Date: September 06, 2003
Author: A former ITT instructor
This is quoted post from a deleted message board (http://ittsucks.2ya.com)(I tried to cleanup the ' to ’ translation error from the original post).
"OK, I admit it – I'm a former ITT instructor, in the CNS realm. I worked for them for two years. Please read the entire post before you jump up and down. This is being written on the fly, so please don't hammer me on grammar or spelling. The items are in no particular order.
I will sum this up. In the present situation, do not go to ITT. It used to be a good school, but isn't right now. If you need a two year degree, go to a Community College.
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1. ITT is a for-profit school. Their obligation is to the stockholders, not the students.
2. ITT reps are paid a salary and don't get bonuses for signing up students. That is one of the things that forced CLC into bankruptcy.
3. ITT pays most of the instructors a darn good salary, much better than in the public schools.
4. Because of the push to get butts in seats, ITT takes in many students that should not be there. I had students that wanted to be programmers but couldn't add ½ and 1/3. The students that didn't want to work should have been weeded out in the first quarter but were kept in for retention. Plus, the reps would try to get in people with a bachelors or even a masters. If you have a degree from a university, you need to continue your education, not get an associates.
5. Instructors have a retention quota. It doesn't matter if you are killed in a car wreck, go to jail, or move out of state, it is counted against the instructor, the program chair, the dean, and whoever else is in the chain of command.
6. The core students that ITT used to deal with were CAD and Electronics and a few other areas. A two year trade-school was what they needed for entry-level jobs. Normally, the junior colleges didn't teach this and the students may not have fit in a university atmosphere. Plus, ITT was designed to provide loans, junior colleges and universities made the assumption (for the most part) that you had resources. They could get loans for you, but not as easily as ITT.
7. The retirement plan for staff and instructors was changed and it is still impossible to get any information about the old plan. I was told that there is a law suite against Starwood (?) because of this.
8. There have been some major changes in ESI management. There was a loss of income from the core students, so they decided to go into computers. Most of the lesson plans were OK, but there was no training or support. While there was lip-service (you can call Indiana for anything you need) the reality was that if you did, you got hammered.
9. To save money, they had instructors teaching classes they knew nothing about.
10. I don't know about the new series of books, but I can promise you that there is no copyright violation. The lawyers won't allow it.
11. The library or learning resource centers in each facility are supposed to get a set amount of money each year. Some do, some don't. The one I worked at didn't. I was told it was because the director got a year-end bonus based on how much money they saved.
12. There is a librarian in Indianapolis. She works hard. The accrediting agencies say you have to have a librarian, and because she is there and “controls” the libraries, she counts for accreditation. There are a couple of ITT schools that have their own librarians, but it is because the state requires it.
13. The databases from EBSCO are excellent and they cost a lot of money. There is nothing wrong with them except that none of the classes require you to do any research and nobody teaches you how to use them. The databases are what passes for a library and allows the accreditation committees to pass the schools.
14. No school will ever fail an accreditation inspection. The accreditation teams are paid by the school to do the inspection, based on fees, etc. They may place you on probation, but you won't fail. Writing to them is a waste of time.
15. Different states have different requirements. In Texas, you can't change the curriculum unless the state inspects it and OK's it. That is one reason why Texas (and maybe other states, I'm not familiar with all of them.) lag in getting new material.
16. Glitter is all. The buildings need to look good to prospective students. There is where a lot of the money goes.
17. ITT went to the bachelors program because there was money in it and the two year program was bottoming out. Remember, it is for the shareholders, not the students.
18. Credits are accepted by the receiving college. No, for the most part they won't transfer, but I do know of one student that got them accepted as electives at a university. Most colleges and universities won't take credits from a university that isn't part of their own accreditation committee. Some University of Phoenix schools are taking them because it gets more students for them. Remember, it's all about the money. UoP is a for-profit school as well.
19. Will you get an education? Yes. Is it worth the money? No. Can you get a job? Maybe. It will depend on the economy. Can you get a job as a network manager right out of school? No. It will teach you entry-level stuff. You can’t get a job as a network manager out of a community college either.
20. Most of the instructors want to teach and want you to do well. However, because of the retention problem and the low quality of many of the students, the level of instruction is very low. Everyone is expected to pass. I had one student that turned in 2 papers he copied off the web, and didn't even change the formatting. I can tell if you wrote it or not. If you are a HS grad, and you turn in a paper written at the Ph.D. level, something is wrong. I failed him. He was allowed back in, and did the same thing in another class the next quarter. As far as I know, he is still there. He had to retake the classes, but he rarely showed up and got a D. Hey, it's passing.
21. For the most part, the equipment worked. However, we were using Compaq's and the drivers were proprietary. Linux didn't work too well, and getting two operating systems on them was extremely difficult.
22. If you have problems, you need to write (Don't call, if you call, it never happened.) your state office that handles these schools, and go to your funders. If you are VA, go to your rep. For VA, you would be surprised how powerful they are.
OK, enough for now. If I think of anything later, I'll post it.
Bottom line – don't go to ITT.
Signed
A former ITT instructor"
Source: http://tinyurl.com/mhc8
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