Complaints and Third-Party Comments

Accrediting Standards

To gain or maintain accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), an institution must comply with the standards contained in the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement and with the policies and procedures of the Commission. SACSCOC applies the requirements of its Principles to all applicant, candidate, and member institutions, regardless of type of institution (public, private for-profit, or private not-for-profit).

To see the history of SACSCOC Accrediting Standards please click here.

For a list of Documents, please click here.

Complaints against SACSCOC or its Accredited Institutions

To file a complaint  you should to read the SACSCOC policy “Complaints Against SACSCOC or Its Accredited Institutions”, after reading the policy, if you wish to file a complaint then follow the procedures which have been established to provide a mechanism for SACSCOC to consider complaints that address significant violations of SACSCOC accreditation standards.

Third-Party Comments

SACSCOC’s policy, “Third-Party Comment by the Public”, outlines procedures for public use in the submission of third-party comments by any interested party during the formal scheduled review of the following institutions:

• For institutions seeking initial candidacy (current applicants)
• Institutions seeking initial accreditation with SACSCOC (current candidates)
• Institutions seeking reaffirmation of accreditation (continued accreditation) with SACSCOC.

The policy requires appropriate notification and ample opportunity for the institution to respond to third-party comments. The “Third-Party Comment Form” should be completed and submitted to the President of SACSCOC.

To see the Third-Party Comment by the Public policy and the institutions that we are currently seeking Third-Party Comments for, please click here.