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Massachusetts AG Sues ITT Tech For Exploiting Computer Network Students (networkworld.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the he-said-she-said dept.

alphadogg quotes a report from Networkworld: Browsing through the latest news releases from ITT Technical Institute you'd never think the for-profit school would be capable of the things that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says the state is suing it for. The school, which boasts of over 130 locations in 38 states, touts its efforts for women in STEM, its donation of laptops to public schools in Indiana and its record giving for United Way. But AG Healey is suing ITT Tech "for engaging in unfair and harassing sales tactics and misleading students about the quality of its Computer Network Systems program, and the success of the program's graduates in finding jobs." ITT Educational Services, however, rejected the AG office's claims and lashed out at the office for the manner in which it has brought the suit. ITT's statement reads in part: "The litigation follows the Office's wide-ranging fishing expedition that lasted for more than three years..." If the state wins, the school could be forced to reimburse students for tuition and fees, though ITT says it will defend itself against the charges.

5 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Attended - a first person perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The 2002-2004 class materials were a joke.
    Textbooks for some classes were sourced from India and had dozens of obvious errors.
    The C++ class was okay, but could have been much better.

    Overall, I would give these quality scores:
    Operating Systems - F
    Mathematics - C
    C++ - B (Asian professor, accent was a distraction - "mammary leaks" discussed in-depth)
    Linux - C (didn't cover configuration as much as it should have)
    Group dynamics - B
    Other core classes - B

    It was definitely not worth the $30k I paid, although being "Validictorian with a 4.0" may have opened a door or two.
    They wanted me back for a BS, but not with that quality and cost. 90% of the technical knowledge I have is self-taught.

    If anyone wants to research that travesty of an Operating Systems book, it's NIIT product code IT103-OpSys-SG-01.
    It does not have an ISBN number, but I did retain a copy.

    1. Re:Attended - a first person perspective by Kneo24 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I attended during 2001-2003. In my campus the C++ teacher was Asian. I was a class of one taking CEET about half way through. The CAD program dropped down to about 3 people, and the programmers had 3. We all had to take our academic classes together at some point. The people in the programming course would always make jokes about "mammary leaks" and "C Press Press". There were other jokes, but I've long forgotten what they were.

      Otherwise I agree with your assessment. It's overall a slightly above mediocre school in some respects, but I don't think it's worth the price, especially since I would see people with mental disabilities who had no mental capacity to do the work, be in these programs and get pushed along all because they had money.

      Also, when I started I was doing 4 days a week for classes and they decided half way through they could cut that down to 3 days a week! That went over well with everyone. Their response was that if we didn't like it, we could leave, and they'd get to keep the money that we paid up until that point anyway. The three days I did go were longer, but I still ended up missing about 2 hours a week from my core classes.

      ITT at one time did have a good reputation and that was because the education was actually pretty good for a tech school at the time. They rode that reputation into the grave, dug it up, pissed on, reburied, and repeated multiple times. The sad part is, in my local area, ITT is still one of the better tech schools for EE's. I get to deal with the new crop coming out of tech schools and they're all way more dumb than I was when I graduated. It's a scary thought. The people from ITT still have a slight advantage over the other schools, but being slightly better than a pile of rubbish isn't a goal post people should aim for.

  2. REally they only do it now? by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Informative

    ITT Tech has been doing that for DECADES. They always lie through their teeth about placement rates. Cripes back in the 90's they claimed 95% of ITT tech students work in the field!

    Note: running a cash register meets their definition of being in the field for EE and CS.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  3. Screw ITT Tech .... by King_TJ · · Score: 3, Informative

    My ex-wife wasted a huge amount of money getting a student loan for ITT Tech, after they convinced her she could graduate with an electrical engineering degree there and get a great job.

    None of the credits earned there transferred to other colleges or universities, for starters. The courses she took were mostly a joke. I learned the same basic electronics skills in my high school electronics classes. (Here's how you read the color bands on a resistor. Here's the basic definition of voltage vs. amperage. That sort of thing....)

    At one point, because she was pregnant, she took a semester off. When she tried to return, they announced one of the courses she needed as a requirement to graduate was no longer available and they wanted her to take a different track, taking several more classes to get to the same place.

    At that point, she bailed out on the whole thing, and then they put her in collections almost immediately, despite her making repeated contact with them trying to work out some sort of payment arrangement for what she still owed.

  4. I was an instructor at ITT by markdavis · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yep, I taught as an adjunct instructor at ITT for three years from 2001 to 2004 teaching Linux.

    It had some good points and bad points. Some of their classes were quite good, others were mediocre. The dean was great and supportive. The equipment was good, the building was nice, and the hours were reasonable. The biggest problem was that there were WAY too many students there who had no business being in college [of any kind]. They had no technical aptitude and it was obvious they were there solely because they had government loans or GI bill and thought "tech" was a road to land a money job.

    I kept my sanity by focusing on the few people in each class (of typically around 20+) that DID have aptitude. There were people there for whom ITT did great things (and usually the only ones with A's or B's in my classes).... but the majority were clueless and ITT fought hard to keep those people from failing. I was not afraid to give poor grades for poor work, but the administration would occasionally interfere on behalf of a student, saying they should have more time or another chance, etc.

    What finally caused me to leave was that I wrote the entire curriculum- syllabus, handouts, assignments, classwork, quizzes, and exams for two entire courses and taught how I felt it should be taught- making Linux interesting and exciting while still imparting practical skills. Then, after years of people saying my class was the best they had ever taken at ITT, the mandate from Corporate came down that everyone would have to teach strictly their "professionally designed" curriculum- using outdated books, really outdated distros, very boring assignments, confusing exams, and complete with mandatory PowerPoint slides we are supposed to use in class. I told them "Sorry, you hired someone with many years of Unix/Linux experience to create and teach classes. You can hire anyone off the street if you just want them to teach this poor quality coursework." And left before the changes took place.

    It was an interesting experience that I don't regret and I do hope helped some people in the process. It gave me a great appreciation for teachers- something I certainly could never do full-time.