How do I submit a complaint about a college or career school?
The CT Office of Higher Education (OHE) reviews complaints about education quality. We don't provide legal advice or look into:
- Anonymous complaints
- Complaints about student life, grading, housing, or discipline
Please start by following the full complaint process with your school. Keep copies of all the emails, documents, and other information from you and the school. If you’re not happy with the school’s final decision, collect your documentation and follow the appropriate process below.
Here’s what OHE will do:
- We’ll send you an email confirming we received your complaint.
- We’ll review your complaint to see if it falls within our regulatory authority.
- If it does, we’ll notify you and the school:
- We’ll ask the school to describe the situation and how they came to their decision. They have 20 days to reply.
- Depending on the school’s answer, we may request more information from you or the school.
- We will work to resolve your complaint.
- If it doesn’t fall under our regulatory authority, we may forward it to another agency.
If you’re attending a Connecticut independent college or career school:
Use the CT Office of Higher Education’s (OHE) Veoci form to submit your complaint and documentation.
If you’re attending a Connecticut State college or university:
OHE cannot help you. Connecticut’s community colleges and universities do not fall under our authority.
If you’re a CT resident attending an out-of-state school:
- Attending in person: Contact the state agency responsible for authorization.
- Attending online: If the school participates in SARA, contact the State Portal Entity Contact in the state where the school is located.
If you’re an out-of-state resident attending a Connecticut school online:
If the school participates in SARA, use the CT Office of Higher Education’s (OHE) Veoci form to submit your complaint and documentation.
If you have a complaint about your federal student financial aid:
Please submit your complaint to the Studentaid.gov feedback center.
Complaints handled by other agencies:
- For employer-employee matters, contact the CT Department of Labor at 860-263-6000.
- For discrimination complaints, contact the CT Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities at 860-541-3400.
- For disability violations, contact Disability Rights Connecticut at 860-297-4300 or 800-842-7303.