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Few options remain for students after Pittsburgh Career Institute abruptly closes

The Pittsburgh Career Institute in Downtown Pittsburgh is scheduled to close Nov. 23.
Sarah Schneider
/
90.5 WESA
The Pittsburgh Career Institute in Downtown Pittsburgh is scheduled to close Nov. 23.

Students of a for-profit Downtown Pittsburgh school have limited options to complete their degrees after the school gave them two weeks’ notice that it would close this week.

Two schools have publicly said they’re working with the Pittsburgh Career Institute to establish credit transfer agreements. Pittsburgh Career Institute did not return requests for comment and the two schools working with PCI declined interview requests until the agreements were finalized.

The abrupt closure is part of a nationwide trend according to a new analysis of Student Clearinghouse Data. The Chronicle of Higher Education examined the data and found that an average of 20 private campuses closed each month nationwide over the past five years. While the analysis found that the primary cause of closure is loss of accreditation, schools also cited declining enrollment and loss of financial stability.

A November report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association sought to understand what happens to students after a school closes to “identify the policy levers states may have to support students who experience a closure.”

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The report found that students of color and low-income students are disproportionately impacted by sudden closures because the schools generally enroll a larger proportion of minority students.

According to Rachel Burns, a senior researcher and co-author of the report, Black and Hispanic students were much less likely to reenroll after a school closure and if they did reenroll, they had a much lower credential completion rate.

“The institutions that closed abruptly that didn’t have catch-up plans where students just kind of learned we’re closing in a couple of weeks or in a month but there was no real agreement with another institution … had much lower reenrollment rates and much lower completion rates than the institutions that had a more orderly process that included a teach-out agreement,” Burns said.

Burns said the takeaway for lawmakers is that authorization policies are not stringent enough and are not being enforced equally.

Burns and her colleagues plan to produce two more reports; one comparing student outcomes to those who never experienced a closure and another comparing the two groups based on the state where the schools closed.

According to a statement from PCI President Patti Yakshe on PCI’s website, when its accrediting body was told in August that it is no longer recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, the school was no longer allowed to enroll new students. Though the school says it tried to find alternatives to stay open, it could not weather the restrictions.

“Some students will have the opportunity to complete their programs before PCI’s closure date, while other students will have the ability to transfer to other local institutions where they can finish their programs,” Yakshe said in the statement. “Students will be contacted directly about a program completion plan. This plan is a partnership between students and PCI to ensure they are able to complete the remainder of their academic program.”

According to the statement, PCI will have representatives from its six degree programs available until Dec. 31 to help students complete externships and clinical programs and to help with transfers and transcript requests.