Employee Comments
I was an instructor at ITT Tech from 2013 until last week.
At the campus I was working for, the Dean, Associate Dean, and Department Chairs were all concerned about the needs of the students above anything else.
I often stayed after class as late as 1:00 AM emailing students to ask them why they missed class if they did, and how they could make up the work.
We gave them plenty of classwork and homework, and I compared the curriculum of my class with the curriculum of a similar class in a "real"
(read- not for-profit school) and found that our curriculum had more work than the other one. This with the stigma of "letting students have
free As and not having them work.
We also cared for each and every student, knew them all by name by the second week of class (even if the class had 35-40 students) and helped each
and every one of them succeed and DO WORK.
I have an advanced degree in education, and the workload and curriculum was not a "diploma mill" curriculum designed to give out free pieces of
paper (as the screaming loudmouthed mass media continuously repeats) but a well-designed education that did provide skills and knowledge needed
for the students' careers.
I did work previously for a school that became a "diploma mill" but ITT was definitely not. Many of my students went on to start careers at places
like The Jet Propulsion Lab and other aerospace companies, or major software companies, or big technical companies like Google.
I had at least one student who ended up working for a major animation studio, and a few who worked for major architectural firms.
Of course, as with any schools, there were students who dropped after a short time, or did not apply what they learned, or who were flaky and
constantly missed classes, but are you going to tell me the "real" schools don't have such students?
I graduated from a public university, and there were many such students in my classes. ITT did not have any more of these problems than a
city college or a state university have, and the employment rate was actually very good at the campus for which I worked.
My experiences were fantastic ones, and if there is anything left to say, it's that I really miss my students and I literally cried when
I heard they were having their degrees, which they worked hard to achieve, taken away and treated like they were worthless.
Please don't listen to the media, and take this to heart if you want to know the real truth about ITT Tech.
I was an ITT Tech recruiter for near 5 years at the San Bernadino campus and I have been an admissions rep at other schools.
The reality is this: All FOR-PROFIT nationally accredited colleges use the slickest of slick sales techniques to enroll their students.
ALL! Representatives like me who take pride in providing solid career guidance and have a willingness to tell a student that something
is or is not a legitimate match for their goals are pressured non-stop for NUMBERS! The compensation incentive ban put in place by the
Fed Gov and the Dept of Ed did NOTHING to curtail unethical practices in these schools. Stockholders discovered that the 'education game'
was a safe place for their money with tremendous profits and THAT is what drove the industry.
I will say, of the various schools that I have worked, ITT was the least 'shark-like' in it's tactics, however, I worked for a great campus
director for many years and a great Recruitment director. Our market made a difference too. Not a whole lot of big name competition. In as much
as I ever witnessed, they delivered excellent education and our students for the most part got great jobs. However, tuition costs were ridiculous.
As is the case with 'for-profit' anything.
DON'T PLACE ALL OF THE BLAME ON THE SCHOOLS. THE DEPT OF ED AND THESE CROCK ACCREDITATION AGENCIES ARE FULLY AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON. EXAMPLE:
WHAT ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH IS AN ASSOCIATES DEGREE IN MEDICAL ASSISTING? AN AA IN PHARMACY TECH (A JOB WALGREENS WILL OJT FOR FREE) These SO CALLED
degrees are getting APPROVED BY SOMEBODY!! WHAT COULD EVER BE THE JUSTIFICATION OF CHARGING SOMEONE BETWEEN 10,000-20,000 FOR A 10.00 AN HOUR JOB??
Note, in most of the instances, these schools are FILLED with minority students and students who did not fit well in the traditional educational
environments. They are often what I call 2nd-chancers'. People who were not traditional university bound or discouraged for a range of reasons from
financial to just not feeling academically capable and needing a hands-on training skill set. What are we, IDIOTS. The one style learning environments
k-12 are allowing MANY to fall thru the cracks and these are EXACTLY who for-profits swoop in on.
THE NEW SHEEP IN WOLVES CLOTHING IS THE 'TURN KEY'. Where a third party company does the SALES WORK for a traditional college. I know of one such
environment that represents several private NON-PROFIT, 100 YEAR OLD CHRISTIAN COLLEGES, applying the SAME SALES TACTICS of the for-profit market
schools and misleading the prospective student that they are in fact dealing directly with the college. In one instance, the college itself didn't
even create the curriculum! This is the new wave and it is being ALLOWED and in 10 years or so after the FAT CATS are FATTER and a lot of money has
been made, millions upon millions, the DOE will step in like some cape wearing SAVIOR-OF-THE-LITTLE-PEOPLE, when they have been complicit all along.
I will say this...the for-profit industry right now is shaking and quaking!!! Never did anyone think think that the grand-daddy of them all, IIT TECH
would be smooth TAKEN OUT!
Anyone remember CLC (Computer Learning Centers)...probably 70 campuses...padlocked overnight as a result of a massive
multi-million dollar Qui Tam case.
Does anyone know if ITT was Quit Tam'd??? I'm surprised ITT folded and didn't just settle like Qui Tam, Hendow VS U of P.
I did at least do my part in throwing a log onto the track of this runaway training as a Qui Tam relater. The institution received a 'minor' wrist
slap by the government and never lost steam, collect millions as it goes. The government gave them a million dollar fine and kept it pushing.
Until we the gen pub demand that government agencies do what they are designed to do, they will all continue to do what they do and that is allow high
dollar investors in ANY industry to do whatever they want to do at the expense of 'we-the-little-people'.
Arlington Texas
I don't know if this very relevant, but I was an admissions rep with ITT Tech for about 9 months, a long time ago.
In 1993 we were to follow a script that was designed to make the applicant seem that they must have my approval in order to apply.
Truth is, if they had the $100.00 application fee, they were recommended, period.
ITT Tech really did not care about anything else. There was a rolling average quota based on enrollments, per week.
I was eventually let go automatically, by a computer, because I fell below the rolling average. That was actually a good thing, I hated working there.
I would go to peoples homes, and interrogate some poor high school kid. If the parents had the app fee, he was recommended for school.
Saw a rumor online that all staff had received one week's pay in deposit, off a pay cycle. But it is true; ITT has shut down all locations.
Here is the ITT Press Release.
While the company (and many of its top level management employees) were unethical and while the company itself preyed on both students and staff in its
practices--and I had direct experience, there is sadness for those faculty and adjuncts who relied on what income they received,
and sadness for students who are now left with credits that do not transfer.
I left the institution three years ago and it was a tremendous financial struggle, but so glad that I did, as I did not want to be affiliated with it.
Glad the education department cracked down and did the right thing.
http://www.ittesi.com/2016-09-06-ITT-Educational-Services-Inc-to-Cease-Operations-at-all-ITT-Technical-Institutes-Following-Federal-Actions
I think that it is important for people who come to this site to understand the full spectrum of educational experiences at
ITT Technical Institute, not just the bad experiences that proliferate this site.
Regarding the quality of an education
obtained at the ITT Technical Institute where I taught as a adjunct instructor for several years, one group of my students
approached me about pursuing their Masters degrees in electrical engineering upon their graduation with their BSEET degrees from this ITT campus.
This group of students was the best group of students that I ever had at this campus, so I felt that they were qualified to pursue such a significant
endeavor.
During this time, I was also teaching at a different school that offered Masters degrees in electrical engineering. I approached the
Dean at that school to discuss this possibility. After this group of students completed this school's entrance exams successfully, a plan was
established to enable these students to pursue their Masters degrees in electrical engineering. The plan included several courses that would bridge
the gap between each student's BSEET degree and the school's BSEE program. These courses included subjects such as differential equations,
advanced electrical circuit analyses techniques, etc.
Once these courses were successfully completed by this group of students, they were then
admitted into the school's MSEE program. I taught several of the MSEE courses to this group of ITT students, until they graduated with their MSEE degrees.
Upon graduation, some of these students continued to pursue a second Masters degree in Computer Engineering, and one student pursued his MBA degree.
These students were all successful at earning all of their advanced degrees. These students have since been successful in their field(s) of study.
I understand that this case of ITT students earning their Masters degrees might be a special case; however, this case clearly demonstrates that
graduates from ITT Technical Institute can, and have earned their Masters degrees in various fields of study.
My understanding about the recognition of a degree from a first school by a second school is that if the second school receives federal funds for
financing their students' educations, then that school must recognize the degree from the first school, if the first school also receives federal aid
for financing their students' educations. If anyone knows differently, please respond to this site with an authoritative response.
Thank you.
FROM WEB MASTER:
This is a case where an instructor went above and beyond ITT to help the students.
Intervention was required.
It's amazing how so many current or former students on this site complain and complain about the lack of education that they got or are
getting from ITT Technical Institutes across the country.
For those of you who are one of these students, particularly in the technical programs, I challenge you to go to youtube.com and check out the
many ITT Capstone Projects that were completed across the country by both Associate and Bachelor level students. Some of these ITT Capstone
Projects came from several different programs at various ITT campuses, including Network Systems Administration, and the Electronics programs.
The projects vary in complexity, and some of them are absolutely amazing.
Check out the self-playing guitar project, for example. This project was completed by a group of Associates level electronics students at my campus....Wow!
This project was designed and built from scratch by the students, with all of the hardware (solenoids, relays, etc.)and needed programming being put
together as part of their design. This project, as are the other projects shown on this site, was an original design.
The collection of all of these Capstone Projects, shown on youtube.com, are the epitome of what students who choose to put their blood,
sweat and tears into their programs of study, could accomplish.
Take stock of the effort that you put forth into your program of study, and ask yourself if you put your blood, sweat, and tears into your program of study.
Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ITT+Capstone+Projects
FROM WEB MASTER
A bit too late.
Where you 8 years ago?
After reading so many of the negative posts on this site, I feel that it is important for people who come to this
site to also understand the full spectrum of experiences from an adjunct professor who has taught at ITT Technical Institute for about ten years.
While at ITT Technical Institute, I never experienced, even once, any pressure from any administrator whatsoever to count students present
when they were not present, arbitrarily pass students regardless of their poor performances, or any other unscrupulous practices.
The location where I taught was managed by a Director and a Dean who were both solidly grounded in maintaining ethical adherence of their
campus to the accreditation guidelines. Based upon our most recent faculty meeting, the campus at which I taught was rated "satisfactory" by
its accrediting agency.
I fully understand that ACICS is also currently being investigated by the Department Of Education. However, my personal experiences with
administrative behaviors at my campus by the Director and the Dean clearly indicate that they both were very ethical in administering
corporate policy at my campus.
In the ten or so years that I taught at ITT Technical Institute, I strongly believe that my campus was not involved in any unscrupulous
activities from the perspectives of the academic integrity of its programs, as well as documenting attendance and issuing earned grades.
I cannot comment on any practices followed by the recruiting department, because I did not work with those employees.
Thank you.
I was an adjunct professor at this school for years. They made us lie, cheat and change grades to make the students pass with A's or B's only.
Also they made us mark all the students present even if they were not. We were told that we would get a $200 check each quarter if all of our
students were marked present. They lie, cheat and are fraud 100%. I know everything about them. Too much to write here.
I would never work for them again ever!!!
I am happy that they will file Bankruptcy soon. I hope the CEO goes to jail.
I have so many stories to share with everyone about the scams that they have pulled. It is actually quite sad for the students.
For the record: I was a student at ITT for 4 years. I have my B.S. degree from them as a Valedictorian I was offered a job so I worked there for 6 years.
I had to leave because what they actually did to me and the students. When I confronted them about their practices, I got slapped hard.
Basically force to quit as I was a whistleblower. They even said I was banned from the campus, WHY because I fought for the students and was told
to be against them.
No one listened to me and now the light is shining on their faults, lies and fraud!! GREAT!!
OH BTW, they overcharged for everything and the students had to buy the same books over and over again and they said that they will bill the
government for it. Crazy!!
I am an adjunct instructor at an ITT Institute, and while a lot of the posts on this site are very negative about ITT, I can only comment on the
following topics at the campus where I taught for several years:
(1) I was never asked to falsely report attendance entries in any of my classes.
(2) I was never asked to falsely report unearned grades in any of my classes.
(3) I was often reminded to complete my ongoing professional development activities for each Quarter, after which I did complete them on time.
(4) I was required to perform failure advising midway through each Quarter, and to record these advising sessions.
(5) If a student was absent from class, I was required to call that student to encourage them to attend class the following week.
(6) If a student was absent from class, I was also required to record my attempted call in an online tool from corporate.
(7) If a student was absent from class, the phone call to the student included information regarding where the student could pick up the material
from that missed class by the following day so that the student would not fall behind.
(8) If a student missed three consecutive class meetings, the student was dropped from the class, regardless of the reasons for missing three consecutive
class meetings.
(9) Instructors are 100% in control of their attendance entries. There was never any pressure nor incentives from staff members to alter attendance entries.
I cannot comment on any practices followed by the recruiting department since I did not work with those employees.
After reading a good amount of recent information regarding ITT Technical Institute in various press releases, I feel the need to describe my experiences
while teaching at an ITT Technical Institute for the past several years.
In this response, I cannot comment on any administrative practices while there, because other than the Dean, I did not work with those employees.
I'll first describe my experiences while at this school.
Several years ago, I was interested in teaching as an adjunct professor in a technical vocation. I learned about ITT Technical Institute through their
commercials, and I decided to apply for a teaching position at the location close to where I lived.
After filling out the required paperwork, and after providing ITT Technical Institute with the addresses upon which they could request my transcripts from
the universities where I received my Bachelors, Masters, and PhD degrees, I received a phone call from ITT to come to their campus and provide a 15 minute
example teaching demonstration regarding a topic of my choice that was related to my field.
I was impressed that part of their interview process included a teaching demonstration, because I thought that it demonstrated their desire to make sure
that prospective teachers could communicate well and effectively with their students, not to mention having strong commands of their technical fields.
This demonstration did not occur until after ITT had verified my academic credentials. Shortly after the completion of my demonstration, I was hired by ITT
to teach classes in my technical field at this campus.
As a condition of continued employment at ITT, I was regularly required to take online corporate courses regarding effective teaching strategies and how
they might be applied in the classroom. I must say that these training sessions were very informative, very long, and very detailed. After viewing the
material for each of these sessions, I was required to take an exam regarding what I just learned. I was very impressed with this corporate requirement
because the material covered in these sessions was very up-to-date and very relevant to developing myself into a better professor. In addition, I was
required to regularly complete ongoing professional development activities that needed to be completed as a condition of my continued employment with ITT.
Once I stepped into the classroom for the first time for every class at the beginning of each Quarter, the first task that I was required to complete was
attendance. Attendance was completed by first getting every student's signature on the class roster, and then entering their attendance in ITT's online tool
that was used to keep track of each student's attendance. Next, I would provide the students with a copy of the syllabus for the course that I was going to
teach to them. We would go through the syllabus to make sure that the students understood the curriculum for that course, as well as the exams, quizzes,
required textbook, assignments, discussions and other items that were included in the syllabus.
After these initial tasks were completed, we then began the course. The courses that I taught in my field of expertise were very representative of courses
that I took when I received my Bachelor's degree. The textbooks were recently published, and each student received a copy of the required textbook. Each
class that I taught normally had theory followed by laboratory assignments. The theory was very rigorous, and the labs were well thought out by ITT, and
were also aligned with the material that was covered that evening. The lab materials were current, and each student was given the necessary materials to
be successful in completing each lab. Sometimes, students would work in groups of three to complete a lab, which was normally fine if every student
participated in completing the lab. The theoretical part of each of our weekly meetings normally started at 6pm and ended at 9pm, after which the students
would then complete their labs from 9pm to 11pm. I always kept my students until nearly 11pm, since they needed to learn a good amount of material.
Throughout each course, I would administer the required quizzes, exams, and homework assignments. For the courses that I taught at ITT, I must admit that
every assignment was relevant and mostly challenging, with varying degrees of difficulty. I never had a significant issue with the curriculum for any course
that I taught at ITT. Having earned a PhD degree in my field from a top 10 university in the country, I felt extremely qualified to validate ITT's curriculum.
In addition to earning my PhD degree, I have been awarded quite a few US patents, published textbooks, delivered several technical presentations at
prestigious conferences, and I am currently a member of the review board for a professional journal in my field. Given these qualifications, I had no
significant issues with the curriculum that ITT used throughout their programs in my field of study.
Regarding the quality of students that I have encountered at ITT throughout the years, I feel that there were varying degrees of capabilities between the
students. Some students were very good students, and some students had challenges getting through the program. However, if a student did not earn a passing
grade in any of my classes, that student received a failing grade for that course. If a student received a grade of "A" in any of my classes, it is because
that student earned it. I will never debase my professional field by simply passing a student for the sake of not failing them. I have an inherent
responsibility, that goes beyond any policy from ITT, to my field to make sure that if I contribute to a student's success at ITT, this student is then
fundamentally prepared for success in that field. This preparedness more than qualifies the student for entry level positions in their field of study that
the student completed while at ITT.
I strongly believe that the core of ITT's technical programs are very academically sound, and that the root of ITT's current challenges are not related to
the relevance or the integrity of the content of their academic programs, because based upon my credentials, the programs in which I taught at ITT are very
academically sound. Academic integrity is a partnership that is fostered between the school and the student. Based upon my teaching experiences at ITT
Technical Institute, I can only conclude that the quality of the teaching effort at the location where I taught is not replicated throughout the country,
and that the location where I taught is more the exception than the general experiences from other students from other locations of ITT Technical Institutes.
Each student should have good experiences while pursuing his or her chosen craft. I wish that every student had similar good experiences with ITT that I had,
because every student deserves that experience.
Thank you for your time.
ITT Technical Institute - Fort Myers, Florida
I am so glad I am no longer employed by this horrible, unethical company!
Recently the corporate team and Deborah Brent, SE District Manager, told an almost 30-year employee that because of a "clerical error"
they were not only cutting his salary by over 50% but were forcing him to pay back nearly $19,000 that they over paid him. A clerical error on the part of HQ and the employee suffers?
Well, wanna know what happened...a week later the employee suffers a major heart attach and ends up in ICU. Wanna know what HQ and Ms. Brent's
response was...well maybe he will retire then. Really??? You cause this issue and that's what you say?
Unbelievable!
Texas.
I worked at ITT for over 10 years. I will say that when I started, ITT was a great place to work, and
employees--particularly instructors--were always concerned about helping students be as successful as they could be.
Everyone there had a vested interest in seeing graduates get placed in jobs in their fields of study.
Is ITT overpriced? Yes, I believe it is. However, I can say that I *never* witnessed any reps misleading prospective
students, and if there was a hint of that, those reps were written up and if necessary, fired. Government hoops got
higher and higher. I can say that ITT--as a whole--was very by-the-book regarding compliance and adherence to accrediting
bodies--both national (ACICS) and TWC, etc. Internal audits were thorough and nerve-wracking, and did not pull punches.
Instructors at our campus--particularly the electronics and networking instructors--were top notch. Many taught not only
at ITT, but also local community and 4 year colleges as well.
Students that succeeded were those that had goals to finish their degrees, get a job, and were highly self-motivated.
Many weren't, and didn't, as well.
Has ITT gone downhill? Yes. Moving to almost all adjunct faculty will do that.
The best part of the job was seeing graduates finish and be hired. Nobody gets into teaching to get rich. People get into
education to help people. I don't know all the machinations in Carmel, but the folks that actually had their feet on the
ground at the campuses and fought, scratched, and clawed to help students stay in school did it because that's what they
love to do.
A couple of other notes--ITT lab computers were on 3 year refresh cycles, meaning they were rotated OUT of the classroom
every 3 years. That slowed down and stopped in the last 3-4 years as the $ crunch has made it impossible to do. The
reason for swapping them out? Warranty expiration.
In the early days, workstation software was NOT upgraded UNLESS doing so meant that the student would be learning software
that was IN DEMAND in the workplace. For example, ITT never went to Windows 8 because it had no penetration at the desktop
in the REAL WORLD. There were exceptions to this as years went on, but you get the idea.
Worst period for textbooks (beyond the recent move to online text) was the NIIT books--particularly in EET. However, that
was many years ago, and was corrected within about a year and a half--after the curriculum was rewritten. No question that
was a black eye, though.
You're not going to get many (if any) employers to post information about employees, as HIPAA is probably a factor, but I
can point to ITT graduates that have been successful for sure, and I work with an ITT grad right now.
Never saw the "pain funnel". Ever. It may have existed, but I never saw it at any campus, and I saw most campuses in Texas
and in several states.
Neat website. Enjoyed checking it out.
From: Web Master:
Based on recent student and current employee posts, I'd say things have changed a lot in recent years.
You'll note that a vast majority of the posts on this site mention there are good some good people who teach there.
The "pain funnel" would not have been passed around to the instructors.
I would like this person to encourage their students and former co-workers who were in the recruiting or administration offices to
post their comments about what was going on behind the scenes at that time.
Former employee--very happy I'm no longer there.
Just saw a comment that many ITT shares are being bought by Zhang family from China who own for profit schools there.
The person who commented said he had filed questions with the SEC but had received no response.
I was an Admissions Representative (glorified telemarketer) for about three years at a Southern California campus.
As of 7/18/16, ITT laid off almost every representative at all campuses. The letter from corporate stated that they
were only keeping three reps per campus, due to them transitioning to a national call center for all appointments to
be made. Among the layoffs, in addition to the reps, were FACs, Chairs, and even Deans.
It's no secret that this school is a complete joke; thriving on mostly low-income students and their financial aid money.
The main objective for us Admissions Reps was to get butts in seats. The school couldn't care less about "bettering their
lives" or whatever BS they spit out. It was so sad how we had to call leads 3 times a day, every day.
I don't know about you, but that's harassment. Not to mention once the student applied and enrolled, we had to hold
their hand all the way up until their first day of class. We even had to wait out in front of classes with a clip board
making sure they arrived.
We spent most days cold calling people who inadvertently clicked on something online which gave us their information.
If we were lucky enough to score an appointment, we were told to make it within 3 days - same day if possible. This is
most likely due to the fact that the higher ups know they will have the opportunity to research how much this school sucks.
It was nothing more than a sales job. We were expected to have them apply AND get them through financial aid on the
first visit. They didn't want any prospective student walking out without submitting an application. There's a 100%
acceptance rate. As long as you have a pulse, are a citizen or permanent resident, and not in default on any federal
student loans, you can get "accepted" into ITT.
We were trained to basically tell the prospective student how much their current situation sucks and how much they NEEDED
to go to ITT, although the school masked this practice by saying we were getting their "motive" as to why they needed to
continue their education. Since most of the students who came through didn't have any prior college education, they
bought into it. All of the students I enrolled who had previously gone to traditional colleges ultimately dropped out of
ITT after one quarter, citing the horrible curricula and inability to overcome the rowdy classroom atmosphere.
We were instructed to not give the most basic information over the phone (program cost, class schedule) because the idea
is to get the student into the campus and then trap them with the sales pitch.
I can go all day about how horrible this place sucks, but the truth is by the time I finish writing this, another campus
will be closed. Corporate greed and lack of genuine concern for the students has finally done this company in.
Right now, it's just a matter of squeezing every last cent into their pockets before they are force to close every campus.
I have earned two graduate degrees from accredited universities, and I hold a daytime teaching position with
a well-known employer.
My teaching job at ITT is helping me to pay off student loans.
Since coming to ITT as a part-time instructor,
I have witnessed: grades being "enhanced" so students that I failed will pass; GI Bill students being counted
as "present" even though they never come to class; students telling me that they don't have to come to class,
because the dean will pass them anyway; payment of instructors under the table to circumvent laws that require
payment of benefits.
I was hired at ITT tech a couple of months ago, As of now I am not laid off I am in the recruitment department thank you for letting me know what to expect..
I am currently and have been an Admissions Representative at ITT Tech for several years now. I love this school and how they put the students needs first We just hired 3 more Admission Reps this week. In addition I have enrolled 2 students so far this week. Their are no lay offs, we are hiring all kinds of positions. In addition all programs are Accredited.
From Webmaster
As usual, these positive comments give very little information: what is the location of this school?
And poor grammar.
Former ITT staff and ACICS (ITT's accreditor) auditor here. This is from an email sent today by ACICS, foreshadowing ITT's inevitable collapse once it's accreditor goes [belly]-up:
From an email sent by ACICS to member schools:
"June 24, 2016
Dear Member Institutions and Colleagues:
The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) voted yesterday, Thursday, June 23, 2016 to
send to the Senior Department Official (SDO) of the U.S. Department of Education a recommendation to deny recognition to ACICS.
The SDO has 90 days to make a decision, based in part on the recommendations from the Committee and the Department staff,
which also recommended a denial of recognition.
ACICS will continue to exhaust its opportunities to inform the SDO before the record is closed.
As more information becomes available, it will be shared with all ACICS colleges and schools.
It should be noted that students, graduates, employers and other community members provided articulate and supportive testimony
to the Committee regarding the value and quality of education received at ACICS colleges and schools.
That support fortified the efforts to secure a favorable recommendation from NACIQI, and are much appreciated.
Regards,
Anthony S. Bieda
Executive in Charge"
ITT adjunct faculty here.
I teach at various institutions, both public and private, both for profit and not-for-profit. I have degrees from both private,
for-profit institutions as well as public, state universities.
I have worked at virtually all levels of colleges and universities from admissions to department chair, to research fellow, to financial aid,
to full-time faculty, to adjunct faculty. I have worked on accreditation committees as well as accreditation boards.
I have found that ITT's educational ideology is very poor at teaching any meaningful aspects of the course at hand. that is disturbing
enough, but what makes it even more disturbing is the grade assessment. Essentially, ITT has removed course content as well as grade
assessment out of the hands of the instructor. They mandate what is taught, how it is taught, when it is tested over, what is tested
and even the grading. This was done in a misguided attempt to make grading more consistent, but what it does is effectively give
every student consistently good grades.
After many discussions with the locals at my ITT campus, I asked them to remove me from their adjunct faculty list.
The training is ineffective yet is graded as though it is perfect. I dare say that virtually anyone can pull an A in any class at ITT.
The scariest part is that they can do it without any real knowledge of the subject.
My last semester there, I had graduating seniors in Computer Programming that carried 4.0 GPAs, but couldn't troubleshoot simple code.
I had graduating seniors with 4.0 GPAs in Electronics Engineering Technology, that couldn't reduce Boolean expressions or apply DeMorgan's
theorem (this should have been mastered in their first year of classes) All of the fundamental troubleshooting skills were lacking.
The real problem is that a lot of the faculty I worked with were quite good at teaching and were very knowledgeable about their subjects.
ITT simply mandated every single aspect of teaching...to the point that the professors were only there so ITT could say they had degreed
professionals in the classroom.
I have worked as a general education instructor (science and math) at ITT-Tech for several years as a part-time, temporary faculty.
I like the students at ITT-Tech, and most of the faculty as well, and believe I have been a good instructor, and have always been paid on time
(not much, but the agreed amount in any case!) I don't want to work full time. Sounds like I have it made.
But the more I appreciate the efforts of my students, and the better I get to know them (sometimes I teach the same students several quarters in
a row), the worse I am feeling.
I am now seeking another part-time faculty job somewhere else. I feel like I am part of a slimey organization.
In my case, the ethical breaches are carried out for the most part by higher-ups in some distant office building in Indiana, and it is easy
to pretend I am doing no harm personally, but I have been feeling worse and worse.
So this is my last quarter as an instructor here, though I have no new job lined up yet. I have dreaded a job hunt, because I am ashamed of
working at ITT-Tech. How do I explain to prospective employers that Itt-Tech feels like working in a toxic atmosphere? How do I describe my
job history on LinkedIn? How do I use my current supervisors as references, knowing that they would be appalled to hear what I really think
of the numbers game being played with students lives?
I feel so much better about myself now, having made the decision to go somewhere else. It is like a gray sky clearing up, doors opening to
the sunshine. I realize I have been ashamed to admit to former colleagues where I work, I have been too embarrassed to volunteer for agencies
fighting social injustice. I have been afraid of meeting a young adult, or their parents, who has been given a raw deal by ITT-Tech, so I have
been staying home a lot!
Here is what sickens me the most. ITT-Tech says they want to serve students not readily accepted by traditional colleges. But prospective students
are not given any reasonable assessment of their career interests, or given any meaningful assessments of their academic level. So students of
all capabilities are dumped into programs and basically told to sink or swim. If they start to sink, students are told to take responsibility
for their success.
ITT-Tech does not do a good job of supporting students adequately, in order to help them overcome deficiencies, yet ITT-TEch will not accept
responsibility for providing a lousy product for the huge tuition paid. SO these vulnerable people are left feeling it is their own fault for
failing.
I have worked enough at different jobs, as a math instructor, to know ITT-Tech is doing a horrible job. Are there any people working at ITT-Tech
headquarters in Indiana who have a clue? ITT-Tech says they are giving people who have struggled in the past a chance at success -- but all
ITT-Tech does is take their money and give them a place to come and sit for a few hours a week in a pretend college.
Keep your eyes open, and you will see what I mean.
I am an adjunct faculty. I am writing these comments to vent my frustration with a problem my students are having.
Yes, I know ITT-Tech has lots of problems. But the latest issue at my campus is serious trouble attracting and retaining good faculty.
Maybe when the job market was tougher, qualified individuals needed the work. But now, my campus is becoming dysfunctional.
Being a teacher is a challenge -- a lot of prep work has to be done, using the provided curricula as an outline, to deliver a quality product
to the students. Many new teachers don't put in the time, or don' have the talent or knowledge to prepare for their classes.
My students tell me I am their favorite teacher, and it is because I put a lot of time into prep work for my classes, have a lot of experience
in the field I am teaching in, and want my students to have a good outcome. I am not paid much. Maybe that is why there is a problem getting
good faculty here.
The problem is getting worse - and my heart is bleeding listening to my students complain, with legitimate grievances. Little is done to address
their complaints by "powers-that-be," unless a teacher is flat out verbally abusive to students.
Some disgruntled former students on websites such as this one would love to insult me, just for the fact I am working for ITT-Tech.
I realize a lot of people have been burned. I make it clear to my associate level students they are not getting a university education,
they are getting a vocational/technical education, and they will not be able to transfer credits to a regular 4 year institute.
If students tell me they are about to enroll in a bachelor program at ITT-Tech, I caution them it is very expensive and they should do
diligent research on the expertise of the instructors.
When they report to me an instructor is abusive, I go to the Dean.
Most of my students are well informed, feel they have no-where else to go anyway, and have reasonable expectations.
My students have chosen ITT-Tech for various reasons - they need a program that has night classes, they need a school that demands
less time for homework than community colleges because of family and work commitments, or they were confused trying to fill out financial aid
forms at public schools.
Some students were swayed by a "sales-pitch" when they signed up at ITT-Tech.
I used to think most of my students could succeed at ITT-Tech with the right instructors, even with mediocre curricula and equipment,
at least at the associate level.
Of course I am looking for another job, at public technical institutes. I am hoping more public or non-profit, or quality private,
technical institutes will be built in my area, and they will address the needs of the population ITT-Tech is targeting.
I have been hoping that ITT-Tech would improve their business and education model, but that is not the case.
The dean has gotten rid of the verbally abusive instructors, at least, and is trying to find more qualified instructors without success.
Fundamentally, ITT-Tech seems to be a business, with little expertise with the education side of things. And now, without good faculty,
the house of cards is falling down.
I don't feel like I am working at an educational institute anymore; there is little meaningful support for faculty or students.
Unfortunately, ITT-Tech today is too much about the money -- taking money away from students, paying faculty low wages, overworking the Dean,
providing few services to the clients, and paying CEO millions of bucks.
Find another school! And thank you for listening.
From Web Master:
Many posts to this web site mention that they found several good instructors within the ITT-Tech institution and don't always blame the instructors.
I just finished teaching my first and if school policy doesn't change drastically it will be my last semester at ITT Tech!
I had previously posted comments and just wanted to add some additional information during my short time here.
I have a Master's Degree in Cyber Security and have worked in the computer field since the early 80's.
I have previously taught at other local colleges in this area and this school is by far the worst I have ever seen.
Let's see now, where do I begin:
-
1. Prior to my accepting a position at ITT-Tech,
I informed the Dean and the department head that my career field was in Cyber Security and computer software and have
been working in that field for over 15 years.
Right after I was hired and prior to teaching this semester, the school's department head (chair) asked me to teach an
introduction to computer programming class. I informed her that I haven't done any programming since around 2005 and
didn't feel comfortable teaching that subject without out brushing up on it.
I was assured that it would only involve some flowcharts (which I do now) no actual programming.
So based upon that scenario, I said I could do that.
When I finally received all of my material to teach from,
I found out that it involved a lot more than just flowcharts, I was supposed to teach these students Visual Basic programming,
which is something I haven't had to do myself since the late 90's!
-
2. There have been numerous instances of where we instructors have been "told" that on our breaks we are to call those students that didn't make it to our class and find out why(something I refused to do and was counselled by the dean on one occasion). I feel it is not my place to find out why a student didn't show up, they are paying their money to attend and if they feel they don't want to come to class, then that is on them, not the school. This school seems to only want their numbers to look good.
-
3. As I said previously, the school has mandatory break times that everyone is supposed to adhere to.
I had told my students on the first day of class if they needed a break before the scheduled one to just go and hurry back.
That didn't sit right with the school's department head (school's chair), she told us that breaks are ONLY at the scheduled times and not before.
After she left, I told the class once again that if they needed a break before to just go and I would take the "heat" from the school.
I had to teach almost 2 hours before the allotted break time. From my experience and from talking to several other instructors,
teaching for more than 50 minutes without a break is not productive. Other schools leave it up to the instructor when to take a break
from teaching.
-
4. The computer equipment at the school is way too old! Many of the computers only had 150GB drives in them and were probably at least 6
years or older. Their WIFI network bandwidth "sucked", I've seen faster download speeds using dialup!
For the money this school charges
the students, one would think the equipment would be state-of-the-art, not so antiquated!
-
5. If a student complains to the school that they were unable to be in class due to some "BS" reason (my word), the school's dean would
come to the instructor and have us sign a document to allow then back into the school. A few weeks ago, the dean came to me and asked me
to allow a student back into my classroom even though they hadn't attended a class for a few weeks.
The student had informed the dean that he was keeping up with the work (i.e., turning in all assignments on time). When I showed the dean
the gradebook and this person hadn't turned anything in for the past 4 weeks, he agreed with me that he was not keeping up with the work
and would not allow him back (I had said I wouldn't sign the paperwork).
-
6. On the last day of classes for the semester, one of my students told me that he was pulled out of his class the day before to complete
his "mandatory" student assessment. Apparently all students must complete these before they are allowed to go onto their next semester.
The student assessments at every other school I've taught at were optional, not mandatory. I wish they would allow the instructor's to
fill one of these out!
-
7. Several of my students told me that they learned more from me teaching this class than any other instructor so far.
Apparently a few of them had failed the class before. It was nice to know they had gotten something from the class, even though
I was learning along with them.
-
8. Needless to say, unless the school drastically changes many of their policies, I will not be teaching here again!
I used to work as an adjunct instructor in Texas.
First of all at the campus I
worked at all new instructors are told before they even teach a class that the
students are not bright. In fact, you are told that they are not capable of
complex thought and lack the ability to comprehend. You are also told that this
will likely lead to feelings of hostility and jealously. You have to keep things
simple because if you don't the students will have feelings of inferiority which
of course will be bad for you because they will complain about teachers they
feel inferior to.
Apparently there is a belief that most ITT students have had
feelings of inferiority throughout their lifetime and just cannot handle any
more. Now I met some really nice students who really thought they were going to
learn something, but to many of students were losers. Angry, hateful losers who were not there to learn and didn't want anyone else to learn.
If they were too
dumb to see something from an enlightened, educated, intelligent perspective,
they would just complain and get the instructor fired. Saw it happen countless
times.
I quit.
If you want a decent education where you might learn something,
go to a community college.
I was an employee of the Columbia, SC campus for years and a student at the
online campus for a few months.
Someone had a great idea when they came up with
this concept of charging outrageous tuition for mediocre technical programs and
specializing in low income and veteran recruitment. It is clearly about making
money and the system was designed to take advantage of idiots. The "admissions
counselors" many times know very little about IT or Computer Electronics, they
have degrees in marketing. They are high-pressure salespeople trained to
recruit, above all else. They are pressured to do whatever they can to meet
their quotas and keep their jobs.
The financial aid "advisors" also go through
serious training to package students with the best interest in ITT, not the
students.
Many of the instructors really cared about the students, but they can
only do so much.
The company gets money based on enrollment and attendance so
the emphasis many times is on just filling seats. Many of my experiences dealt
with favoritism, racism and discimination from administration.
The company had
an employee of the month program in which 1 person was selected and their photo
stayed up for months. No one else was ever selected.
My online instructors were
great but why do it if you can't transfer?
I'm an Adjunct Professor teaching my first semester in a large city in the
south. I don't want to say the exact location.
At our training sessions, we
were told that all of our training materials would be located on the school's
website. Unfortunately, mine were not and it wasn't until the beginning of the
2nd week of school that I realized that.
Emails and phone calls to the
department chair went answered, that is until a student complained to the VA
about the instructor not having the materials needed to teach the class. That
got the ball rolling! The campus director got involved as did the dean and
within 24 hours I had all of the material I needed to teach my class!
On the
first day of class, I instructed my students that if they needed to take a
bathroom break before the regular break time to just let me know and they could
go. When one of my students got up to go after about 70 minutes of teaching
(our break wasn't scheduled until 45 minutes later) I told him to go ahead and
hurry back. The dept chair was in my room at the time to observe the class, she
immediately got up and informed my class that breaks could only be taken at the
"official" break times and told the student to sit back down!
Shortly after
that, she left the room and I once again told MY students that if they needed to
use the bathroom before our scheduled break times, to go ahead and use it and
hurry back, but don't make it a habit and I would take the heat from the dept.
chair or anyone else.
It seems to me that the school administration treats these
adults like they are still in high school, the youngest in my class is 29 and
the oldest is 56.
Needless to say, this will be my last time teaching at
ITT-Tech and would discourage anyone from attending this school - the costs are
outrageous! I paid less for my Master's than someone here is paying for an
Associates!
There is much more I could say, but don't want to run out of room.
From Web Master:
Take all the room you need.
Love to hear more if you care to share.
I am a teacher with experience teaching at University level in Nursing programs.
Funding cuts at the University precipipated an unexpected loss of employment.
Since I was close to retirement, my job prospects were few.
The call came from
ITT just when the unemployment benefts were set to be renegotiated. I was joyful
over the interview with ITT, because I could sense that I would be hired. ITT
seemed so eager to have me. Still, a little voice in the back of my mind
wondered--was this all too easy?
Maybe I should have listened to the little
voice
I have been working at ITT for 6 months,and grow more discouraged by the
day. I am old school-- with a reputation for being stern, but dedicated to my
students. They tell me that I am the first teacher they have had who actually
teaches.
When I was handed learning materials and the assigned textbooks and
told to make the courses my own, I did. The materials were not sufficient to
meet the course objectives or the exams. I was not allowed to alter any exams
even though they did not match the content. I protested up the channels,
writing detailed analyses of the exam questions. Corporate got huffy with me,
and threw out only 2 of the 20 questions that I had identified as faulty.
Facing the prospect of the entire class failing, I began adding content to my
lectures that would allow my students a fighting chance. I spent many, many
hours revamping the courses to cover content absent from the learning materials.
Hours that I will never be paid for!
At the same time, I heard frequent comments
from my superiors about the wonderful job the previous instructor had done and
how her students had scored highly on exams. Yet,it was widely known that this
instructor had emailed her students in advance of the exam with the answers.
They had cheated! The student's themselves told me this.
To this day, I have
students get belligerent with me when I refuse to give them a "study guide" or
when I refuse to pass someone who has failed a course
Fortunately, I have been
able to get almost all of my students to pass the exams honestly, but the work
involved in doing so has been stupendous.
Then just yesterday, I learned that
corporate planned to revamp the courses again.
I have no say in the curriculum
at all. They won't even listen to their own faculty over exam questions. Looks
like I am going to have to pour my time into fixing their screwups all over
again! And though I will never resort to cheating on the exams, I can now see
exactly why the former instructor did so.
Exhausted ITT Instructor
As the wife of a former employee with ITT, I feel it necessary to share
our story. My husband was ( WAS in caps) a campus director until the first week
in March of 2015.
His father, who lived in Arkansas, was 90 years old. He
fell the second week in February, hitting his head and suffered 4 brain bleeds.
My husband flew to his side as his condition worsened. He was in Arkansas I
week when his Daddy died. He had kept in touch with not only the people he had
left in charge at the school, but also with his supervisor who told him to "take
all the time he needed."
We drove back from Arkansas with some of his Dad's
belongings two days after the funeral. He went back to work having missed a
total of eight work days. An hour after his arrival at the school campus here
in Columbia, his supervisor walked in and asked for his keys. She cried and
kept saying she had tried really hard to dissuade the people at corporate from
terminating my husband, but to no avail!
He received no severance pay and, not
even 2 weeks after his Daddy's death, found himself jobless and holding a
cardboard box with his personal office items. He had never received any
reprimands, write-ups, or warnings. On the contrary, his supervisor had so much
confidence in him that she had him acting as a fill-in director on occasion at
another campus an hour away from Columbia.
In protest, five of his fellow
employees resigned, one being the same week as he was let go. He has always
loved helping students find their way to a better life and truly is an inspiring
man.
This campus here still has no director.....good for them!!
I am very
bitter towards ITT and would not set foot in their door again....for any reason.
Present employees.....watch your back and have plenty of money in your savings
account! It most certainly can happen to you!
Haha this is priceless: A self professed instructor completely ignorant of the
terrible reputation and still thinks he is both esteemed and qualified to teach.
Blames students for not paying thousands out of pocket for certifications for
programs that cost $100,000.
"I am looking in the mirror idiot. I am an
Instructor at ITT and have been for many years and I know for a FACT that myself
and other Instructors with similar qualifications including EXPERT experience in
the field, certifications and Masters in Business and Computer Science and from
the students I keep in touch with and some are making 6 figure incomes, I know
for a FACT that you are a liar calling out all the Instructors because you did
not get what you expected out of your education at ITT. You are at FAULT for
that because I have many SLACKER students who expect like you probably did that
ITT should get everyone jobs. Well let me put it simply to you, YOU are the one
responsible for getting the job, getting certifications to excel yourself and
promoting (selling) yourself to the Industry. You are the SLACKER here IDIOT.
Less"
http://finance.yahoo.com/mbview/threadview/?&bn=e562cd9c-0768-3546-8b64-cf61da7fc6bb&tid=1439246004237-af78208d-8e31-4e81-9020-7ee60129d767&tls=la%2Cd%2C0%2C3
From Web Master:
First, a professional (a leader, an educator) would not call individuals an IDIOT when trying to state their case.
As I've said many times before on this site, instructors are not the major problem and most seem to be very good,
especially the non-major/humanities instructors. Though they do hire instructors who are not competent to teach.
This person says: "I know for a FACT that you are a liar calling out all the Instructors..."
The posts on this site do not call out ALL instructors.
This person did not identify their field expertise or which location they are from. You'd think they would brag about that particular
location so other students & teachers from there could back them up. Maybe there is one location where the folks in charge are going
against the grain and trying to run a real college: if so, we'd all like to know where that is and in what field students are making "6 figure incomes".
Please have those students you keep in touch with post their successes on this site.
This person ignors this fact: the U.S. Congress is launching a federal law suit against ITT for fraud. That is not something you can
blame on the students.
Not sure why this person included the above link since it contains complaints about ITT.
Here's a better link from the same site:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Announces an Investigation of ITT Educational Services, Inc. and Its Board of Directors in Connection with Possible Violations of Federal Securities Laws -- ESI
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shareholder-alert-levi-korsinsky-llp-161400553.html
I am a recent former addmissions rep.
I walked out after 4 months of employment.
I could not look at myself in the mirror. I could not sleep at night. The
preditory practices and boiler room call center workplace was only to enroll as
many as we could. Lie manipulate and strong hand anyone who in the loop looking
for work just checked a box they would be interested in furthering their
education.
To become "certified" training modules included tactics of
unbelievable deception. I have a Masters degree in counseling education. I
continued in the position as long as I could stand it to gather information on
this pathetic industry. Weekly meetings were all about numbers not caring about
a potential student's situation.
If someone went MIA we were directed to call
them every hour or risk the loss of employment. Sell the program Sell the
potential Sell the "product".
FOR PROFIT is just for what it is. FOR PROFIT. Everyone else be damned.
ITT Tech, National City, California.
On behalf of the staff (and students) at
this campus, I'll post the following:
Students. D not plan on attending this
college or any college if you do not plan on completing the course-work. I have
been an Adjunct Professor there for just under one year, and have never been
"guided" on how to educate my students. ITT Tech provides each instructor with
course-ware. It is then up to each instructor to "make it his/her own". We are
allowed to add up to 20% of what we feel makes the material better. I probably
went farther than 20% because I care about the education my students are
receiving. I cautioned students that were not "pulling their load". Do your part
and I will help you pass the course. Don't, and I will strongly advise you to
drop the course and perhaps pursue a different type of education (stocking
shelves at 7/11 is easier). I saw my fair share of students that didn't care.
They quickly found out that I do care. The 80% of students that did come to
achieve an education did their job. ITT Tech, like any school, prepares you for
the basics. It is then up to you to continue building your expertise. Good luck
to all of you that worked hard with me. If ITT Tech survives, I'll be there
again to help those of you that want to succeed.
Respectfully
Professor ofComputer and Networking
From Web Master:
Many students have noted the rare instructor who stands out and really teaches.
From the majority of the comments posted on this site, that is way too rare.
My experience teaching at ITT Technical Institute is that it is indeed the
monster that is suggested by the numerous posts on this site. The company has
put volume and profits before any semblance of academic standards for some
considerable time.
Why the Department of Education continues to recognize the
accrediting body ACICS when it accredits organizations like ITT Technical
Institute is a mystery. The DoE should be fully investigating both ACICS and ITT
Technical Institute.
Apart from the various activities that Modany and his
sidekick have been accused of by the SEC, Modany has also presided over an
organization which lowers educational standards by blocking academic staff from
teaching certain courses if they previously didn't pass enough students on that
same course. If (as is most often the case) the low pass rate simply reflects
the work submitted by the students then the effect of that interference is that
a quota system is being operated albeit dressed up as teaching quality control.
That system alone should be sufficient for the organization's accreditation to
be lost. It also results in some ITT "graduates" having a poor grasp of the
subject matter which has not gone unnoticed by HR departments and recruiters
thus further devaluing ITT's somewhat expensive "degrees".
That ITT Technical
Institute has been allowed to continue its current business model for so long is
a shame on the nation. This is not a matter of political left versus right; it
is simply a matter of right versus wrong both in terms of morality and what is
right for the nation.
ITT Technical Institute has clearly oversold its programs
to some students who were not able to derive the "benefits" that they bought
into. Other students who had the aptitude to derive benefit from the programs
have been disappointed to find that the quality of instruction and educational
resources has often been lacking. That is not to say that there are not some
excellent educators working in ITT Technical Institutes, but since the company's
business model precludes it from attracting and retaining sufficient quality
academic staff they often have to employ instructors who may be qualified on
paper yet have little professional experience in the relevant field. How some
campuses can pass an accreditation audit is a mystery given that faculty is
generally treated as a commodity.
Even if the DoE does not act it seems almost
inevitable that the company's senior lender will. They have to protect their
investors and since ITT's Management in Carmel is apparently inept there can be
little upside for the lender in allowing this charade to continue.
I taught at the Warrensville Heights location where they overload
instructors with courses and clinicals and cannot produce policy documentation
to prove this is a legitimate practice.
I felt like I was participating in
fraud because they forced instructors in the nursing program to teach at
clinical sites that were clearly inadequate for the subject matter being taught.
I could not participate in that any longer.
I felt legally and morally forced
to do what I knew was wrong and to go against the board of nursing.
The
director of that school is is too old and out of touch with the nursing world
and was made aware of the problems and clearly chose to defy the board of
nursing. He knew and didn't care that the clinical site was clearly inadequate
for the course.
They allowed people who got caught cheating to make up work and
continue in the program. Any real school would have expelled the students
because it happened more than once to my knowledge. But the director of
warrensville a school said it was ok.
There is no integrity in that program.
It's all about money.
Many students told me they were promised things by
recruitment and in the end didnt have it in writing and they wouldn't follow
through with. It is a bait and switch!
Run far and fast from ITT warrensville
and the nursing program especially.
Please read the documents on the ohio board
of nursing website, it's public knowledge. Beware! They are crooked and the
schools director is aware of it all!!! Run run run!
I thank the lord every
day that he gave me the courage to stand for what I believe and walk away and
lead me to a real college to teach at. I will contact the board of nursing and
lawyers involved to back up the deception!
It is morally wrong!
ITT actively has a public relations office in Carmel, IN
full of employees who go all over the internet and post comments to counter bad
reviews and comments. They are PAID a lot of $$$ to do it.
I work at ITT and although the institution isn't perfect, it isn't the monster
everyone is making it out to be.
And whichever employer who wrote about the
paper with crayon on it being of more worth than an ITT diploma is a complete
moron. I personally know students who have graduated from ITT, including my best
friend, who have said they were WAY more prepared and qualified for jobs than
other candidates with degrees from other traditional institutions. And my best
friend STARTED out making $67k/yr. He now makes 6 figures 3 years later.
Get all
the facts before jumping on the "We hate ITT bandwagon."
This employee did not state what their job is or at which ITT they work.
More likely they are administrative, not instructional.
They also do not state what program or course of studies their friend had at ITT.
I've been operating this web site for many years now and I have very few employees have anything positive to say and far fewer students.
This person should encourage their successes to come forward to post on this site.
Why don't the students from the commercials come forward?
I have worked for an ITT in Northern California as a representative.
While
students have their grievances so do the employees. As a representative I
realized that the DOR plays favoritism and tends to help her so called close
friends do well by pushing and simply handing out prospective students to them.
The DOR of a certain Northern ITT gets involved in petty gossip and chooses and
picks who should be getting the best walks and call-ins
I think the government should close the ITT tech because They have worst
admin I ever seen.
I worked with them as adjunct
No respect to instructors. The
charge the student more than $2000 / class and they give the PhD faculty
$1600/14 weeks
They enroll 30 students/class so they make 60k/class and They
give the faculty only 1.6 k. I called this Modern Slavery.
And You are asking
me why there stock market goes from $95/share to $4.5/share. It is opvous that
tgey are failure
I suggest firing all admin and selling this college to
other Investor who can change the college to productive One and risk our
students.
I really fail sorry about those students who tricked by The
recruiters and joined this college. Government definitely Should put they under
continuous watch.
In 2011 I was chair at one of their school's the criminal justice
department and it was a constant battle with headquarters.
I did my best to
insure the students were receiving quality teachers and classes and that they
would have the skills to do something with their degree. Headquarters only cared
that I spent an inordinate amount of time calling students who had left to bring
them back. I knew they were not offering the classes that most of these students
needed to graduate but they preferred for me to lie to them just to get them
back in the door. I would not do that so it wasn't pleasant listening to their
sarcastic and mean remarks and constant harassment.
Their course syllabi that we
were supposed to follow were worthless and the books they used not much better.
I added readings and assignments to make the classes worthwhile.
They promised
that they would keep the criminal justice department open long enough for my
students who were near completion to graduate but they did not. They shut it
down and only offered classes online. This left my students in a terrible place.
They did not sign up for online classes but now they were being forced.
I worked
to get most of them transferred to a real school. They lost some of their
credits but in the end they will be much better off.
ITT are scum and they do
not care about the students, only about making money.
A degree from ITT is very
expensive and students are left with large student loans and a degree that can't
even be used to enroll in a master's program because the ITT accreditation is
worthless.
Instructor at ITT-Tech in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The Dean, the
Assistant Dean, the Director, and most of the staff have been pretty good, but
the problem is more systemic than that. I teach Software Development, a new
course that has been rolled out in phases. It will almost certainly be
cancelled like many other former ITT courses, (graphic design, paralegal, game
development, etc.) The fact that so many former courses were cancelled should
be a red flag to students.
Before the actual courses even began, I was part of
a conference call where I reviewed the entire curriculum (for free, naturally,
no one was going to pay me for this service), and I expressed severe
reservations about it. I've been a developer for several years and worked at
most of the major companies, and the curriculum wouldn't have made someone
intern-level proficient.
Here's the cream topping on that. After voicing my
complaints, the people on the other end said, "Well, that's fascinating, but
have you filled out the official adjustment form on the website?" I said,
"Aren't you the people in charge? Why do I need to fill out a form when we've
just had a one hour call about this? And what official adjustment form?" I
looked at the Dean and the Director, but they just gave me back puzzled looks.
I said, "Sir, there is no official form that anyone knows of, where is the URL
on the website?" We then heard the phone get put down and heard, "BOB! Hey
Bob, where's the official adjustment form? Oh, it's not up yet? Okay." Then
he gets back on and says, "Hey, we'll get the official adjustment form online
and then submit your criticism okay?" There is still no official adjustment
form.
After that, when I started teaching, the courses were a shotgun splatter
of random developer courses that switched programming languages frequently,
covered them superficially, and featured several "theoretical" classes that
taught nothing. The courseware was a USB drive that loaded a virtual machine.
It ran so slowly, and crashed so frequently, many students couldn't even start
it. They have now switched to giving out laptops the students affectionately
call "craptops" that are full of bloatware and can't run because of the problem
of Windows 8 and the ten malwares they install on it keeping CPU usage at 90+%.
The books were "Frankenbooks", stitched pieces from several different books so
that they formed an incoherent mess. Lessons would refer to non-existent pages,
(which, because it was stitched together, referred to the wrong pages anyway,
and there was no change to make it match), or assume that things which weren't
even in the Frankenbook had already been covered. Many of the books were badly
outdated or were written by people who clearly haven't programmed before. The
worst offender in that category is the JavaScript course, (technically HTML5,
CSS, and JavaScript), written by a crackpot lady (Rachelle Reese, here:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/rachellereese) whose only programming
skills seem to be Visual Basic in 2001.
Her book and labs do not work as
written, and the code is appalling. If you showed that to any developer, they'd
laugh at you. When I asked why they couldn't find a decent writer, it's because
they pay tutoring pay for subject matter experts. Yep, Subject Matter Experts
at ITT make a whopping $15 an hour to create courseware. That probably explains
some of the problems with the labs and materials.
We had a group come in
looking for interns, and even said they would train the students up. They left
without hiring a single one because "None of them were even remotely prepared."
A 48K degree that won't even get you an internship spot.
Most of the other
instructors with few exceptions have no programming skills whatsoever,
instructors quit or leave mid-course, the students come in with no computer
literacy skills and no motivation, the instructors they've had prior are so bad
that the students only come for their 1 in 3 to stay enrolled, and the
courseware doesn't work or is completely broken.
Oh, the internet. The
internet is so slow that we can't even watch youtube videos at 240p. Which
means I teach web development classes where we can't connect to the web.
I only
stay because every so often, I get students that I manage to find internships
for, I teach them about our Parish library having resources like Teamtreehouse,
Lynda, and Safari books online, and teach them about udemy, udacity, Saylor,
edx, coursera, stanford online, and other free and paid resources. A small few
actually learn from that and do that instead of bothering with ITT. And I live
for those small victories because at least a few students learn from me.
I taught English Composition at an ITT Tech campus in Wichita, KS,
in 2010.
The only requirement for a student to pass was that he or she actually
show up for class most of the time.
Former academic school chair.
Two phrases summarize one's teaching experience at ITT:
1. Student Success Rates:
an instructor's
percentage in their course(s) of students receiving a passing grade.
If your SSR
% numbers are too low, you find yourself written up (or in some cases,
encouraged my academic management to inflate grades). Highly unethical!
Students passing keep Title IV financial aid dollars coming in, so best to
pass'em all and keep the money flowing (note the sarcasm in that last
statement).
Student Engagement Rates:
an instructor's percentage in their
course(s) of students attending class.
ITT doesn't require an admissions entry
test, so to say they scrape the barrel on some students the bring in who are
Title IV funding-eligible is an understatement. Getting some students (who care
nothing about class, only squandering a financial aid stipend check until the
well runs dry) is impossible, regardless of outreach attempts
(i.e. calling
and emailing absent students to "encourage" them to come to class), yet if
students don't attend the instructor's SER % numbers suffer and the instructor
is held responsible.
Again, highly unethical!
This school
is being sued by
the U. S. Consumer Financial Protection Board, for predatory lending practices
among other things, and have been the focus of criminal investigation by the U.
S. Dept of Ed's Inspector General. It's corporate culture is toxic, and a den of
thieves. I worked with a few good people there (mostly adjuncts who taught
part-time), but overall this is a company I would never recommend anyone with
integrity or ethics affiliate themselves with.
I am a former instructor at ITT Tech Webster, Texas campus.
I am no longer there because the new dean encourages/forces the instructors to make attendance and grade changes.
Attendance and grade changes are very important for financial aid charges, engagement numbers, retention and
attrition. Without the change, the school would have less students and hence less money. so, she is forcing
the instructors to make the changes.
I will just use her first name Tamara. The worst part is that Tamara is allowed to be untruthful and unethical
because the director and her boss Leslie is as well. I know that several instructors, staff, and even another
director reported what Tamara was doing to Leslie and Leslie simply turns a blind eye. She is uneducated and
has no scruples.
It's sad because the programs could be great and could afford a lot of students a great education to obtain jobs;
however, leadership is sub par.
I really with the Department of Education would look into this campus. It's doors need to shut if Leslie and Tamara
continue to hold leadership positions.
I taught at ITT in Southern California from 2000-2003.
I nearly quit during the first quarter there, but have a strong Don Quixote complex, and stayed to
agitate for change. Others, like Former Instructor at an ITT in Texas have said they were coerced
into inflating grades.
I feel the need to clarify that. I was never *explicitly* told to inflate grades, or to falsify
attendance reports. My job evaluation, however, was dependent on student "performance", and "retention".
The greatest teacher of all time could do no more to motivate some of the students I had.
Poor preparation for college, combined with a strong sense of buyers remorse dealt me classrooms
full of belligerent attitudes, and apathy toward studying.
Attendance reports I submitted were altered by administration.
I am a Current Employee at ITT Tech. I have read all of the comments from Staff & Students on this site.
I would like to clarify a few things.
-
Representatives are NOT Student Advisers. They are Student Representatives who give the student
a tour of the school,explain the programs offered and help the student sign up to attend.
-
All Faculty must have at least a Bachelor's Degree and most must have a Master's in their
field to be able to teach a class.The Dean,All Dept.Directors,CSS,CRS,FACs,and even the Library
Employees must have a College Degree. The only ITT employee that does not require a College degree
is the receptionist who must have at least a High School diploma.
-
The is a "3 in a row missed class rule" that states in the Student handbook that if you miss 3
classes in a row, you can be dropped from that class. Read the Handbook. It is on the Student Portal
-
This is a Post Secondary Educational Institution (Not Grammar School or High School)You are expected
to behave as adults and assume the RESPONSIBILITY of coming to class, Studying, and EARNING your grades.
-
All Financial information is spelled out in your Financial packet YOU sign when completing your
Financial Aid Appointment. Why would you sign something without fully reading and understanding it first?
-
Some of us really Care about our students and try to help as much as we possibly can but as the
Student, you must also give your 100%.
-
Yes,it does state on all Commercials that "Credits may not be Transferable"
- Come fully prepared when you tour the facility. Ask questions. Do your Due-diligence,
Get your answers before signing up. Would you buy a Car or a House site unseen?
-
No, ITT does Not write their own Books. The books are published by
Pearson Education,Elsevier,John Wiley & Sons,& Jones & Bartlett.
-
and my Final comment...
I am truly
Sorry for the ones who had a bad experience. Not all ITT Campuses are bad. I am very
Proud of the students who have passes through the doors of our Campus and have seen many success stories.
From Web Master:
This person did not state where they work and in what capacity.
- True, Representatives are not Advisers. Why would ITT want advisers any way?
- Just because a faculty member has a degree does not mean they are qualified to teach.
- Being dropped after missing 3 classes in a row is fine, unless there is no
allowance for family/medical emergencies. That would be heartless.
- One of the big complaints posted on this site is the high grades handed out for
little and/or poor effort on behalf of the student. The grades become meaningless.
- Many students are young or inexperienced in the world of financing and report not fully understanding what
they are signing.
Many also say the forms are filled out for them quickly.
- I find the most caring and helpful instructors are ones outside of the major: English, Math, etc... the basics.
It is the core classes where students find the poor instructors.
- The notice in the commercials about transferability does not stand out. That should be made clear during
the initial tour. Many report not being told their classes won't transfer at the time they enroll.
- That is why this site exists: for people wanting to research before considering ITT for an education.
I am glad many have steered clear of ITT thanks to the warnings posted on this site.
- I'm not sure who wrote the books I used while attending ITT; the ones used in my core classes were full of errors and had poor grammar.
It doesn't matter who produces the books. It was a poor selection, that was the problem.
I worked at ITT from 2009 until last year when I could no longer stand to work for it.
The director I worked for at the last campus used to tell students blatantly incorrect statements about the Dept of Ed,
their loans and degrees (a bachelors is a terminal degree . . .); the director did not know anything about academics
and would just b.s.
The campus was full of cronyism. Everyone was afraid of the director.
Was told by that director to change documentation All the time: "Fix it." That director refused to pay for tutors
($15 hourly for adjuncts) when students were forced online for many of their classes because of massive layoffs
(to save corporate $) and the director said the campus can't afford it.
That March there was a glitch in the online reporting software. Saw the campus had made $2 million--after laying off
half the academic workforce and forcing students online who were not prepared.
That director got promoted to be a regional manager.
In the campus where I worked previously, the director was a sexual predator, had affairs going on with adjunct faculty and others,
got people jobs in exchange and even though the activities were reported, the corporation did nothing until a lawsuit was filed.
At that campus I was told to revise grades for a student--the dean who was his friend arranged for another academic administrator
to give the student the final exam and then told me to change the grades. I refused and got into trouble.
Thought the problems were only at that campus. Was wrong. It's system wide.
Workloads were crazy; OSHA should go in there.
Deeply regret my professional time there.
As a life long learner (hold undergrad and graduate degrees - NOT from ITT) and former employee (for several years and at various campuses),
I can assure you all that ever since kevin modany assumed the CEO role at ITT, the organization, as well as the quality of the education
offered have suffered immensely. Nowadays, in my humble opinion, GREED IS THE COMMON DENOMINATOR.
Whether you're looking for employment
with ITT or to start school at one of the campuses, I urge you first to do your (thorough) homework BEFORE HAND.
Best of luck!!
Been an instructor for ITT Tech for more than 10 years. In the last three years, things have gone so downhill!!!
Been teaching a gen ed course, upper level, with prerequisites that include several writing courses,
as all the assignments in this course are written in the APA format. Some of these poor students can barely read and write.
It is OBVIOUS that they are being cheated out of an education. But as an instructor at several *real* school besides ITT,
I do adhere to a set of minimal standards, some of which up until the past couple years were approved by ITT.
One of those standards is academic honesty, known in other schools as plagiarism. I refuse to allow it.
I will give students the opportunity to rewrite their plagiarized papers. I have explained plagiarism at length ad nauseum.
Yet, students continue to cheat, and I continued to forward their assignments to their deans.
Students who commit academic dishonesty after three attempts are supposed to be expelled.
You know who deans blame for this? The instructor!
Instead of explaining that copying-and-pasting is cheating, they instead blame me.
Deans even claimed there is nothing wrong with the plagiarized work. They claim *I* haven't explained the assignment
clearly, even though the student asked for no explanation, and when it is explained, refused to take responsibility
for the student's own actions.
After the first week at this SoCal campus, I knew right away that I was not going to teach but to call those students who did
not show up to class and force them to come in.
Why is it such a big deal for ITT to force instructors to do this?
After 4 weeks I was bombarded with email asking for my improvement plan about eliminating absence of students.
Then this is the top of them all, they treated students like Little League players,
awards for attendance, honors every terms.
I am done after fulfilling this summer. Complete waste of my summer so far.
Yes this is a joke of a school.
I was employed by ITT Tech as an Academic Dean for three years. I'm going to list a few of the things I saw while employed there:
-
Instructors who quit or were fired for speaking out about the substandard curriculum a few weeks into the quarter and there was no one to take over the instruction of the class so students were all given were told not to come to class that they would all be given As.
- Books not received until the last day of class. Books with misinformation, outdated software or no software for classes.
- Prospective students told bold-faced lies about the prospects of employment or about the cost of tuition.
- Program name changes (repeatedly) so the school would not have to report the dismal job placement rates to students or the government.
- Teachers, staff, literally every employee paid on a point system where one enrolled, funded, attending, passed student equals one point.
- Department managers, campus directors and employees who had no knowledge or experience in education whatsoever. Clueless.
It's all a big scam to get student's Federal loan and grant money. The education is worthless, the degree is worthless, the corporation cares nothing for students or employees.
If you sign up you'll be sorry.
I was an employee in the financial aid office at an ITT campus for six months.
Alarm bells went off when, during the interview, I saw the Director's diploma from the University of Phoenix hanging on his wall.
I went ahead and accepted their offer because I just needed a job at the time.
I had 10 years of experience in working at a community college but had been laid off due to state budget cuts.
Boy, was ITT a wake-up call! Employees in FA routinely fill out the forms for students,
getting them out of classes to just sign in to their student loan accounts or FAFSA accounts using passwords & PINS
so they (school personnel) could make changes to their information. We were expected to analyze a dozen or more
spreadsheets per week with students' account information and how much they owed to the school.
We then had to correct any of the information and upper management (directors & HQ)
were CONSTANTLY on our backs to get the loans done, quick.
As well, we had to see new prospects every day and re-sell them on the over-priced substandard education and were
expected to have a prospect fully packaged within an hour or so. The Director of Finance said "before they have a
chance to experience buyer's remorse."
It was very clear that ITT did not care about either employees or students from the start.
They were both only a means to an end which was getting Federal dollars into their banks.
I started looking for another position on day one at ITT.
It's like selling your soul to the devil.
I found another job, gave three weeks notice and left as fast as I could.
A few months later my current employer told me that ITT had given me a very bad reference but luckily
for me, they knew what kind of school they were and they did not pay any attention to it.
Please, students and employees: get out NOW. It's a scam and a fraud.
I taught in Missouri. It only took me one quarter to realize that the "recruiters" were nothing more than salesman.
The students I had in class were very poorly educated and were clearly wasting their money.
I quit when I refused to pass a student after my boss told me to raise their grade so they could keep enrolling.
This website is a public service. ITT Tech is a scam.
I have a Ph. D in one of the social sciences. I have 20 years' experience in teaching at the university
level,mane three prior to my work at ITT teaching online. I worked for this
institution for eight months.
The server for their online classes was DOWN for
10 out of 72 days. I was penalized if students failed. I was summarily
dismissed- three weeks into an eight week semester- because they did not
acknowledge their receipt of what they term ' professional development
activities' this is because I had an online supervisor who was responsible for
about 400 instructors- this is not an exaggeration. It was nearly impossible for
me to get help for the students.
Go to the community college in your local area.
If they have online courses at your state university or community college, take
online courses through there.
DO NOT spend your money. The courses do not
transfer, and the education could be spotty, at best.
I am a former instructor at an ITT in Texas
This place is not a real school.
Instructors are encouraged to lie about student's academic performance and attendance,
when you don't and I wouldn't, problems occur.
You are also told immediately after hire that
the students you will be teaching are too dumb to understand real college level work.
Foolish me, I decided to try and teach them anyway.
I quickly found out that most of the
students I taught could not comprehend anything more complicated than a fairytale. Yet for
some reasons were completely convinced they were geniuses. Then I found out that the little
assessment they give prospective students almost always tells them that they are, so the
deception begins early.
Yeah, a bunch of mentally retarded, learning impaired, emotionally
disturbed, dope heads, losers, and criminals are really smart. Okay, gotcha. Most of these
people could not succeed at a real school. Engagement in true intellectual discourse is impossible.
Their limited mental ability will only result in frustration and anger.
They cannot accept instruction let alone correction. Many have flunked out of real colleges.
Some are there for financial aid or in effort to keep out of trouble.
The faculty is a front;
they are only there to lie about the numbers and make sure students don't drop out.
They want that money. I even heard them joke about how dumb the students are.
Yet they want their money. I was even told that I was lucky to get out when I did,
as those who stay often have a hard time getting on at a real college or university.
If you are smart enough to understand this post, then you are probably too smart to go to ITT.
Whatever you do, don't attend classes there, No good can come from it.
If you're considering teaching for ITT, don't. I'm not disgruntled,
but am seeking other teaching opportunities and will leave at the first
good opportunity with a reputable school, and here's why:
- Student engagement: a variable instructors (full-time and adjunct) are evaluated
on, which is measured by the numbers of students absent in your course
each week, as well as how many withdrawal or "drop" from the class (3
consecutive absences or absences for 50+% of classes result in a drop,
and students can request to drop themselves). Ergo, faculty are
ecouraged by upper management to fudge attendance records to better
their engagement rates and minimize drops (keeping tuition profits
rolling whether the student is actually in class or not).
- Student success: another key variable instructors are evaluated on, this one
based on the total number of students in your class receiving a passing
grade. If you fail a student - whether legitimately earned or not -
you're penalized in this variable. Ergo, faculty are encouraged by upper
management to pass all students, regardless of actual performance or
comprehension.
- Predefined lesson plans: ITT corporate not only
insists on standardized syllabi, but even lesson plans (down to exactly
which assignments must be given each class). Any deviation or "academic
freedom" is expressly prohibited.
The state and campus I've worked for
are irrelevant as these apply to ALL ITT campuses and faculty
nationwide. I've seen and heard of many full-time instructors and
schools chairs being laid off in the last year (one I personally know of
who was named school chair of the year before being laid off less than a
week later, just before last Christmas), which not only suggests rocky
financial solvency within ITT, but a lack of any semblence of dedication
to the individuals in the campuses doing the work in the classroom.
The ITT work environment is very
sweat shop
not in the sense that anyone
has ever physically mistreated me, but management makes no secret that
faculty as seen similar to assembly line workers.
One last point of
note: ITT no longer gives any sort of entrance assessment with any sort
of qualifying score for admission. If you have a HS diploma/GED, can
obtain student loans, and can fog a mirror (and that last point may be
waiverable with a couple students I've recently taught) they will gladly
accept your student deb … er, I mean student tuition.
I am an adjunct instructor at ITT Tech in Omaha, NE
teaching my first course for them. I DO NOT PLAN TO RETURN!
I agree that ITT is all about the money and trying keep students enrolled so they can
keep collecting that tuition.
I have a masters degree in my subject area
and have been in education for 12 years. Because several of my students
were failing (based on them deciding not to show up to class or not turn
in any homework) the quality of my teaching was called into question. I
was asked to sit down to discuss instructional strategies with the Dean.
The instructional materials given to me were inadequate and the pacing
is not realistic for the type of student that is enrolled there.
Don't waste your money.
Sometimes I feel like I've sold my soul to be an ITT instructor and it's
a shame.
Five years ago it wasn't so bad, way over priced for what the
students got. As little is spent on the students as possible unless it
was pizza. For many years there was an unending supply of pizza. What
they spent on pizza was badly needed in the classroom. Now they don't
even spend the money of pizza.
Much like the students new instructors
get a bunch of lies about teaching at ITT. How easy it is to get course
supplies and materials and how education is #1. It's taken weeks of
emails and requests to get what I need and by the time I get it the
class is nearly over.
Unless you're getting your degree in IT it will be
worthless, all these other programs are scams, I know I teach in one of
them. My graduated students can't get jobs in their field because the
education they received is a joke. I'm forced to dumb down my classes.
If too many students fail or drop I can't teach that course again. It
doesn't matter why the student dropped; if they die it still counts
against me.
I'm a glorified babysitter and my main job is entertaining the
students not teaching them.My students main job is getting out of class
early.
I'll often have the same group of students in the following
quarter. I make it a habit to ask them a few basic questions we covered
in the last week of last quarter and none of them could answer. At first
I thought am I that crappy of a teacher. So I used the same test on
other instructor's students and they couldn't answer the questions.
It's
no wonder my students can't get good jobs, there is no way they can
compete with students from universities. I have to dumb down my classes
so much I've become stupid myself, why keep up with my field of study if
they can't learn it.
Five years ago I would of felt comfortable teaching anywhere, but now I
don't think I could teach at the community college level let alone a
bachelors program.
I feel so sorry for my graduated
students, many stay in contact, they are desperate, they are in dead end
jobs and getting billed up to $900 a month on their student loans.
I
hope our CEO enjoys the millions he makes every year I just hope I don't
meet him in hell someday. His background is in finance and ITT's world
is made up of numbers on spread sheets and those numbers are the only
thing that matters. When the numbers are bad they don't want to find out
the real reasons behind them. I've had to fill in on some of the
management meetings. The only things ever discussed are the numbers on
spread sheets, nothing about curriculum or anything to do with educating
students.
Another bad thing about teaching at ITT is it's just as hard
for me to find a new job, as my student, due to ITT's bad reputation. I
think it would be easier as a registered sex offender. One thing I have
done that is positive for some of my better students especially veterans
is to steer them to public colleges. Often I'll have a former student
get a hold of them and have a talk. I just can't see taking advantage of
these war vets. The rest of the students are hopeless and unemployable,
they might as well enjoy the ITT show.
Former employee:
ITT's financial aid policy states that they DO NOT CUT CHECKS to
students from any leftover financial aid funds unlike any other college
in the whole universe. Mostly there's nothing left but if there is
STUDENTS DO NOT GET IT.
From a former employee:
The Digital Game Design was a huge scam that so many young, unknowing
students fell for. I know how the Marketing Reps "sold" it: Get a great
high-paying job with google, yahoo, microsoft or some other huge
company! You could be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs! REALLY - do you
think that google would actually hire from ITT??? They turn down MIT
grads, Harvard grads, Stanford grads every day!
When the grads from that program could never find jobs with that
ridiculous degree (did you ever hear of game designer in Alabama? or
Mississippi?) the Department of Education made them quit offering it.
So, they used the old bait & switch for a few years till the Department
of Ed made them stop that.
Wake up people - make sure others aren't scammed by these greed-mongers
like you were!
I am a former instructor at an ITT in Texas.
I am so glad to be out of that place. I felt myself getting dumber
and more petty by the day just being in there with those losers. It is
filled with morons, from management to the students this is the worst
place on earth.
The lying, backstabbing (that's just the staff)
to students who constantly lie and complain about their education
knowing full well they cannot go to a real school and succeed. The good
students really do suffer for the lazy ones who treat life (and
apparently) their educations like a joke. Some barely come to class, do
no work and complain. Others come to class and act like it's one big
party (hence the constant flow or pizza and cake-at school?). Most are
worthless students earning a worthless degree.
ITT only cares
about the bottom line and that is the dollar. The students are resentful
and jealous of anyone who is not like them and so is the staff.
Want to learn something? Stop being a loser thug or redneck, stop
getting tatoos, quit having babies everywhere, get off the internet,
learn how to read and go to a junior college. Of course if laziness and
mediocrity is you, give ITT a try. You'll be in good company.
I am a current employee (the Bessemer, Alabama
campus).
We just had an ACICS accreditation audit last week. Just
let me say, it was bad. Truly, I do not know how a school with so many
major problems in every department can be allowed to continue to operate
and continue to fleece huge sums of money from students, parents and the
tax paying citizens of this country.
I am not able to give my name. But I am an
"adjunct instructor" at ITT. I only do one class at a time and was
recently called back up to help out. I had truly forgotten why I had
been out for a while and not returned.
First: A few positives.
Most of the instructors really do seem to care to some degree about the
students. It is a privilege and responsibility to be part of a student's
life and learning.
But..., Even though it's none of my business,
I really have a hard time knowing how much money the students are
spending and for a degree that MAY get them an ENTRY LEVEL job. Many
jobs won't accept these degrees. $45,000 for an associate's is crazy.
Let alone one that doesn't count at some employers.
Community
college accepts everyone and always lets you keep trying until you get
it (just like ITT). But the cost is 1/10.
There is a REASON why
the typical student at ITT is notably different than others. (I won't go
into what I mean by 'different' but if you have been there you know)
I am paid $1,500 for an entire 12 week course. And this has been the
pay since at least 6 years ago (when I first started). When I casually
asked the director about raises he mentioned that 'clearly we weren't in
it for the money but rather to make an impact on student's lives'.
SOMEBODY is making a boat load.
When I started up last week I was
given my key and course material the day before I started. Not uncommon
at all. I was well prepared. (Sarcasm)
When I was preparing my
syllabus I wanted to include the start and end times for the class but I
couldn't remember them for certain. I asked a fellow instructor and he
mentioned 6pm to 10:45pm. WHAT???!!?!?!? It used to be 10:20! This was
not told to me when I rehired. And, no the pay is the same.
With
marginal prep time (which most instructors would naturally do) this
still puts the pay at about $20 per hour. Not too great for someone with
a Master's Degree.
They require instructors to CALL students who
have missed class. I strongly disagree with this. This is supposed to be
ADULT learning. AND the reason that they give is that it shows that you
care for the student. Although that COULD be true, the REAL reason that
they have you call is that they need the student to be there so the
student doesn't disqualify for student financial aid. There's no
question about that.
The course work is ho-hum. My 8th grader
could blow it away without a sweat. I know that everyone is at different
levels and have different capabilities and should have the chance to
learn, but again, the community college is GREAT for that. Take Math 099
as many times as you need until you get it. At ITT I spent a whole
quarter teaching... if A=B*C, what is B? Really, a whole quarter. Yikes.
The instructors CAN get small bonuses. But they are based on STUDENT
SURVEYS! Not performance reviews. But rather how well the student liked
the class. This is a conflict of interest.
I could go on, but I
am venting here for the benefit of others as well as to merge my own
thoughts as to why I will be leaving again ASAP. Even though I could
have a good impact on a student's life by being there, ultimately I
don't want to be part of a system that I don't believe in. A system that
I wouldn't send my own kids to.
Because I care about you (even
though I don't know you =)...PLEASE consider your local community
college. If you DO go to community college then you also will have the
option to go to an accredited university later on. (Credits likely to
transfer to a university. ITT credits don't transfer much of anywhere.
Often even within ITT!)
I'm a former employee of the Bessemer, AL campus
and everything I'm reading here is pretty much true.
People are
hired in management positions who should never even be let out on the
streets. Directors are only there to crack the whip on the employees and
keep them lying and cheating to get money coming in to the school.
Pretty much, no Director or Dean had any idea how to run a school the
whole time I worked there.
Also, in 2011 there was an almost 100%
turnover of employees, including instructors who quit in mid-class.
Students were told to just not come to class but they all received a
good grade anyway, that is, if their loans were all paying out to the
school.
It was a terrible working environment mainly because
everyone knew it was a rip-off of the students but we weren't allowed to
even talk about it among ourselves. One lady was fired because she gave
out the phone number to headquarters to a disgruntled student.
The good, caring, hard-working employees are nudged out quickly, leaving
behind a bunch of dolts and fools who just plain do not care anything
about ethics or morals.
Please do some research on this school
before attending! They are under investigation by the government as well
as there are numerous lawsuits by students who have been victims of
these nefarious people.
I am a former employee of the Bessemer,
Alabama campus.
Every comment that has been made here is true and
a lot more that students and parents don't know.
Among and
between employees, Directors, Deans, and administrative staff there is
rampant sexual harassment, affairs between people married to other
people that are consummated during working hours on campus, favoritism
granted for sexual favors and other gifts given to management, as well
as the daily fraud of the Federal government that pretty much goes on
perpetually.
It is a horrific working environment and anyone
going in with any optimistic thoughts of improving students' lives etc.
soon have any ounce of altruism or feeling crushed out of them.
Management and directors are often uneducated morons who have never
worked in a school setting EVER and do not have a clue where to begin to
do their jobs so they heft their jobs off on overworked, underpaid
staff.
One Director of Finance there had everything so badly
messed up that he should have been fired, but guess what, ITT upper
management MOVED him to Registrar, where everything in that office is
now royally screwed up and the financial aid and records staff now do
all of his work. These things go on every day at ITT.
Unfreekingbelievable!
The whole campus is so unbelievably beyond
any type of fixing at this point.
If the taxpayers, the Feds, and
the general public knew just a small part of what goes on there the
place would be shut down.
Please, students: Go to a REAL SCHOOL,
ITT is a rip off and a scam.
I worked at the Tallahassee campus. For a
long time there was no Diector, and there were 3 changes in Academic
Deans.
The place started out with good potential, lots of good
hires by the original Ph.D. dean, but it quickly went down the tubes as
the educated left or were forced out, by those with minimal to no
education.
They only care about getting students roped into
loans. The phrase a Pell and a pulse
are all they are looking for. You
may have seen that the federal agency Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau is trying to stop money-mills like these, that put people into
huge financial debt, with virtually no gain to that person. The CFPB has
all ITT's on a Legal Hold
as they investigate.
Senator Tom
Harkin, of Iowa, has held hearings about this. If you are a student who
feels ripped off, look up CFPB and Senator Harkin and let both know what
happened to you.
Lots of students complain about the constant
calls they get from ITT … before you sign your credit life away with
them, they will hound you to sign on the dotted line. The calls after
are to make sure you sit
in class the first 3 meetings, so they can
for sure collect that money.
The government also looks at how
many who have paid actually graduate and how many find employment in the
field they studied, the figures for ITT are WRETCHED! You most likely
will not find a job that will pay more than you'd have gotten without
the degree.
These degrees don't qualify you for more than
entry-level, just as you'd have gotten without the degree.
For
employees it is a sweat-shop environment. Outrageous demands. Long
hours. Pay for some is okay, if willing to be treated with the courtesy
given to slaves back in the 1600s. Speak up and say anything they don't
like and you are figuratively kicked to the floor.
I've seen
women told that while they are lifting 65 pound boxes, they can be
excused from wearing high heels on those days! REALLY!!!
Good
teachers won't stay. Adjuncts make only $1,500 per class … this means
12 weeks of teaching that course for about 4 hours, logging info into
the system about which students were there and who didn't show up.
CALLING the absent students, logging their responses. Grading the
homework, and more.
They lose any chance at bonus money if they
lose students during the quarter. They could earn more money standing on
a street corner with a sign.
This is a bad place. I'm sure some
campuses are better, or hope so. But, in general the good teachers and
staff leave or get pushed out by the loafing top administrators, poorly
educated and with no Education
backgrounds worth mentioning.
Did I say this: It's a bad place.
From Web Master:
Read Senator Harkin's report by clicking on the Gov Report button to the
left at the top of this page
the Bessemer Alabama campus
It is embarrassing
to work for this place. I am currently seeking other employment. I know
the new director of the campus and the new Director of Finance are
sleeping together...he was caught with his hand down her shirt!
The new Director of Recruiting clashes with them because she is not
playing their game and realizes that the people that work for her are
really low class. I often wonder y she is here. She does not fit.
Smart and professional do not describe the management here. I have
told her what I know about the affair between the others and other
information I am able to prove regarding cheating on admissions tests. I
cannot wait to leave there. I have said bad things about her just to
join the crowd of lazy co-workers of mine but she showed me the high
road.
I plan to shock them all when I leave because I work hard
and do well yet they gave me a below standard performance review. It is
all about money.
The current director got fired from Sylvan for
sexual harrassment and the Director of Finance is a ghetto woman from
Virginia College and the Dean is a failed business man with no people
skills.
As a person currently contacting people to attend school
at the Bessemer campus with only 2 chairs because the others quit...Just
say NO. Just say NO. Go to Lawson or Jeff State and save money and learn
something away from the madness. Seriously.
I currently work
for ITT Tech and can tell you that you MUST do your research. If you do
not plan on staying at the school do NOT attend. The amount of loans and
debt you will get into is not worth it.
As far as the education
and instructors. I do agree that a handful of the instructors are NOT
qualified to teach their courses, but then again I have attended class
as community college and the instructors teach IT courses but do NOT
know anything about the new technology.
I can confirm that
instructors are paid barely anything...just about 1000 dollars a
class...if that. The class is 3 months long. While I will say that the
instructors are helpful some of them after being there for so long give
up on teaching because of drop rates.
Btw,even the CEO mentioned
that it is NOT about the quality that stockholders care about but about
what can be quantified. An honest Representative will tell you to do
your research. There IS a college for everyone. Find yours. Good luck
I worked at ITT in the midwest and it is a high
pressure and high priced scam.
Recruiters are pressured to
recruit students who do not have the smarts to succeed at a real
college. Most are lower class students with pipe dreams that will not be
fulfilled by an ITT education.
The trick is to lure prospects in
for an appointment and then quickly do their financial aid and enroll
them before they even know what hit them.
Not being mean but the
student body resembles an alternative high school with some older adults
mixed in.
The part time instructors don't have to have a degree
in their subject area and most have never taught before. The cost of the
school is ridiculous and is mostly funded with grants and loans and many
of the loans end up in default because grads cannot get jobs!
This is NOT a quality school. It is a corporation run by greedy people
who do not care about providing a REAL education. Unethical and
bordering on illegal in my opinion.
Run away from this place.
I was fired from ITT Tech because I refused to lie
to students and because of that, could not make my required numbers to
keep my job.
Everything on this site seems to be correct with
things that were going on at my ITT school.
A few more things
that have not been mentioned:
Some employees do not even have a
high school diploma or GED. Some employees in management do not have
college degrees. Several of the secretaries in academics department and
library have not even graduated high school or passed the GED test.
The college director at my school, John Schuman, (highest manager at
a school branch!) did not have a college degree and had no experience at
all working in a school. He was hired because he was neighbors with a
district manager and their wives were friends. He has now been fired
because there were so many law suits filed against the school while he
was director.
The director of financial aid got her job because
she was sleeping with the director of marketing and the school president
(and who knows who else?) She has less than 3 years of experience in
financial aid and no experience in management..
While your
student loan money is rolling in they will be nice to you (although
often unhelpful) but if you drop or have trouble making payments to the
school, you are treated like dirt..
Your best option is to attend
a local community college. It'll save you loads of money and save your
sanity from these evil takers.
I am a current marketing rep at ITT Bessemer,
Alabama.
If you are considering going there for a nursing degree,
please reconsider. The program was just approved by the state and is not
accredited so if it is not accredited before you graduate, you will not
be allowed to take the state Board exam.
The credits will only
transfer to another ITT, also, not to any other community college or
University.
The current cost for 1 academic year which is 3
quarters is $22,900.00. UAB or a community college tuition for the same
time period would be less than $7,000.
ITT is also currently
being investigated by the Department of Education, the SEC, and several
state Attorneys General for fraud as well as having multiple lawsuits
pending against them by students and former employees.
Don't do
it.
Former employee:
ITT management sends Reps and employees to classrooms to pull out
students who are near graduation with associate degree to scare them
into signing up for BA degree programs even if the program the student
needs is not being offered.
They are told all kinds of lies like
all those loan payments are going to come due, your account is going to
be turned over to a collection agency (which they are if any money is
owed to the school). Any tactic at all to get the student to keep taking
out loans (high interest private loans too) and keep the money rolling
into ITT.
Itt Career Services is a joke also. I never knew them
to get a job for even 1 student in the years that I was employed. Most
of the employees in the office where I worked were gone to 4 hour
lunches or on facebook all day, even departmental managers did this.
They lie and manipulate reports to the Department of Education and the
accreditors (who are also on their payroll) in order to keep the scams
going.
From Web Master:
When I met with Career Services, it
was the same "counselor" each time. He always acted like it was
the first time we met Each time he asked for my resume. I
told him to look in my file one time. He seemed surprised to see a
stack of my resumes there already.
The only jobs he would try to
line me up with were working in the fast food industry. There was
no attempt to line me up with jobs in my field of study; and this was
before the current job market decline.
I am a current instructor for ITT in Alabama, so
far the comments I have read seem to match up with what my students have
told me.
The classes I have been asked to teach do not cover what
the students need to know by any means. The books are a horrific pile of
crap to be exact. So much information has been left out of the class and
lab manuals there is no possible way to complete the lab assignments.
When the class is finished, if taught straight from the material
given by ITT, students will not be able to pass the Microsoft test it
supposedly was taken from.
Not sure how long I will be with ITT,
I freelanced a lot of my last class to try and help the students learn
what they really needed in order to do the job. I found out about 4
weeks into the quarter that the previous instructor did the same thing.
He was fired for it..
Attend a local college, get an AS or BS
then take a few certification tests (Security +, Network +, Linux +,
MSCE, etc...) You will be much better off and owe a lot less in student
loans.
As a former employee of ITT Technical Institute I
can honestly say that I did a lot there that compromised my ethics.
- Finance Director, Campus Director and even the District Director
for Southeastern schools strongly URGED us to get students' PIN numbers
for their FAFSA. They did this by going onto the site and changing
student's email addresses to their own so they would have access to
print and change info on their FAFSA forms. If financial aid
coordinators did not do this (as well as other things) they were
threatened and publicly humiliated in meetings sometimes daily.
- All employees are graded and PAID by a point system which was never
fair nor even regulated so employees could see their points, we were
just told we had x amount of points. The director was constantly
changing points, taking away points from people who spoke out, and
giving them to her favorite employees, who backed her when she didn't
even know that parent Plus loans are considered Title IV funding among
many other rules and regulations regarding Financial Aid she did not
know.
- We were forced to make students apply for high-interest
PRIVATE loans through lenders which ITT was getting a kickback from.
Peaks and Eli Lilly Credit Union are two of these lenders. They will
accept almost anyone but the interest rate is from 14 to 24%. Students
became eligible to apply for these loans when they had completed 19
hours. So basically, almost every student's repackage of financial aid
had one of these private loans. One student had a balance owing of
$24,900 to ITT and he was approved for a private loan at 21% interest.
Do you have any idea how much that means he will owe???
-
Employees were bullied, harassed, stressed, and OVERLOADED by managers
who did not have a clue as to what they were doing. The finance director
was a convenience store clerk before she came to ITT! Most of the
underling employees were doing the work of the directors.
-
Since everyone was being paid according to how many students got in on
financial aid, most of the financial aid coordinators lied on FAFSA
forms for students. And yes, we filled out FAFSA forms for students,
mostly because the caliber of students we saw every day were NOT ABLE TO
FILL IT OUT THEMSELVES or we were under such time constraints to get it
filled out hurriedly and GET SIGNATURES ON LOAN PAPERS at all costs.
Management did not care HOW you did it, they just harassed and bullied
employees until the file was complete.
I'm sure there's more so I will continue later.
I am a former employee of ITT
Technical Institute. I left because I could not continue to do what I
was threatened and forced to do every day which was to lie to students
and parents. Their main focus is to get the students in the door and get
those signatures on student loan papers. As long as the money keeps
flowing in everyone is passed.
It's basically government
subsidized highway robbery. They are in business ONLY to make money and
line the pockets of their wealthy shareholders.
RUN as fast as
you can away from this ripoff school!
Your stories here are
important. You ALL need to report them to the following people who are
investigating this ripoff school: THEY CANNOT CLOSE THESE PLACES DOWN
UNLESS YOU REPORT THEM!
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/hotline.html
From Web Master:
Check out more information by clicking on the Gov Report button to the left at the top of the page.
I was (past tense) an Instructor at this location [Thornton, Colorado] around the dates mentioned.
I am not one of the instructors listed but know, and worked with, most of them. I am not surprised
by any of the comments. I would generally agree with the instructor ranking
(color coding).
There are serious flaws in some of the educational practices of ITT. Good
instructors are often hamstrung by corporate policy. Curriculum and materials
had a massive implosion around 04-05. NIIT books were a nightmare for
instructors and students.
I wish you the best in recovering from this experience.
From Web Master:
This person is referencing My Experience as can be read by clicking the link to the left at the top of this page.
The financial recovery is what makes this such a tragedy for all of us who have student loans with nothing to show for it.
As a former instructor
at ITT-Troy, I felt embarrassed to associate myself with such a slimy outfit.
t is school policy to be deceptive and immoral. Every instructor actually has a quota of students
that are expected to pass and attendance percentage. If a student was too stoned or was in jail on a
felony charge to show up for class, it was a reflection on my inability to get them to come to class to learn
I taught Microecon and after 11 weeks, students couldn't even draw a
supply/demand curve.
About 95% of the student body reads and writes at a 3rd grade level.
ITT figures anyone gullible/stupid enough to fall for their slick commercials is an easy mark once
they come through the door.
Shame on everyone who works for that place. You are all complicit in robbing
weak-minded people for promises you can never deliver.
I quit after one term because I was so disgusted.
I want to thank you for this website. I was considering a position with them but was a little reluctant.
Now after reading these comments, some of which were employees, I have made the decision to decline the
position.
I cannot rob young people of money, time and their opportunities.
Again thanks!
From Webmaster:
I'd like to hear why you were reluctant.
Though they may not have the prestige, local community
colleges pay instructors about the same, charge students far less and provide
better "protection" for students and faculty rights (in my experience).
I was former faculty for 2 quarters before I left ITT...
I can assure you this business is not first a school--its a money-making sweat
shop. They run their business corporately like a sweat shop, treat their
faculty like sweat shop slaves, and the level of education there is far below
your average university with tenured faculty--and what is sick is that most of
those average universities are not even that good! They do have a well written
program and curriculum, but beyond that they can't deliver! Faculty that
actually do their job and teach get punished for being tough! If you are faculty
with experience and have been there for more than 20 years, you are asked to
leave. Here is a list of other realities of this school:
They are not accredited and credits don't transfer.
Faculty are paid maybe $1500 (Their top rate) per class per quarter--most are
adjunct, yet they require you to have better than a Masters degree, even though
they will hire you if you don't, just as long as you get one in the near
future. Although, once you get a Masters or PHD, their rate of pay won't
change. Most teachers won't get more than 2 classes a quarter, but the more
experienced and well received get upwards of 5 classes...so, their gross pay for
a PHD might make $30,000 a year--that's the same level of pay as what they
advertise their students getting upon graduation! This is why they can't recruit
the best and brightest faculty--like their students, they will recruit anyone!
Most campuses I've seen or heard about are all understaffed, and I've seen
management place completely unqualified people in teaching positions, or in the
case of one as an associate dean. Their department chairs normally make upwards
of $40,000 a year, but are required to not only teach upwards of 5 classes, but
spend additional time marketing and getting involved in community outreach for
the company.
In order to work here, you may realistically have to put in 60-80 hours a week
just to do your job, so good luck with working on that Masters if you don't
already have one. And when you have some free time, then you can be forced to
join their company phone-a-thons once every 2 weeks to campaign for more
students the next quarter! Forget about your family, you work the hours that are
required, and those requirements may change on a daily basis! In fact you may
be teaching classes that are outside of your area of expertise, if you have any
to begin with!
Join a Pizza party...classes with good behavior get free pizza for lunch! Ice
cream for dinner, and steak for A students! Its a realllll Extravaganza!! They
actually consider a good student to be one who accepts their loan agreements,
shows up to class daily and doesn't complain--achievement isn't a factor in how
good of a student you are!
It is true they will recruit anyone to be a student. I've seen students with
mental retardation who need assistance tying their shoes and can't even speak or
write English. There are students with severe legal and personal troubles. They
will find a loan for you (even if you have no ability to pay) and if you drop
out after one quarter, it doesn't matter, they got the loan money, and the
students are stuck with the bill.
They conduct their aggressive marketing campaigns at each campus, and
specifically target students who can't get into other schools, for whatever
reason! Normally those who are under achievers, drop outs, people with criminal
histories, low SAT, etc...Its all a Jerry Lewis Telethon here!
BTW...the school corporately, is publicly traded. They have stock--they are not
accountable to anyone except the stockholders. As long as the stock remains high
and profitable, nothing else matters. At one point I did entertain the idea
that this company's board is run by the mob...a lot of Italian sounding folk on
it! I have no way of proving this, but its entertaining to think about! They
definitely have a mob mentality in the way their hierarchy functions. The
directors and executives make all the profit, and the rest of faculty are their
goons!
ITT does keep good records of their business, and they have a method of
sheltering their activities and the accounts of their business within the
system. In 2004 10 campuses were raided by the US department of Justice to
investigate evidence of fraud, but the school keeps a clean record, so the case
was dropped. I assure you the reality of what is going on versus what is kept
as record is cleaned--this is a pure racketeering operation!
I could go on, but It would require a book.
Bottom line, if you are considering schools for your future, do some research
and find the schools that will benefit you, and can deliver the education you
need!
Thanks
I am an adjunct instructor with ITT, and I totally agree with your
comments. I am preparing to leave them after teaching for only a few quarters.
I am an ethical person and have violated just about everything I stand for in
the few quarters I've been with them. I am highly qualified to teach the
courses, especially considering the real world aspect ITT advertises. The
following are the problems I have with the school.
They "expect" grades to be inflated so that students can pass - most raw test
scores are below 50%. I did this based on "coaxing" from the dean and chair
with their sob story about how the students have families and jobs and can't
always do the required work. I have been "coaxed" into marking students present
when they were really absent - to keep an automatic drop from occurring. I have
received POOR AND INCOMPLETE materials to work with, then been told I had to
cover ALL of ITT's objectives, then told I have to BE SELECTIVE WITH THE CONTENT
because it's above the students' capabilities. The brighter students are mad
because their 4.0 is competing in the job market with the 4.0 of someone who
can't read a part number off of an IC. I could go on for several pages, but
I'll end here saying that the students are not getting a proper education. By
the way, the school loves me as a teacher ... they have no idea I'm leaving.
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.
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.
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.
Hi there-
I want to let you know that I currently work at ITT in Admissions. I feel your
pain and I can definitely see EVERYTHING that you said to be true. However, it
is not true at every school or is this something that is common at ITT.
Are there unqualified instructors? Yes. Are there changes in curriculum? Yes.
Are there things that are said that untrue? Yes. However, these things happen
JUST ABOUT EVERY SCHOOL. I'm talking about community colleges, universities, and
private schools like ITT.
It sounds like you've had some bad breaks. I wish you well in your pursuit for
some justice.
Our goal is to have satisfied students. We know that we will never have 100% of
our students be satisfied. You can go to Harvard and not have 100%.
Good luck ...
From Web Master:
This individual did not leave any contact information so I have no way of
verifying the authenticity of this comment.
Most schools do not publish their own books and profit from them the way ITT
Tech does.
Community colleges and higher education are required to verify the
qualifications of their instructors to a greater extent than ITT seems to do
themselves. Though many of these same colleges and universities have the same lack of
respect for student complaints with their faculty and rarely discipline or fire
their instructors no matter how numerous the complaints.
Upper management from ITT could learn a lot from this posting.
Not once have I, or most of the others who have commented before, ever received
such a nice recognition of an obvious problem.
Perhaps if all the upper administration took such an humble attitude there would
not be so many disgruntled students.
If
this person is who they claim to be... thank you and please tell the Deans and
Corporate: that is how one replies to student complaints.
From Web Master:
The following claims to be from a general education instructor.
The complaints from visitors to this site are mostly about the instructors and
courses relating to specific fields of education or upper administration
policies, not the general Ed departments.
This person basically says ITT is an expensive, for-profit, non-accredited
school.
The complaints posted on this site go far beyond that; read any of the posts left here year-after-year.
This person should speak with the students about their core classes to see what
they have to say and then report back to this site.
I'm a gen ed math teacher at an ITT campus in Tennessee with nearly a decade of experience in
teaching at high schools and colleges and I wanted to make some comments and
refute some of the testimonials I have read here.
First, let me start by saying that if you are having a bad experience at your
school, I'm very sorry and I hope you find the help you need to make it better
before it is too late, or find a better place to go instead. No one is in
control of your destiny but yourself.
That being said, there is something that any responsible person should be aware
of BEFORE starting any program at any school:
1) Yes this is a school, but it is also a BUSINESS. Every school is. They want
either your money, your attendance, or your success because these things make
the school better and enable them to STAY in business. This is true for ALL
schools whether it is a public high school, ITT, or an accredited university.
I've seen ugly recruiting practices from Ivy League colleges too!
2) Yes, this is expensive. Guess what- all colleges are. Public colleges are
just as expensive, but they are subsidized with state and federal funds to
reduce costs. Taking out student loans isn't free money- you have to realize up
front that you BORROWING against your future and then act accordingly. If you
decide that you aren't getting what you want with this money at one school, then
PLEASE change to another.
3) Yes, you have to teach yourself a lot of stuff. That's part of being a
student ANYWHERE. The biggest complaint students make at every school I've ever
visited, attended, or taught is that the material is hard, the books are
confusing, and a lot of personal time has to be invested. This is a fact of
school. If you really want to get anything out of an education, you have to
study and you have to practice. Why is it that no one thinks it odd for a
football team to just practice football 3 hrs per day every day of the week, but
students refuse to put forth 1/2 as much time and effort for their classes?
4) No, these credits will probably not transfer anywhere else. It's not an
accredited school. They say so in every commercial. It's up to you to decide for
yourself if you want to attend a trade school or a common university. The upside
of a place like ITT is that it's smaller and they will work more with you to
make sure you finish faster and with more hands-on experience than doing a
similar program at a community college, and they're more forgiving of previous
educational experience. The problem with a CC or Univ is that if you don't test
at a certain level, you can't get it- or worse they let you in and make you take
several remedial classes, probably 20+ credit hours worth- all at full price and
NONE of those count toward a degree either. And then you can take the regular
courses. So in either case, if you're one of those students you are stuck paying
for something that's not worth anything anywhere else!
5) I don't know about any textbooks that are written by the school. That may be
something that has changed since I started here, or maybe because I only teach
gen ed courses, but all the texts I have seen are well-known texts written by
well-known authors and used in other institutions besides ITT.
I make a personal effort to teach to my students in a way that is meaningful to
them. Every instructor I have worked with so far seems genuine, interested in
their students' welfare, and qualified in their subjects. My students seem happy
and enjoy their time at school. I wish you all the same experience wherever you
choose to go to learn more- but please don't hesitate to learn more somewhere!