Filing Complaints with Accreditor, State Agency, or Other Relevant Official

Processes Available to Students

Initially, a student should pursue any concern about Hawkeye Community College through the formal resolution processes that Hawkeye provides. Administrative Guideline 101 outlines the process for governing discipline, grievances and complaints, appeals and remedies related to academic integrity.

Students wishing to file complaints with Hawkeye’s accreditor may contact the Higher Learning Commission.

The Iowa Department of Education accepts questions from the public and complaints from students concerning unresolved issues with schools in the following categories:

• Schools that are physically located in Iowa.
• Schools that are registered in Iowa, including schools that are registered in Iowa only to provide programs via distance education.
• Any school in the U.S., if the party registering the question or complaint is an Iowa resident. The Iowa Department of Education may refer the inquiring party to or request the assistance of the regulatory authority in the state in which the school is located.

Complete the Bureau of Iowa College College Aid Complaint Form to file a complaint with the Iowa Department of Education.

A student or the public may also wish to consider the following additional resources for vetting concerns about a school:

• The state agency that licenses or otherwise approves a school to offer specific occupational program (for example, a board of cosmetology for cosmetology school and barbering schools, or a board of nursing for schools that offer nursing programs).
• If the school is not located in Iowa, the regulatory authority in the State in which the school is located. The State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) provides a contact list of state regulators.
• For issues relating to federal student aid program eligibility or the school's management of federal student aid funds, the U.S. Department of Education's regional School Participation Team that serves the state in which the school is located. The U.S. Department of Education provides a list of School Participation Teams and the states that each Team serves.
• If the issue relates to the quality of the school's program or instruction, the school's nationally recognized accrediting agency, you can search to verify accreditation on the Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) website. By clicking on an accrediting agency's name, the user may obtain the web address for the accrediting agency, where more information may be located about the accrediting agency's process for handling student complaints.

Online Students—Out of State Complaint Contacts

Institutions offering distance education must provide enrolled and prospective students with contact information for filing complaints with its accrediting agency and with the appropriate state agency for handling complaints in the student's state. For information concerning filing a complaint with Hawkeye’s accrediting agency, please see the paragraph above.

Students enrolled in online classes at Hawkeye Community College who reside out-of-state should follow the formal resolution process noted earlier in this section of Consumer Information. Online students have the same rights and responsibilities as those students enrolled in on-campus courses.

SARA Student Complaint Process Also see the Student Complaint Policy