My ITT Technical Institute Experience

Below are comments from visitors to this web site.

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December 2008

Oh my God, let's see here.  Most of my education was paid for through the VA as I'm ex military.  I got my bachelors which should have cost $74k or so, but they ended up billing the VA like $140k or something on top of the 10k I'm still paying.  I don't even want to know how they did that!  They had me mandatory sign so many papers, I don't even know what I signed nor paid much attention to be honest as they just yank you out of class arbitrarily to do it.  The threat of not signing is that you will be immediately kicked out of school.

Okay, aside from the severe financial errors, I graduated with honors(3.68GPA) and the National Vocational Technical Honor Society.  I have no work experience in the related area with the degree and finding a decent paid job is really hard for me.  The employers all want to know what else I have to show other then my degree, so the degree doesn't speak for itself nor hold too much weight from what I've seen.  Degree, Experience and Certifications seems to be a good part of it for an electronics based job.

In short, I'm now facing the disastrous choice of probably having to attend a community college and learn what I didn't at ITT TECH in hopes I could gain acceptance at a real University.  This just really blows my mind and ITT TECH is the wrong path to take in life I'd say.

Now there are many students in my class who do have decent jobs, but they had them before they got a degree from there.  The amount of difference from them getting a degree seems little to trivial in my opinion.  One of the guys I know from class who graduated in 2007 with me now works part time at Wal-Mart, in addition to his regular job to help pay for all his loans from ITT TECH.

I've heard arguments both ways in that it doesn't matter where you get the degree and it's what you put into it or also that ITT TECH is just a bad choice in general.  Either way, I feel like crap over my decision to go there(2003-2007) even with a BAS that hasn't did me any good.  Oh man. look at a regular University and don't believe the BS you can take a short cut and still be in good standing like I thought.  I am feeling so, so stupid!!!

October 2008

I am an associate’s graduate from ITT Tech in Kansas City, MO and even worse the chair of my department convinced me to continue with the Bachelors. I've never had a bigger disappointment in my life. I did learn a few things from the better teachers for the first few months.

But the reason I joined this school is because I was promised I would be able to take some course work online and that they would work around my work schedule as well as work with actual equipment used by professionals. They have no hands on experience there. I was given a network emulator and told it’s just like the real thing. But it’s far from hands on experience.

In the second quarter the dean told me I should quit my job so that I could attend Saturday classes. I could not do that and they dropped me from the class. Fourth quarter they stopped all online courses because their numbers looked bad.

Shortly after that they moved the location of my school to one of the worst places and it was an extra 50 miles away from my house. I was told if I didn't like it I would just have to go to another school, but guess what!? No other school will take their credits because they are not nationally accredited.

We've had cars broken into and vandalized. The school itself has been broken into and has had many things stolen. ITT was not intending to get any security, and then amazingly one day the dean's car had all of its tires stolen. Next day we had a rent-a-cop hanging around the parking lot.

What is really quite extraordinary is that before any test the teachers go over every answer in order from one to twenty. So even if you missed class you would still pass any test. The school has in place an attendance grade. 25% of your grade is called participation, and another 25% is called discussion. Then tests are worth 10%, writing assignments are 10%, Final project is 10% and your final is worth 20%, but they give you the answers to that too.

The Kansas City, MO campus no longer has an enrollment test so anyone with a GED can get in.

ive been going there for 5 quarters, we have had four teachers leave/get kicked out for complaints and lack of knowledge of the class itself,

i am droping 5 quarters in because the instruction you get is not worth the price tag, I am amazed these teachers have jobs when some of the student know more than them,

i lost 25 grand but im glad I decided not to go all the way through and waste another year of my life.

August 2008

Yeah, I almost got conned into going there. Lucky for me my mom is the CFO of a big company and took a look into their reputation....

I recently heard of a woman who made a huge mistake in some accounting process at her job and almost screwed up the entire company.

Guess What? She TEACHES at ITT Tech.

I was directly lied to by my con-artist, Liz. When she told me the school cost 43,000 dollars for two years, I asked why it cost that much and how much debt I would be in. She never told me why it cost that much and downplayed the debt aspect by telling me that she was 180,000 dollars in debt and talking about it like it's fun or something.

She told me at the beginning that the school in my area had been around for about two years and that they had just updated their computers and equipment. Then near the end of the interview she says that they haven't gotten their Criminal Justice program because they've only been in the area for six months.

She told me that about half of my credits would transfer, then I found out that they will not. Thanks to my mom, I'm now going to go to a community college and then a four year university....

I find their tactics morally and completely wrong. Lying to people and scamming them out of their money....

They are going after the dreams of people.... That is the worst kind of scam....

I have many similar problems and have a letter from Macy myself.  I would love to get in touch with you about a lawsuit and expanding the site or starting a new one drawing in as many as possible to go against ITT.  I can't afford the loans.

FROM WEB MASTER:

If you would like to exchange personal e-mails with me please be sure to include your contact information.  I will not publish your name or contact information unless you request it.

 Thank you.

Here at ITT Troy, all of the department chairs are nothing more than cheerleaders that stroke the egos of the dumbest and laziest students to stay in their program or else it makes their "numbers" look bad.  Each dropout is tracked and analyzed like so much lost production.

No level is too low to stoop to as ethics (which is highly touted and paraded) is conveniently thrown out the window to let the vast numbers of semi-retarded "students" continue their obscenely overpriced "education".

If you want your accomplishment of finishing college to be taken seriously and to count for something, go to a real place that gets respect from employers and not snickers and eye-rolls.  The fact that you are reading this on-line makes you over-qualified for ITT Troy.

I am an instructor at that dump and to give you some idea about the level of intelligence ITT recruits, I had a student actually not know how to add two numbers on a calculator despite passing 2 levels of ITT Math!!  Enough said.

The ITT sign in front of the ITT Troy building is about 25 feet from the front door of the stand-alone building.  There is a huge black arrow on that sign that points to the doors.  How can a place of education take itself seriously when they feel that their students need infantile visual cues? Doesn't this speak volumes about the low expectations they have for student achievements?

The fact that you are reading this by accessing the Internet over-qualifies you.

July 2008

Its a comfort to see another instructor finally state what everybody knows at ITT Troy MI but conveniently looks the other way.  Its a given fact that the school keeps track of student attendance percentages for each instructor.  If the average falls below 80%, they are subject to evaluation as if it is the teacher's fault that the student isn't motivated enough to sit in a chair.  Heaven forbid that the "adult" student isn't having a fun time because we all know that is how it is in the real working world!!

They also keep track of the average course evaluation grade from students and deem it as a factor if the teacher should teach a particular subject.  The result is a joke of a school that emphasizes the teacher being popular (ie easy) and allows the laziest students to set the standard.  Would you want to go to a school that panders to the least intelligent and least disciplined people?  Are you willing to pay PhD money for a junior high school education?

Nice job of perpetuating the money-grubbing culture Laura Majewski.

I am a current student at ITT Troy.  Their policy is to treat every student as a child with no ambition or discipline.  They will allow anyone to miss any number of classes for whatever undocumented reason just to keep them on the roster. 

One of my classmates told me that he flunked a class last term because he never turned in any of his work.  FOUR months after the end of the term, he turned in his late work... AND THEY ACCEPTED IT!!!!  His grade was upgraded to a B.  What a total joke.

June 2008

As a current instructor at the Troy, MI site, the "institute" is in a constant frenzy to keep customers (aka students) coming back but not concerned with giving any value for their tuition dollar.  It is staffed with mediocre people at best.  One dean was fired for "cooking the books" with student enrollment policies and his replacement quit after only a few months.  Currently there is no dean in place and has been vacant over 2 months.  Anybody with any morals or standards soon leaves and there is a very high turnover rate.

Despite the inability to meet basics like having enough books on hand or functional working equipment and PCs, they have implemented a litany of tactics to keep the butts in the seats.  For example:

1) Interrupting nearly every class to distribute raffle tickets to students to qualify for a gift.

2) Instructors are to call every absent student and remind them that they were missed.  All calls are to be documented.

3) Allow students to drop/add classes as often as they like and whenever they want for whatever reason they want.  They allow new students to enroll in a class even after 1/4 of the term is over.

4) They provide a movie and snacks to a class when an instructor is absent despite the fact that ITT requires us to have an emergency plan in place that is supposed to accomplish something of substance.

5) Grade scales that give an A at 89.5%.  There is no A-, B-, C-, or D-.  Some classes give 40% of the grade to simply attend and on participation!  How can you not pass with an A?

Any self-respecting place of education does not have to resort to these tactics.  [This] just points to the fact that ITT Troy is in the business of harvesting dollars from desperate people.

May 2008

I am scheduled to graduate this summer from the Norwood, OH "campus" from the CDD program.  I share the complaints and problems of most people who have made comments here and elsewhere so I won't repeat them.  However something that has always bothered me is how insistent the school is about students completing their surveys around week eight of the quarter.  Well, I feel this is WAY too soon for me to provide accurate feedback.  There are still four weeks left for things to go wrong (and they will) and if I have already done my survey(s) I may be cheated out of my chance to complain.  I refuse to complete them until week 10, then I write what amounts to a short essay in the feedback box.  I take notes from week to week to remind myself what went wrong along the way like the mediocre tech environment, malfunctioning software, poorly written text books, and my favorite, the day the school set up a big screen projector in the lounge for a Monday night football game (yes, class was in session) while I was in a computer lab without the software I needed for the class.  Classic ITT.

I have a job in my field that I acquired with absolutely no help from ITT and now I am only finishing my degree there because it would be an even bigger waste of money to quit.  I avoid telling people I am an ITT student as I have seen the look of disappointment in too many faces when I confess to it.

I recently learned something interesting from a document that I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to see.  ITT is not allowed to refer to themselves as a college.  The word "institute" is as close as they can come.  This same document outlined ITT's requirements for their staff regarding what they say to students.  The whole thing was double-speak, smoke-up-the-ass, CYA talk.

June 2008

I graduated in 2002 from ITT with a Computer Networking degree, and would like to respond to some of the negativity that I've seen posted online. 

While some people obviously had bad experiences, I loved mine.  I made a lot of great friends whom I still speak to, and have impressed employers by having graduated with honors as well as by helping fellow employees as well as our IT guy who incidentally had a "formal" education. 

Though I've chosen not to work in the computer field, I've had a wide variety of classes from programming and networking to business-related classes.  There were definitely people who took ITT more seriously, and those who did not.  I would venture to say that a great deal of people who did not take it seriously are upset because job interviewers didn't take THEM seriously. 

ITT is not a typical university or community college, nor do they claim to be.  They are formerly a technical certification school, who is now capable of offering degrees.  They do not, and will not, GUARANTEE you a job!  They will, however, assist with job-placement.  In my experience, ITT was willing to review/help me with my resume, give letters of recommendation, and provide solid job leads.  The final Capstone Project prepared me for applying the knowledge to the work force, and our instructors expected us to present our final project dressed appropriately and professionally. 

What my point is in all of this is that they are a school, not miracle workers.  Just because you may have had one bad instructor, or had one person that screwed up your finances, etc. doesn't mean the entire school is bad.  Besides, you will find the same problems at any other higher learning institution in the country.  The reason for that is A) People are in charge, and people are not flawless; and B) If you don't do your own research beforehand/read the fine print when you sign things, you cannot fault anyone but yourself. 

As for the person who had a bad experience at the ITT-Troy, MI location, that's where I attended.  A relative of mine was the dean.  For those of you already worked up into a tizzy because I stand behind my educational background instead of trashing it, I did not receive special treatment!  I worked hard.  I was already intelligent and employable, but ITT gave me the piece of paper I needed to aim for higher goals.  In the end, that's what any degree program is all about...showing you can follow through and achieve something.  If you have that piece of paper, you did just that.  The rest is up to you.

I currently attend the campus in Murray, Utah.  I'm about halfway through my degree in ISS, and have expressed my opinion regarding these same issues to the campus administration many times - and have received no assistance.

Additionally, I've taken challenge exams for over half of the classes I've attended so far, and amazingly enough have failed every one of those exams beyond the first 2 quarters!

This is material I'm well versed in and have no trouble demonstrating my level of ability in the real world.  Additionally, some of the challenge exams had dates on them indicating that they are over 4 years old!!

To make matters worse, even though the student handbook clearly states that the student has the right to see each and every exam he has taken, ITT has refused to allow me to see the results of all of my challenge exams, claiming that they are exempt from those rules.  I'll definitely be taking action. 

Wow....I enrolled in the ITT online program in 12/2006.  BIG mistake.  You can find my report on ripoffreport.com--I am the one from Vacherie, LA so you can tell which report is mine.  It's long, but do take the time to read it.

here is a link:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/view.asp?id=245918
 

I, too, have had an experience with ITT.  I graduate in June 2007.

The first two quarters were mindless classes teaching the basics of the basics.

For quarters 3 and 4, we learned high-school level math classes, and finally getting into ourmajor area, computer programming, or IT-SAP as they called it, was what I expected. Basic programming with Visual Basic. Quarters 4 and 5 we had classes on C++, and Quarters 5 and 6 on Java.

Now, after having said all of that, I learned a bit of stuff here and there, but nothing major.

The worst of all, the java classes were not really taught as endless talk that made no sense. We, as a class passed with all A's. How? The CD in the back of the book. Every single assignment had the finished product with code on the CD. Come to find out every class we took had a CD with answers. You can pass ITT with nothing but knowledge of how to read a CD.

Also, if they think they don't have enough interest in taking a particular class, which, mind you, is not exactly something that changes quarter to quarter considering all the people of the same major are going to the same exact classes, you either have to take the class at a different day/time, or take it as what they call a DIS, or Directed Independent Study. I have experienced both of these.

I ended up having to spend from 8 in the morning till 10 at night one day a week for a full quarter because of this. The DIS is no good either. A full course in 1/4th to 1/2 the normal time.

I truly feel I have learned little to nothing, and definitely not enough to be worth the almost 40k put into this. The people themselves were nice and professional, however, they just have a poor way of doing things.
 

Yes, I completely agree with your comments regarding ITT. I graduated 2005 with
a computer network systems degree. I was promised job placement and other
opportunities that would help advance my career, unfortunately it did not happen.
I am still to this day looking for employment and am in debt up to my eyeballs.
I strongly advise anyone considering to go there to do some extensive research,
so you would not be in the same position as I currently am in.
 

From Scott J., Elk Grove, CA

I am graduating in March, 2007. I am in the CDD program.

I attended the Rancho Cordova, CA campus 10 years ago but was only able to make it half way through my 3rd quarter (at that time each quarter had it's own subject) but was unable to complete work or attend on time because of my a-hole employer.
 

I was getting failing grades and an agreement was reached to where I would receive a W for withdrawal.

March 2005, I re-enrolled at a newly re-located campus in Rancho Cordova, CA.  And when before enrolling, it was understood and agreed upon that I wanted no transfer credits from previous enrollment AS I WANTED (AND WAS TOLD) THAT I WOULD BE STARTING OUT FRESH as a student in my program, CDD.

Now, a month before graduation, I decided to check my transcripts to see where my GPA was, as I have been in HONORS or HIGHEST HONORS for all but 1, maybe 2 quarters.  I was mortified to find on the 1st page of my transcripts it showed the 1st 3 quarters of my previous enrollment, 3rd quarter showing all Fs; thus bringing my GPA down to 3.18. which disqualified my from even trying to apply for honor society.  Not that Honor Society is the end all be all, I pursued the matter with my Dean and was told there is nothing they can do.

I just want them to make it right and remove the 1st time through, as a separate set of transcripts, as I was informed it would be.  I would have attempted to use transfer credits from prior enrollment to save me some money NOW had I known that it wasn't "do-able".

I am not the worst case by any means.  I feel shafted because now all my hard work to keep a high GPA was jacked up from the start and I was starting out from a hole to start.

There are SEVERAL curriculum, equipment problems, online class, and class schedule complaints at my campus.  This campus has lost many of its teachers (the GOOD ones) in the past few months because they wanted to save $$ on benefits by making them part-time.