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My ITT Technical Institute Experience

I had some bad experiences attending ITT Tech.  You may want to ask some questions before enrolling.

I attended the branch in Thornton, Colorado

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Complaint filed through Better Business Bureau

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Summary: 

         The classroom content did not always match the syllabus            

         Most of the instructors were not qualified to teach their subject  

         (as a result of the above two we did not learn what we were paying to learn)                   

         Pointing out poor instructors and bad curriculum did not get any response or changes  

Introduction:

First, let me start by saying all the people I met and worked with at ITT were very friendly.

I never had any personal problems with any individuals.  They were all very professional.

 

The problems were:

• Poor curriculum design.

• Instructors came across as unqualified for the topic they were assigned to teach.

• My student advisor left ITT one month after I started.  Every time I tried to meet with an advisor I got someone different.  I had to repeatedly tell my story and they would pass me on to someone else.

After more than two years of trying to work with ITT to find a remedy, without success, I have decided to put up this web site to make the internet world aware of the problems.

 

Please pass the link for this site to anyone you know who is considering attending an ITT school.

 

I'm not the only one complaining.  Check out these complaints from other ITT schools across the country:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/404/RipOff0404898.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff224100.htm

http://www.studentsreview.com/FL/ITI_comments.html

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff154604.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff128509.htm

http://ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff124770.htm

There are more but you get the idea.

Specifics of the problems I had with ITT Technical Institute:

Most of these are actionable items under the law as they were promised in their catalog and not delivered.  You would think they'd be quick to remedy this problem.  There appears to be enough disgruntled students nationally for a class-action law suit.

The program was centered around a capstone project in which students would design and build an electronic device controlled by a computer.

C Programming

• The programming class offered no Input/Output (I/O) programming control!

• ALL previous classes failed in I/O control EXCEPT those classes with students who already knew how to program.  (The dean at that time, Gerald La Fleur, was not happy when I found this out.  He has since left and is currently working for the local DeVry University as their Business Manager.)

• They offered to have a tutor work with me (Mr. D. Smith) but he didn't know how to program I/O ports either.  He kept directing me to web sites which had no information.

• I was passed on to a second instructor (Mr. K. Evans) - he agreed to meet with me but never followed through.

• Dean La Fleur did not want to assist me at first; he said students need to learn for themselves.  I asked," why go to ITT at all then?  What are we paying instructors for?"  Dean La Fleur stopped just short of admitting their curriculum was flawed and had failed the students.  I sent an e-mail to corporate and La Fleur called me back, offering the failed tutoring as mentioned above.

• Two years later and still no remedy.

Calculus

• The instructor admittedly hadn't used calculus in years.

• He had us do our own research on the internet.

• He requested we buy a book other than the one from ITT on our own at a local bookstore.

• He quickly ran out of material to teach since he didn't know calculus.

• He had us write exams to give to a group of 5th graders he was working with - and graded us on how well we wrote a 5th grade math exam!

• Our final exam, since he didn't know calculus, was a formula he wrote on the board.  In groups of two, students each talked about one piece of the formula.  It didn't make any sense and took no time at all.  He reviewed that one formula for some two weeks.

• Calculus was a pivotal part of our degree program.  We came away with nothing.

Economics

• The instructor did not know economics.

• She read the book to us.

• She could not answer the tests provided by the school.

• When we had questions she was of no help.

Data & Network Communications

• The instructor could not teach us how to use IP addresses.

• The instructor did not know how to create computer networks.

• There was one computer lab for the entire school - we could not practice networking computers.

• This was another very important part of our curriculum that left us with nothing.

They offered private instruction:

• The teacher of computer programming didn't understand I/O control.

• Dean La Fleur suggested I research I/O control information on the internet: their solution for covering their lack of instruction.

• Their course outline promises I/O control would be taught and the capstone project requires it of the students.

They offered to let me sit in on classes again:

• Surprise: the instructors still did not know the material, that was of no help.

• I had an "A" average and completed all the courses; which was easy due to lack of relevant content.

• I never did receive my diploma even after several calls and attempts.  They kept promising it to me.  However, after I launched my complaint through the Better Business Bureau they sent the diploma to me: two years later.

• I have a $52,000 debt (includes interest on my student loan).

They offered repeatedly to have Job Services find a job for me:

• Lack of a diploma prevented me from getting a job in the field I paid them to train me.

• Lack of education in what I was promised prevented me from getting a good job.

• The Job Services counselor, Mario, kept asking for my resume every time I met with him.  He ended up with several copies.  I don't know if he kept losing them or could not remember who I was.

• The jobs located were not in the field of my ITT studies.

• The jobs located were paying less than what I was making before their "education".

Near the end of each semester they asked for student feedback:

• A student designed a computerized questionnaire

  • All answers defaulted to "VERY SATISFIED" - causing false scores when skipped or not answered.

  • No place for "Not Applicable"  - causing false scores on services not used by all students.

• Paper forms were printed on dark blue paper with black ink:

  Can you read this comfortably?  Imagine a whole form printed like this.

  • These forms had 1-inch-square boxes to fill out replies.  How many words can you fit in a square inch?

  • No matter the color ink or pencil you used, you could not read the replies very well.

• All forms (computerized and paper) had a place to put your contact information to get a call from an ITT representative to address your concern.  Several students put their information down; not one student from my class or other students I talked with on campus received a call from anyone at ITT.  That's certainly a moral obligation if not a legal one.

Refund?:

• I asked for a refund of money paid to ITT plus payoff my student loan: grand total: $52,000.

• They have refused even though I showed effort to work with them and their tutoring.

Summary:

• They promised training which was not delivered.

• They promised a diploma and only after generating complaints did they send it out to me.

• They promised job search assistance which was not possible due to the lack of training.

Other points:

I had perfect attendance, but one night I had to miss for a wake (my uncle had passed away).  I told them of this days in advance.  They said this would prevent me from receiving the perfect attendance award.  Once that happened I did stop attending the Economics class since it was not really a class at all.  They showed no compassion.

 

They also held a silent/write-in auction on equipment they were discarding.  The person who typed up the results screwed up royally: individuals with lower bids were awarded the equipment by mistake.

 

The simplest of projects were frequently mismanaged.

Instructors (last names only):

Names in GREEN were good instructors who were given good curriculum.

Names in RED were instructors who did not come across as qualified to teach the content assigned.

Names in BLUE were good instructors who were not given good curriculum to follow.

Barnhart

Crook -      (Economics)

Fitch

Freeman -  (Calculus)

Izerraden - (Data & Network Communications)

Longway

Mozer -     (C-Programming)

Scott

Winters

Wallis

Pearson

Courses:

Courses in GREEN were well designed - probably at the corporate level.

Courses in RED were poorly designed - probably at the corporate level.

Courses in PINK were well designed but teacher was unprepared.

Courses in BLUE had good design but the ITT-published text books were poorly written.

Courses in BLACK had poor design and poor instruction.

EG317  Research Methods

IT340   Communications Cabling (not enough content for 15 weeks - only 5)

TM380 Advanced Topics in Technical Mathematics

EG360  Introductory Calculus

ET375  C Programming in Linux (no I/O programming commands as required)

IT342   Data and Network Communications I (no IP addressing, Firewalls, etc...)

EG372  Written Analysis

TM420 Technical Calculus (instructor did not remember calculus)

IT343   Data and Network Communications II (no IP addressing, Firewalls, etc...)

EG461  Business, Ethics and Technology

ET445  Advanced Circuit Analysis I

IT350   Modern Wireless Communication

EG452  Economics and Change (teacher only read from book - could not answer questions)

ET446  Advanced Circuit Analysis II

ET455  Digital Communications Systems I

EG462  Contemporary World Culture

ET456  Digital Communications Systems II

ET475  Electronic Circuit Design I

ET469 Unknown

EG481 Environmental Issues

ET476 Electronic Circuit Design II

ET485 Capstone Project

Actions Taken:

I got an e-mail from their corporate headquarters: Jeffrey M. Macy, Director of Compliance jmacy@ittesi.com

The reply was about what you'd expect.  In part:

I replied asking if they actually talked with the instructors or confirmed their knowledge of the curriculum they were hired to teach.  No response.

I filed a complaint through the local Better Business Bureau.  They had until April 3, 2007 to reply.  They did not meet that deadline.  The BBB extended the deadline until April 11, 2007 and, no surprise, ITT Tech still did not reply to them or myself.

On the day after the BBB deadline (April 12) I received a voice mail from the local director (Fred Hansen) saying they were going to FINALLY send out my diploma and "highest honors" certificate by certified mail.  However he insisted that I received a full and proper education. And he repeated the comments from Mr. Macy (see box above).

The BBB asked if I was satisfied with the reply.  I said I was not.  Here is what I said:

ITT still insists there is no problem but they refuse to address my complaints.

ITT had until May 2, 2007 to reply to this and, again, they missed the deadline.  They did finally say that they still find no problems but did not address a single point regarding teachers or curriculum.  The BBB suggests I get a lawyer.

I would consider a legal complaint against Mr. Hansen himself since he has not addressed the lack of instructor proficiency or detailed his reasons for backing them up.

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