The first steps toward opening Everest College, a for-profit college, in downtown Milwaukee were taken Tuesday, when the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals voted 4-0 to approve a special-use permit to allow operator Corinthian Colleges Inc. to build at the site just north of the Bradley Center at North 6th Street and West McKinley Avenue.

Despite the approval, the plan did have its critics. Alderwoman Milele Coggs of Milwaukee’s 6th District, where the college would be encompassed, said the construction plans did not comply with the guidelines set forth by the zoning appeals board.

These guidelines include protection of public health, safety and welfare, protection of property, traffic and pedestrian safety and consistency with the city’s comprehensive plan, according to the Board of Zoning Appeals Web site.

Specifically, Coggs said in a statement the plans did not consider the impact a college campus would have on 6th Street traffic and did not match up with the comprehensive plan for the area. She also said the educational practices of the college were not in the best interest of the public’s welfare.

“Everest is not an educational institution but rather an educational business with a goal of profit, not placement,” Coggs said during a press conference in January.

While the board did not dispute these claims, board Chairwoman Catherine Doyle said the educational practices of the school were the concern of Congress and the U.S. Department of Education, not Milwaukee’s zoning appeals board.

According to numbers from 2000, only 25.7 percent of students enrolled in private, for-profit institutions graduate within four years, compared to the 39.7 percent who graduate at traditional not-for-profit universities.

The disparity gets even wider after six years, with 59.7 percent of students at not-for-profit schools graduating in that time frame compared to just 32.6 percent of students enrolled in for-profit schools.

The proportion of students who rely on student loans to pay for school is also much higher at for-profit institutions. During the 2005-’06 school year, 84.5 percent of students at for-profits who received any financial aid took out student loans. Only 53.5 percent of students at private and public not-for-profit schools used student loans as part of their financial aid packages.

Coggs said colleges such as Everest, which has campuses in 23 other states “have a sordid history of promising jobs and transferability of credit to students, but all they deliver is crushing debt.”

Wendell Harris, director of education at Milwaukee’s chapter of the NAACP, said during the press conference that the credits students take at CCI institutions do not transfer to other schools despite promises made to students upon enrollment.

Dan Druml, the local developer in charge of the project, said during the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting that the college would benefit the community through the educational programs it offers.

Developers needed the special-use permit because the site was zoned as a light industrial tract, according to Kari Collins, secretary for the Board of Zoning Appeals. The board took recommendations from other city departments, such as Public Works, Neighborhood Services and City Development in making its decision, she said.

Despite the approval, there are still several Department of Neighborhood Services inspections the site has to pass before construction can begin, Collins said.

“It may be a while before we see a grand opening sign,” she said.