance education complaint process does not cover issues related to grades or general student conduct; those must be addressed through the standard SVA internal procedures outlined in the SVA Handbook.

Internal Complaint Resolution at SVA

Students must begin the complaint process at the department level within SVA where they are enrolled.

• Students must contact the department chair to initiate the process in accordance with departmental procedures.
• If the issue is not satisfactorily resolved by the department chair, the student may seek further resolution by contacting the Office of Learning Technologies at OLT@sva.edu.

NC-SARA Consumer Protection Complaints

Students who believe their complaint relates to consumer protections or NC-SARA policy may utilize the NC-SARA complaint process. Specific details on the types of consumer complaints covered can be found in Section 4.4 of the SARA Policy Manual version 25.2. Complaints about grades or conduct must still go through SVA's internal process.

External Appeal Process

Decisions made through SVA's internal complaint process can be appealed to the SVA Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost:

School of Visual Arts

Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

209 East 23rd Street

New York, NY 10010

Email: provost@sva.edu

If a complaint remains unresolved after exhausting SVA's internal offices, SVA students may seek advisement from the New York State Education Department (NYSED), SVA’s home state portal entity. The appeal to NYSED must be made within two years of the incident about which the complaint is made:

New York State Education Department

Supervisor of Higher Education Programs

89 Washington Avenue

Albany, NY 12234

Phone: (518) 474-1551

Email: IHEauthorize@nysed.gov

SVA is committed to working with its home state SARA portal entity to resolve any complaints arising in SARA states and to abide by that entity's decisions regarding their resolution. 

Additional Resources

For more details on the complaint process, please refer to the following:

• SARA Student Complaint Process
• New York State Education Department’s SARA Student Complaint Process