CONSUMER
INFORMATION
AND POLICIES
Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund
Campus Security and Crime Statistics
Americans With Disabilities Act
Students Right To Know
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Solomon Act
Illinois Firearm Conceal Carry Act
Illinois Designated HOUSE Liaison
Title IX
Complaints (Non Title IX)
Financial Hardship Withdrawal Policy
Registration Holds
Campus Security Policy, Campus Crime Statistics Act
Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act
Consistent with federal law, LFGSM publishes an annual security report on or before October 1 of each year. The report includes statistics for the previous three years concerning reported crimes that occurred on any LFGSM campus and corporate sponsored sites, or on public property within or immediately adjacent to and accessible to the campus. The report also includes information on reporting crimes and other emergencies, crime prevention, and other important matters about security at each campus, location and corporate-sponsored location.
The annual Clery security report is available here.
The Campus Crime Statistics are available here.
Americans With Disabilities Act
LFGSM complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act in making reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Documentation of the student's disability and how it affects his/her course participation must be submitted to the Director of Student Services. Any student with special needs or difficulties in learning and/or in completing course requirements should notify the instructor immediately so that available and reasonable accommodations can be arranged. It is the student's responsibility to disclose his/her accommodation request with the instructor and discuss the necessary arrangements. Assistance with these arrangements can be facilitated with the help of Student Service upon request.
Students Right To Know
In accordance with the Student Right to Know and Campus Security Act, Public Law 101-542, as amended by the Higher Education Technical Amendments of 1991, Public Law 102-26, LFGSM discloses basic institution information, including enrollments, degrees conferred, graduation rate, graduates' time to completion, retention, and tuition and required fees. This institution does not offer programs at or below the baccalaureate level, and does not admit first time, full-time undergraduate level students; therefore, reporting of gainful employment, graduation rate, time-to-completion, and first-to-second year retention are not required. Graduation rate and mean completion time by start year are provided for informational purposes only. Students must complete their graduate degree program within six years, according to LFGSM policy.
The annual Student Right to Know report is available here
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
All information provided to LFGSM is kept confidential in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 (Public Law 93-380). Except as required by law, no information regarding attendance, grades or any other aspect of students' academic standing will be released to any third party without written student consent. The records are maintained for five years after graduation or at least six years after a student's last day of attendance. Students have the right to file a complaint with the Family Policy Compliance Office, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, 600 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202-5920, concerning any alleged failure by LFGSM to comply with FERPA. More information on FERPA is available in the LFGSM Student Handbook.
FERPA ANNUAL NOTICE -- POSSIBLE FEDERAL AND STATE DATA COLLECTION AND USE
As of January 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA regulations expand the circumstances under which a student's education records and personally identifiable information (PII) contained in such records -- including Social Security Number, grades, or other private information -- may be accessed without the student's consent. First, the U.S. Comptroller General, the U.S. Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of Education, or state and local education authorities ("federal and state authorities") may allow access to student records and PII without consent to any third party designated by a federal or state authority to evaluate a federal- or state-supported education program. The evaluation may relate to any program that is "principally engaged in the provision of education", such as early childhood education and job training, as well as any program that is administered by an education agency or institution. Second, federal and state authorities may allow access to students' education records and PII without their consent to researchers performing certain types of studies, in certain cases even when LFGSM objects to or does not request such research. Federal and state authorities must obtain certain use-restriction and data security promises from the entities that they authorize to receive a student's PII, but the authorities need not maintain direct control over such entities. In addition, in connection with statewide longitudinal data systems, state authorities may collect, compile, permanently retain, and share without students' consent PII from their education records, and they may track their participation in education and other programs by linking such PII to other personal information about students that they obtain from other federal or state data sources, including workforce development, unemployment insurance, child welfare, juvenile justice, military service, and migrant student records systems.
Solomon Act
The Solomon Amendment (10 U.S.C. §983, effective January 2000) is a federal law that mandates that colleges provide student recruiting information upon request to military recruiting organizations. The request and information released by the college is limited to military recruiting purposes only. The request for information must be in writing on letterhead that clearly identifies the military recruiting organization. The release of student recruiting information follows the FERPA guidelines defining student directory information. Students are not permitted under federal law to restrict the release of this information specifically to military organizations, but if students withhold the release of directory information generally, then the college may not release this information to military organizations.
Illinois Firearm Conceal Carry Act
(Public Act 098-0063)
Section 65 of the law specifies the prohibited areas where conceal carry licensees cannot legally carry a firearm: "A Licensee under this Act shall not knowingly carry a firearm on or into any building, classroom, laboratory, medical clinic, hospital, artistic venue, entertainment venue, officially recognized university-related property under the control of a public or private community college, college, or university." LFGSM qualifies as a prohibited area. Conceal carry licensees CANNOT legally carry a firearm on LFGSM property.
Illinois Designated HOUSE (Housing and Opportunities Useful for Student’s Excellence) Liaison (Public Act 102-0083)
Section 102 of this law specifies that each higher education institution offering degrees and instruction beyond the secondary school level in Illinois must have a designated HOUSE Liaison to coordinate services to homeless students. The contact information for the HOUSE Liaison is:
Ms. Currie Augustine
HOUSE Liaison
1905 W. Field Ct.
Lake Forest, IL 60045
Email: caugustine@lfgsm.edu
Phone: 847 574-5158
Local, State and Federal Resources
Call 211 to be connected to health and human service assistance. You can also go online to https://www.211.org/
Housing and Urban Development Resource Locator: https://resources.hud.gov/
Housing and Urban Development Local Homeless Assistance List: https://www.hud.gov/topics/homelessness/localassist
For students in Illinois, Illinois Department of Human Services; Housing, Shelter & Homelessness Resources: http://dhs.illinois.gov/helpishere
National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at (877-424-3838)
VA Homeless Programs: https://www.va.gov/homeless/
Food Insecurity Resources: https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank
Title IX Policy
For a full copy of our current Title IX policy, click here..
Inquiries or complaints concerning the application of Title IX may contact LFGSM’s Title IX Coordinator:
Currie Augustine
Title IX Coordinator
Phone: (847) 574-5158
1905 W. Field Ct.
Lake Forest, IL 60045
Email:caugustine@lfgsm.edu
Complaints (Non-Title IX)
LFGSM encourages prospective students and current students to make every effort to resolve their problems and concerns directly and informally with faculty members or other involved parties. If informal discussions between the involved parties do not result in a resolution of the problem, prospective students and current students students may initiate a formal complaint by submitting a written complaint using the Complaint Form found on my.LFGSM.edu. The formal complaint must be submitted to complaint@lfgsm.edu within thirty business days of the incident or concern. The full complaint process may be found in the LFGSM Academic Catalog.
Prospective students and face-to-face, online, or video/web conference current students residing in the State of Illinois who have followed the School's official complaint process and are dissatisfied with the School's response to their complaint, or who are not able to file a complaint with the School, may file a formal complaint with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) or the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). Online or video/web conference students residing in a state participating in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) may file a formal complaint following the process described here. Online or video/web conference students residing in a non-SARA state (as of 2/1/2018: CA) may file a formal complaint with their state education entity, as listed below:
CALIFORNIA: Student Complaint Process
California Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education
P.O. Box 980818
West Sacramento, CA 95798-0818
Email: bppe@dca.ca.gov
LFGSM is an independent, accredited, non-profit graduate school, and is registered as a 501(c)3 corporation.
Student Debt Assistance Act
LFGSM complies with the Student Debt Assistance Act. In order to receive a transcript or diploma that may have been withheld previous due to debt, students should contact the Registrar at Registrar@lfgsm.edu.
Financial Hardship Withdrawal Policy
Students may withdraw from LFGSM due to any financial or physical hardship, such as a serious injury or illness; a chronic illness; a medical issue of a family member for whom the student is a caretaker; a mental health condition; or a significant cost of living increase. Students who withdraw for these or any other reason may re-enroll at a later date.
To withdraw from LFGSM or seek reinstatement, please contact the Registrar at Registrar@lfgsm.edu.
Registration Holds
Students have a maximum of 120 days from the due date on the invoice to pay tuition with no penalties. One that period has passed, if the student has a debt of $300 or more, the student’s bill will be sent to a collection agency and the student will not be permitted to enroll in any subsequent term until the debt is paid. LFGSM reserves the right to receive full payment for any courses already taken in order for students to progress through the program.