Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

How ITT Tech Screwed Students and Made Millions (gizmodo.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the money-for-nothing dept.

An anonymous Slashdot reader shares "a grim story about a company that screwed poor people, military veterans, and taxpayers to turn a profit." Gizmodo reports: By the time ITT Technical Institute closed its doors earlier this month, the for-profit college had been selling tenuous diplomas at exorbitant prices for more than 20 years...burying low-income and first-generation students in insurmountable debt, and evading regulators since the early 1990s...
ITT collected $178 million over two years just in federal education funding for veterans -- even while the company projected 33% of its students would ultimately default on their loans -- and last year 70% of the school's total revenue came directly from federal financial aid programs. Gizmodo spoke to one student who "will now spend the rest of his life paying back loans for a degree that is practically useless," after compounding interest turned his $70,000 loan into $200,000 in debt. "Like all of the former students interviewed by Gizmodo, he was placed in a job that did not require professional training" -- specifically, a game-testing position that didn't even require a high school diploma, while ITT "placed" another student in a $5.95-an-hour telemarketing job. Her assessment of ITT? "It was totally worthless."

9 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. How is this different from any university? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Funny how few people call out universities for their bullshit marketing and loan sharking. Is it a Stockholm Syndrome among you geeks?

    1. Re:How is this different from any university? by rholtzjr · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Just because an organization is considered a "not for profit" does not mean "someone" is not making a decent amount of money doing what they do. Take a look at any Charity, foundation, donation organization, etc. and take a look at the person running it. In most cases that person is making millions.

    2. Re:How is this different from any university? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ... or United Way (both often cited as "bad" or "misleading" charities)

      The United Way is not considered "bad" just because of where their money goes, but also where it comes from. Every year they run a "Federal Campaign", to collect money from government employees. When I was in the military, each unit had a quota of contributions to collect, and commanders were judged on their ability to collect. This led to a lot of coercion and abuse. Anyone who didn't agree to sign up for a monthly payroll deduction was assigned to clean latrines or given guard duty when everyone else had a 4 day pass. There were privates with families to support, barely making enough to survive, getting their pay docked every month despite needing the money far more than most United Way recipients. United Way collects contributions, skims administrative fees off the top, and then passes the rest on to the actual charities. It is far better to contribute directly to deserving charities, and leave United Way out of the loop.

  2. This is stupid by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem isn't ITT, it's that people think some school (or ANYONE ELSE) will make you successful.

    You make yourself successful. Only you.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    1. Re:This is stupid by OrangeTide · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Places like ITT give you quite the song and dance when you visit their campus. And "walk you through the process". The simple mistake people make is not getting a second opinion. Are students responsible for their own mistakes? Sure. Is it fair? No. Should we shut down those who exploit other people, that is gain profit without offering something of equivalent value in return? Absolutely.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    2. Re:This is stupid by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem isn't ITT, it's that people think some school (or ANYONE ELSE) will make you successful.

      Eh, yes and no.

      You make yourself successful. Only you.

      ...and mostly no. You have to take advantage of opportunities, but you don't create opportunities by yourself. It's a group effort. Sometimes, others work against you, whether intentionally or incidentally. ITT deliberately defrauded students. Willful fraud is wrong because we know that it's possible to take advantage of people, and when that happens it harms society. It's expensive for all of us when people's lives collapse.

      If you go to a school it's reasonable to expect (if not assume) that you're being provided useful education. It might not be moneymaking in itself, but if they promise that it will be, then it had damned well better be. If they are promising job placement, then they need to deliver. If they don't, they're committing fraud, and they rightfully should be held accountable.

      Tech schools are mostly garbage, which is sad because if they were any good, they'd be great things. Being immersed in a learning environment solely with other people studying the same sort of things you're studying could be a massive boon for some people, and in some situations. Alas, they are mostly garbage, and you'd do yourself and your community (and by extension, your country) more good by simply going to a community college. They have their flaws to be sure, but they are still better than technical schools on average. They're a fairly poor place to get a good quality education and a degree on the same schedule, because good educators come and go from them somewhat irregularly, but a lot of them have fairly fantastic programs of various types — especially in the applied arts.

      The problems with ITT tech equally apply to pretty much any of these technical schools, and they're pretty much all the same deal although they are not all equally sleazy. The automotive institutes are very much the same story; for less money you could attend a community college and actually get a legitimate degree along with a pile of ASE certifications, while learning from people with at least as much experience as those teaching in the purely for-profit technical schools. If you want to become a smog technician or a master auto body tech you don't want to go to a tech school, as they will rob you blind. But you can bang the former out in a couple of years (starting from scratch) and the latter out in three or four and for comparatively very little money by just going to a CC.

      We all need help in our lives. Apprenticeship used to be popular, schooling still works... and sure, trial and error is a thing, but let me tell you, it can be more expensive than just going to school.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:This is stupid by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Please point me to one person in the past 100 years that achieved success with exactly no education at all and no help from anyone else.

      A successful person doesn't have to be the smartest person in the room. Here's a list of 100 entrepreneurs who succeeded with little or no education, including a half-dozen who dropped out of elementary school.

      http://elitedaily.com/news/business/100-top-entrepreneurs-succeeded-college-degree/

  3. I find this hard to believe by SecurityGuy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Valladares took out $65,000 in federal and $7,000 in private loans to pay tuition. Four years later, he now owes more than $200,000 on his loans due to compounding interest.

    That's 29% interest. Who out there is actually offering student loans at 29% interest?

  4. Re:Comuter programming redux by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Back in the 1960's, corporations had training programs. The bean counters in the 1980's eliminated everything that didn't add value directly to the bottom line. The cost of training people to become employees got shifted to the public school and colleges. These days you need a college degree to get hired on as a filing clerk.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/business/college-degree-required-by-increasing-number-of-companies.html