Local Everest Institute Remains Open Despite Closures Elsewhere

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- When students showed up to class at the Everest Institute in downtown Pittsburgh, the doors were still open.

"We got a small talk on it, just a small briefing on it," Michael Rennie, a student, told KDKA money editor Jon Delano.

Students were told not to worry because Corinthian Colleges sold the Everest Institute in Pittsburgh last February to Zenith Education Group.

"We're under a different management, so it shouldn't have an impact on us, I don't believe," added Rennie.

Now the management here at Everest Institute in Pittsburgh would not go on camera, but they did tell KDKA they're certainly not closing their doors.

Everest is the former Duff's Institute, and this year they are celebrating their 175th anniversary.

But the financial stability of these kinds of schools are a growing concern, accounting for 13 percent of students but nearly half of all student loan defaults.

Connie Pollack counsels students and families on post-high school choices and says Pittsburgh's technical schools are popular with students.

"They want to be in a program that is a little bit shorter and more hands-on, more career-focused where they may have a certain career in mind, and that's all they really want to do," said Pollack. "They don't want to take courses they really have no interest in taking."

But Pollack says students need to be careful choosing a school.

"You need to go in asking some good questions."

Like how long have they been around, or must you sign an enrollment contract?

"Are they accredited? It's really important to know if they're accredited."

And be careful of job placement claims.

"I heard it's a hundred percent job placement by career services," said Cody Potanko, an Everest student, "and that was one of the main reasons that I came here."

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