Will I ever see my $375 again?

[iamdigitalman]

Ok, so I am done with ITT. I graduate September 19 with my Associate in CNS. Overall, I am appalled with the school, but I finished anyway. I managed to pay with my MET (Michigan Educational Trust), which barely covered it with the ~$1800 a quarter pell grant. I got a call about 6 months ago that even with the grants, I would still owe $2800. I told them this was unacceptable, because they really messed up my trust, never telling me how much was in there, and I basically had to give them control over it.

Then, a couple days later, I got another phone call saying "oh, we made a mistake, you only owe $89". I was shocked. $89 is a long way from $2800, but at least I had the money. So I cut them a check.

Then, a couple weeks back I got another call from FA, saying I need another $102 from them, that there was a $2 balance on my account, and a $100 administrative fee that the FA rep "forgot" to tell me about. This was starting to sound like nickle and dimeing me, so over the phone I demanded that they rebalance my account. I have heard of them doing it for other people before, but the person I talked to was reluctant to do so, so before class that night, I marched in to FA and demanded a full, complete detailed list of every transaction on my account, every cent I have paid this "school". I must have come off as intimidating to the lady, so she did it, and printed it off for me.

I started in the CEET program, but switched after the first quarter to CNS, and the classes were the same either way. But I had that stupid tackle box thingy I had to bring with me every time. I returned that box to the program chair's office, and the one that was there (not the one for either the CEET or CNS program) said they would take it back, and the money returned to my account.

Well, that never happened, as I looked through the list, and found I was being charged for it. $477 for a plastic tackle box with some radio shack parts in it. I highlighted this charge, and went back to the same lady, and she told me I was right about that charge. She went and talked with the FA director, and after 10 minutes came out and told me they would refund that. So, minus the $102 I owe them, I have $375 left. I want that money back, either in cash, or in a check, not added back to my edu account, as I am done with the school, and fully paid up.

So, I shot them an email on Saturday asking when I will be getting this money back, and hopefully I will hear back from them Monday. If I have to shake things up, I will. I don't care anymore. I got my cap and gown. I was even going to do the Dwight dictator speech from the office for graduation, but scrapped that idea.

Here is the email I sent them, from the school provided hotmail/windows live mail account. I CC'ed the director of FA. Names have been removed.

Hello. This is *name removed*. We talked a couple weeks back about my account, and I found a discrepancy where I was still being charged $477 for the electronics kit on my account. Minus the $2 I owe on my account, plus the $100 administrative fee that was never communicated to me until 2 weeks ago, that leaves $375 after everything is all said and done.

Will I be getting this money back to me personally, and not just back in my educational account? If so, how will I get it and when? I can really use it to pay some bills.

Please email me back when you get this, and if we need to meet in person, I can come in the earliest on Monday, August 30th, after 6pm. From *name removed*, where I work, is about 30, almost 40 minutes, so I can be there before 7 before you guys close up shop. This matter is critical for me right now, as I want to get everything squared away before graduation on the 19th of September.

Thank you very much, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Hope that works.

What do you all think? I really want this money back. If I do get it back, I think I will be the first person to make a profit off ITT.

[sevenalive]

lol I love the Dwight speech


They will say the admin fee is not refundable and that's that. I doubt you they will refund it, but you never know.

[iamdigitalman]

No, I will pay the admin fee, no problem, plus the $2 on my account. But where the $375 was coming from is the electronics kit they gave me in my first quarter, and returned to them. That kit cost me $477, and was still on my account, so I am trying to get that refunded, but use part of that to pay for the admin fee and the $2 balance. But after that, there is $375 of unused funds left, and I plan to get that payed back to me in some form I can use like cash or a check or a deposit in my bank account, not in my educational account where I can't use it for other things.

Oh, and there was another student who was told he could not use his MET, so he ended up getting loans. What a waste.

Also, I had a look at my total bill, and it is over $45k. This place was not even worth 1/10th of that.

-- Post edited on September 2nd, 2010, 10:36 pm --

Wow, it looks like I am actually lighting a fire under their ass. After not getting any reply for a few days, I replyed yesterday (Wednesday), and just got this email back (written in the most horrid font imaginable, I almost went cross eyed reading the damn thing);

Hello *Name Removed*,

We are not ignoring you by any means. Your request was submitted today. You will receive your check within the next 3 weeks. We do not process refunds checks on campus, they are processed at our Headquarters. In your email below you made reference to your administration fee. Every student is charged an administration fee once they leave school, we make sure we communicate this to all students and it is in your school catalog. If you have any more concerns you may contact me or I can set up an appointment to meet with you personally. If I have answered all of your questions, congratulations and best of luck to you. Have a great day.

Thing is, I want part of the $477 from the kit to go towards my balance AND the admin fee, then the rest of the $477 is my $375 refund, so if I get a check for less than $375, I will be pissed.

Thoughts?

[iamdigitalman]

Sweet! I got my check this week, and put it in my account. I was surprised it did not bounce, and actually cleared. I "graduated" today, and afterward spent it on dinner with the family that I invited. It was actually a really nice ceremony, but there were a lot of people absent.

And no, I did not give a speech. My voice is pretty much gone, so there was not much of that today.

[SheepToTheFleecing]

I also have an overpriced tackle box full of mysterious electronic components. I am still astonished that they never even bothered to pretend to use most of the components in class. I am angry. I will not go to my grave without knowing that I have saved at least one poor sucker from taking out huge student loans to NOT learn about an overpriced box of electronic components. We sat there for hours and listened to teachers bullshit about everything but the subject matter. And the cheating! My god the cheating. I still don't understand why they didn't just make the assignments "easier" or JUST TEACH THE FUCKING CLASS! I vow here and now that I am going to do something. Any ideas? I am going to be unable to access the internet for at least a month, so I will read any ideas when I get back.

(That vow was more for myself than for the benefit of the reader. I feel like more and more of a coward everyday, knowing that this fake school is luring in more future fake students everyday, and that I DO NOTHING but sit on my ass and curse them. I am having trouble seeing myself as anything but a coward and a victim.)

If there was just one master to make go away this would be an easy task. Alas, we are fighting a system that is rotten to the core but has been hiding its rottenness from/with Government agencies for so long that the rot is only able to be proven at the lowest ends of the totem poles.

The general public seems to be aware that ITT Tech is a scam. (Like in that movie Remarkable Power.)

The more I think about how ineffective is every method of saving these poor naive "future-mees," the more I want to just say fuck-it-all and kill people almost indiscriminately. I very much doubt that I will do anything like that. Maybe as my third strike. HOW THE FUCK ARE THEY GETTING AWAY WITH THIS?!?! WHY DON'T THEY JUST TEACH THEIR FUCKING CLASSES?!? (Those teachers that are actually somewhat qualified that is.)

Pretty soon, I am going to attempt to redefine my relationship with my "God" and with myself. At present I hate us both and it is wearing on me. You all can pray for me if you believe in that stuff.