Students who attend Everest College in Vancouver will notice some welcome changes — including reduced tuition and more help finding a job — when the college is under new ownership and moves from for-profit to nonprofit status in January.
The Vancouver campus is among 56 Everest and WyoTech campuses in 17 states that are being acquired from Corinthian Colleges Inc. by nonprofit Zenith Education Group, a new unit of Educational Credit Management Corp. Group Inc. ECMC Group Inc. is a student loan guarantor. The $24 million sale was announced Thursday. Corinthian is based in Santa Ana, Calif.
Spokesmen for both Corinthian Colleges and ECMC Group emphasized that the Vancouver campus would not be closed and students could continue their education without interruption. Most students are in programs that are two years or shorter. Many diploma programs are less than a year.
“You won’t see significant changes in campus operations when the sale closes,” said Kent Jenkins Jr., a Corinthian Colleges spokesman who works in the Washington, D.C., office. “In the short run, students who are enrolled now will have the same classes, the same faculty, the same schedules. Anyone who is a student now will be able to continue their coursework. The accreditation status is the same. None of that is affected.”
ECMC Chief Executive Officer David Hawn said under the new ownership, tuition will be reduced by 20 percent, and students will receive increased help in finding employment.
In addition, the company will offer millions of dollars in institutional grants. None of these students will be forced to take out expensive private loans, said an ECMC spokeswoman in the Washington, D.C., office.
The financially troubled Corinthian Colleges Inc. has been seeking a buyer for the schools for several months. During that time, there haven’t been changes to programs or interruptions of service for students, said Jenkins.
Corinthian is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Washington state Attorney General’s office.
The current enrollment of 184 students is significantly down from the about 300 the school reported in June.
“Any time you have the uncertainty we’ve had in the last few months, you’re going to see some decline in enrollment,” Jenkins said.
Everest College’s Vancouver campus is at 120 N.E. 136th Ave., Suite 130. The campus offers degree and/or certificate programs in the fields of accounting, administrative assisting, bookkeeping, business administration, medical assisting, medical billing and coding, and paralegal. It was started in Vancouver in 1999 as a massage therapy program and continues to offer massage therapy. The school’s tuition ranges from about $15,000 to $40,000 a year with programs between eight months and two years on average.
In addition to the Vancouver campus, the acquisition includes the five other campuses in Washington in Bremerton, Everett, Renton, Seattle and Tacoma. In the Portland metro area, the college has campuses in downtown Portland and in Tigard, Ore.
