Special Notifications for Out of State Online Students (Non-Virginia)
Student Complaint and Grievance Procedure – NC-SARA
Virginia Highlands Community College is a participating institution in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). NC-SARA is an agreement among member states, districts, and territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance learning courses and programs. It is intended to make it easier for students to take distance learning courses in a state other than where they reside.
In order to ensure that students enrolled under the agreement have equal opportunity to submit student complaints, VHCC accepts oversight from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), the Commonwealth’s coordinating body for higher education, in resolving complaints from students taking distance learning courses under the aegis of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA).
All student complaints will be addressed through the VHCC Student Grievance Procedure. Subsequently, if the complaint has not been resolved internally, the student may submit the Student Complaint form to SCHEV. More details on the formal SCHEV student complaints procedure may be found on the SCHEV agency page at www.schev.edu/index/students-and-parents/resources/student-complaints . Students may also seek resolution through the Office for Civil Rights of the United Stated Department of Education (“OCR”). A complaint filed with OCR must be filed within 180 calendar days of the alleged discrimination. Or, if the college complaint procedure was utilized by the student, the OCR complaint must be filed within 60 calendar days from the date of the final decision, unless the time for filing is extended by the OCR for good cause shown. Information on how to proceed may be accessed on OCR’s website.
See the VHCC College Catalog and Student Handbook for more information.
Professional Licensure and Certifications
In some cases, Virginia Highlands Community College (VHCC) programs are designed to meet educational requirements for specific professional licensure and/or certification that is required for employment regardless of the delivery format online, hybrid or in-person. VHCC has not yet determined that programs listed below meet the licensing or certification requirements in any other state or U.S. territory outside of Virginia. As part of our licensure disclosure, we have listed the impacted programs below and linked them to licensure information in all applicable states/territories:
- Accounting
- American Sign Language
- Early Childhood Education
- Electrical
- Emergency Medical Technician
- Medical Assistant
- Nursing
- Substance Abuse Counselor - Assistant
- Welding
Prior to enrolling in any VHCC program that leads to licensure or certification, we recommend that students contact the state board or agency that governs the licensing/certification for their area of study to receive the most up-to-date information pertaining to licensure and/or certification. In addition to educational attainment a state board or agency may require additional criteria be met for licensure.
Additional helpful licensing information can be found at: https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/training/find-licenses.aspx?&location=US