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By federal regulation 34 CFR 668.43, Danville Community College must disclose to prospective out-of-state students which states its programs meet and do not meet the applicable educational requirements for professional licensure or certification.
Prospective students outside the Commonwealth of Virginia who may enroll in a program at Danville Community College that prepares students for external certification or licensure or may require clinical placements or internships should be from a state where the program MEETS the educational requirements for certification or licensure.
If the student is from a state where the Danville Community College program does NOT MEET the student’s home state requirements and the student is enrolled in at least one course online their first semester in the program, the student must provide a written attestation where they intend to seek employment after completing the program. Online students cannot enroll if they reside and plan to seek employment in a state where Danville Community College does not meet that state’s requirements for certification or licensure.
Attestation Process
Federal regulations prohibit Danville Community College from enrolling students in a program that leads to licensure or certification if the college does not meet the educational requirements for licensure or certification in the student’s state of residence.
Students who intend to seek licensure and employment in a different state may be eligible for enrollment in their chosen program, provided that the program meets the educational requirements for licensure in that state and that they submit an attestation.
The student’s attestation requires completing a form returned to the college within 14 days of receiving the notification. Students who do not submit an attestation in that time period will not be allowed to enroll at Danville Community College.
Complaint Resolution
Danville Community College’s Student Grievance Policy and Procedure is described in our catalog. Danville Community College strives to provide the highest quality educational opportunities available. However, if a conflict does arise, our efforts are meant to resolve your grievances, complaints, and concerns in an expeditious, fair, and amicable manner. Students should carefully follow the steps outlined in our catalog to ensure proper and timely resolution of their complaint.
In accordance with the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), the complaint procedures outlined in our catalog are subject to oversight by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) in complaints arising from students living outside Virginia who are enrolled in courses at Danville Community College. If an issue cannot be resolved by the college’s customary resolution procedure, students may file a formal complaint directly with SCHEV. Grade appeals and student conduct appeals are not allowed under SARA.
Process for resolving complaints
- Complaints against an institution operating under SARA policies go first through the institution’s own procedures for resolution of grievances. Allegations of criminal offenses or alleged violations of a state’s general-purpose laws may be made directly to the relevant state agencies.
- Complaints regarding student grades or student conduct violations are governed entirely by institutional policy and the laws of the SARA institution’s home state.
- If a person bringing a complaint is not satisfied with the outcome of the institutional process for handling complaints, the complaint (except for complaints about grades or student conduct violations) may be appealed, within two years of the incident about which the complaint is made, to the SARA State Portal Entity in the home state of the institution against which the complaint has been lodged. That SARA State Portal Entity shall notify the SARA State Portal Entity of the state in which the student is located of receipt of that appealed complaint. The resolution of the complaint by the institution’s home state SARA State Portal Entity, through its SARA complaint resolution process, will be final, except for complaints that fall under the provision “g” below.
- While the final resolution of the complaint rests with the SARA State Portal Entity in the home state of the institution against which the complaint has been lodged, the SARA State Portal Entity in the complainant’s location state may assist as needed. The final disposition of a complaint resolved by the home state shall be communicated to the SARA State Portal Entity in the state where the student lived at the time of the incident leading to the complaint, if known.
- While final resolution of complaints (for purposes of adjudication of the complaint and enforcement of any resultant remedies or redress) resides in certain cases with institutions (complaints about grades or student conduct violations), or more generally with the relevant institution’s home state SARA State Portal Entity (all other complaints), the regional compact(s) administering SARA may consider a disputed complaint as a “case file” if concerns are raised against a SARA member state with regard to whether that state is abiding by SARA policies, as promulgated in the SARA Policy Manual. The regional compact may review such institutional concerns in determining whether a state under its SARA purview is abiding by SARA policies. Similarly, a complaint “case file” may also be reviewed by NC-SARA in considering whether a regional compact is ensuring that its SARA member states are abiding by the SARA policies required for their membership in SARA.
- SARA State Portal Entities shall report quarterly to NC-SARA the number and disposition of appealed complaints that are not resolved at the institutional level. NC-SARA shall make that information publicly available on its website. Such data will create transparency and can be used in determining whether a regional compact is ensuring that its SARA member states and those states’ institutions are abiding by the policies required for state membership and institutional participation in SARA.
- Nothing in the SARA Policy Manual precludes a state from using its laws of general application to pursue action against an institution that violates those laws.
Oversight of complaint investigation.
Investigation of a SARA-related complaint against an institution requires that a state board, agency, or entity outside the institution’s immediate management be available to handle complaints that are not resolved within the institution. A system board responsible for more than one separately accredited institution may serve this role under SARA provisions. A board responsible for only one accredited institution, or which lacks enforcement authority over an institution, cannot serve as the SARA external oversight agency for such an institution. In such circumstances, the institution’s home-state SARA State Portal Entity may serve that function.
More Information
For more information regarding out of state student licensure agreements and NC-SARA, please see our website.
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