Everest College: legitimately accredited school misrepresenting its accreditation?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Chip, Oct 5, 2010.

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  1. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    I read an article today at Consumerist about Everest College (part of a network of for-profit schools owned by an equity company) being sued by a bunch of students who were told by high-pressure sales people that their credits could be transferred to bricks-and-mortar schools.

    That's bad enough, but I could see the school tapdancing and claiming it was the work of a "few rogue employees". However, it's clear that the school intentionally misleads its students by avoiding naming their accreditor entirely.

    Check out their accreditation statement. It's a tapdance that conveniently avoids mentioning who, exactly, accredits them. To the person unaware of accreditation issues, they would probably assume that Everest is accredited by the same accreditors as bricks-and-mortar schools.

    But that isn't the case at all. A quick check of the CHEA database reveals that none of the Everest campuses are regionally accredited. Instead, they're all accredited by
    ACCSC or ACICS. While both are legitimate accreditors, it's without question that these are second tier accredtors to RA, and I suspect there are few, if any regionally accredited (bricks-and-mortar) schools that will accept credits from this school. It's hard not to infer a desire to mislead students.

    Has anyone heard of any other schools doing this sort of shady shit?
     
  2. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Well... I went back to their site, and it turns out they have live chat agents. Surprisingly, the chat with an Everest rep wasn't too far different than some of the chats from the unwonderful MUST university. I think it speaks for itself:

     
  3. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    A search for "accreditation" shows the respective pages for each of the campuses. On each page, the organization that accredits the campus is mentioned in the first sentence.

    The irony is killing me that DegreeInfo advertises for them. Look: everest.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 5, 2010
  4. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Yes, but (a) their accreditation page ought to list their accreditors on it (there are only two, from what I can see) and (b) yes, they are currently listed in our database, but with a disclaimer about the limitations of their accreditation.

    Before, we didn't list schools that didn't have RA, and people bitched. Now, we list schools that are CHEA-recognized, but not RA, and people are still bitching. No matter what we do, we'll never make everyone happy :)
     
  5. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Hey, as long as the Maniac is happy, everyone is safe :cool:
     
  6. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Yikes! That does sound like MUST. The only difference is that you were talking to a real person, I think the chat at MUST is an AI.
     
  7. Amber313

    Amber313 New Member

    Omg

    I am a current Everest student and I have been told like 20+ times in the past month since I began that when I graduate, I wont be able to get a job because no one recognizes Everest's MA Diploma... now I'm freaking out, as I'm sure anyone paying 21K for an education being told something like this would be.... anyone know anything about this?
     
  8. DxD=D^2

    DxD=D^2 Member

    Chip, you're hilariousness. I love your style.

     
  9. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Everest is accredited, some schools are RA and some are NA. No one can guarantee a job regardless of what school you graduate from - Everest, State U, or Yale. I would not say, "no one recognizes" because it is not true. I have interested many people, some with Everest / FMU degrees and I was more interested in what they knew as opposed to what school they graduated from. The degree was a "checkmark" in the box, it was their experience and knowledge that I was would judge.
     
  10. Fjaysay

    Fjaysay New Member

    Amber313,

    Although, there a few Everest institutions that are regionally accredited, such as Everest college campuses in Phoenix, Arizona area. The rest of the Everest institutions are nationally accredited. As suggested by Randell1234, no universities, colleges, and institutions can provide you a job right after graduation. I suggest you start calling your future potential employers if they will recognize your degree from Everest.

    Best of luck!
     
  11. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    This is technically true. But it's also true that the odds seem to be significantly better at some schools, and significantly worse at others.

    The Everest system, as a whole, has a reputation for unusually high "cohort default rates". This means that an unusually high percentage of Everest graduates are not making the required payments on their student loans. See, for example, this recent news story:

    If the graduates of a particular school aren't paying off their student loans, then the implication is that they aren't finding jobs that pay well relative to the cost of their education. This can be bad news, because student loan debt is a lifetime commitment; you can't usually get out of it by declaring bankruptcy.

    Of course, the Everest system is very large, with many different campuses and degree programs; there's probably a lot of variation in job prospects and default rates. You can look up the Cohort Default Rate for your particular campus at the US Dept. of Education's College Navigator website.

    The focus at degreeinfo is typically on accreditation. But in my opinion, default rates should also be an important consideration. It may not be a good idea to enroll in a school with high default rates, even if it has perfectly good accreditation.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 13, 2012
  12. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Everest operates here in Canada -- but we don't have any "accreditation" problems with them here - at least in Ontario, our most populous province. Here, Everest just flat CANNOT confer any degrees -- it has no authority to do so. It's licensed as a career college and can issue diplomas -- but NO DEGREES period. I'm pretty sure this is the case for them throughout Canada.

    Here's their info page: http://info.everest.ca/

    I'm sure I'm not alone in my opinion that, over the years, much of the world has gone credential-crazy, and quite a few of the papers marketed as "degrees" today - might not have been termed 'degrees' years ago. Our universities in Canada are bursting at the seams and people are earning really good degrees at an unprecedented rate. Many others are going to public colleges, or private career colleges and earning valuable diplomas -- and that's great too. (And yes -- there's a route from most public college diploma programs to degree studies -- if the college grad decides to pursue them.) Right - we're still a little "old school" about what we call a degree - and what we don't. I think it's worked well for us.

    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 13, 2012
  13. Amber313

    Amber313 New Member

    Thank you all very much for your help!! I really appreciate it! I feel much better now!
     

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