ITT Technical Institutes to cease operations

[Jtbrig7390]

http://www.wave3.com/story/33021917/...s?sf35209648=1

RNN) - ITT Educational Services Inc., a for-profit educational company, will end operations at all ITT Technical Institutes, it announced Tuesday, blaming the federal government sanctions for the closures.

"The actions of and sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education have forced us to cease operations of the ITT Technical Institutes, and we will not be offering our September quarter," the company said. "We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution."

A majority of the 8,000 ITT Tech employees will lose their jobs, the company said. ITT Tech served more than 130 communities and more than 40,000 students as of June 30 at its campuses in 39 states and online.

ITT stopped enrolling students last week, CNN reported, after the U.S. Department of Education barred students who use financial aid from enrolling.

The Department of Education said in its blog that ITT Educational Services has been the subject of state and federal investigation for not being in compliance with accreditation standards.

"Over time, ITT’s decisions have put its students and millions of dollars in taxpayer funded federal student aid at risk. In response, over the last couple of years, we at the Department of Education have increased our financial oversight over ITT and required the school to boost its cash reserves to cover potential damages to taxpayers and students," the Department of Education's blog post stated.

ITT characterized the closure as a response to "unwarranted actions."

"This action of our federal regulator to increase our surety requirement to 40 percent of our Title IV federal funding and place our schools under 'Heightened Cash Monitoring Level 2,' forced us to conclude that we can no longer continue to operate our ITT Tech campuses and provide our students with the quality education they expect and deserve," the company stated.

The U.S. Department of Education places institutions on a Heightened Cash Monitoring payment method to provide additional oversight of cash management as a result of compliance issues. Level 2, the most stringent level of cash monitoring, was levied Aug. 25.

ITT was cited by the U.S. Department of Education in 2014 for late audits and was placed under a Provisional Program Participation Agreement for three years, the U.S. Department of Education said in a letter to ITT.

More than 500 schools nationwide are under some level of heightened cash monitoring as of June 1.

The U.S. Department of Education has advice for those ITT students who are affected by the ITT closures. Students with loans may be able to discharge the loans. The department said to monitor news through the Federal Student Aid's announcement page.

[KrazyK923]

Good, these for-profit "colleges" are nothing but a moneymaking scam. I went to DeVry for a single semester and it wound up costing me 6k even with a 3.94 gpa and a ton of honors classes and such. Just glad that I realized it was a giant scam after one semester.

[the game]

Thanks Obama.

[hydrium]

Well at least Ill be able to discharge my loans hopefully.

[Annoying]

Good, these for-profit "colleges" are nothing but a moneymaking scam. I went to DeVry for a single semester and it wound up costing me 6k even with a 3.94 gpa and a ton of honors classes and such. Just glad that I realized it was a giant scam after one semester.

Yeah, I had a friend who went all the way with DeVry, didn't turn out terribly good in the end. Lots of debt, not a lot of job prospects. It really isn't hard to go to local colleges/universities and get a great education. There are even some smaller ones that are cheaper out of state than all these for-profits that give amazing degrees and have wonderful job prospects.

[Drakpower]

Good, these for-profit "colleges" are nothing but a moneymaking scam. I went to DeVry for a single semester and it wound up costing me 6k even with a 3.94 gpa and a ton of honors classes and such. Just glad that I realized it was a giant scam after one semester.

I also did a single semester there and it cost me too. Whenever I asked what job prospects or networking opportunities I had, they would turn around and reply that I should take more classes.

My guidance counselor there, who was a nice guy, would always insist that they were just as accredited as any other school and was very defensive about it. That was my initial red flag to get the heck outta there.

[unbound]

lol

ITT complaining about the Dept of Ed as being the root cause is like a restaurant complaining that the local health inspector is to blame for closing. ITT just won't come clean that they were mostly a scam, just like the restaurant won't come clean that they are shutting down because of their dangerous food handling procedures.

[alexw]

http://www.wave3.com/story/33021917/...s?sf35209648=1

Its hilarious the way this article plays up the job losses and the harm done to the communities the company serves. You could say the same about Bernie Madoff. You can't close Bernie Madoff down! Think of the investment banker job losses and the harm done to the investment banker community!

[zenkai]

http://www.wave3.com/story/33021917/...s?sf35209648=1

Are you in the Louisville area? notice you linked one of the news sites I use a lot...

[Melkandor]

lol

ITT complaining about the Dept of Ed as being the root cause is like a restaurant complaining that the local health inspector is to blame for closing. ITT just won't come clean that they were mostly a scam, just like the restaurant won't come clean that they are shutting down because of their dangerous food handling procedures.

This so much. Fuck ITT Tech. Good riddance, more "for-profit" schools deserve to be shut down.

[TrumpIsPresident]

And yet the DOE wont be going after colleges that promote segregation and racist campus policies.

Shows you where their priorities are.

ITT Tech has been operating since 1969 with around 130 campuses graduating hundreds of thousands of students. But are we really supposed to believe its all been a giant scam?

I don't know of a single business out there that doesn't have an database full of complains saying its a scam. Hell, even Blizzard held an F rating with the BBB for many years.

Do a lot of people leave ITT with debt and no job prospects? Of course! But the same can be said of any college/university in the country. Are they all scams too?

Plus consider two things: a) the unemployable quality of current college/university "graduates", and b) the target market for ITT Tech. ITT scraped the bottom of a spoiled barrel.

I'm not defending ITT and I don't have any first hand knowledge of their education but if we're going to start closing down education institutes because they fail to produce qualified applicants then ITT is the first in a long line of institutes that need to go. But of course the radicalized indoctrination factories I'm referring to would never come under investigation by this Administration.

[zenkai]

This so much. Fuck ITT Tech. Good riddance, more "for-profit" schools deserve to be shut down.

isn't every school a for-profit school?

[Kathandira]

I attended Anthem Institute for 1 year. It was supposed to be a 2 year course, but I did the 5 days a week, 5 hours a day route to make it 1 year.

I got a 3.5 GPA, and in the end, it cost me $20k. Fortunately, I got a job right out of school, and have grown since then into a much better job.

However, when I reflect on it all, I could have gotten the same education at a community college in 2 years, and have the same credentials. The school did not offer an Associates degree, and did not provide you with any Certifications. I have a diploma from a technical institute, which is basically worthless.

I truly wish I could go back and think it over, but whats done, is done.

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

Today in the news: a big horrible evil monster ate a slightly smaller yet infinitely more evil and horrible monster.

[Revik]

And yet the DOE wont be going after colleges that promote segregation and racist campus policies.

Shows you where their priorities are.

ITT Tech has been operating since 1969 with around 130 campuses graduating hundreds of thousands of students. But are we really supposed to believe its all been a giant scam?

I don't know of a single business out there that doesn't have an database full of complains saying its a scam. Hell, even Blizzard held an F rating with the BBB for many years.

Do a lot of people leave ITT with debt and no job prospects? Of course! But the same can be said of any college/university in the country. Are they all scams too?

Plus consider two things: a) the unemployable quality of current college/university "graduates", and b) the target market for ITT Tech. ITT scraped the bottom of a spoiled barrel.

I'm not defending ITT and I don't have any first hand knowledge of their education but if we're going to start closing down education institutes because they fail to produce qualified applicants then ITT is the first in a long line of institutes that need to go. But of course the radicalized indoctrination factories I'm referring to would never come under investigation by this Administration.

Let's face it Segregation issues are not as high priority as full on scamming people which covers people of all races. At least with places with segregation issues people are still getting the education they paid for.

I totally agree with you that the whole higher education system needs to be looked at and overall revamped but upsetting this whole paradigm is going to take time.

[Theinquisition]

Im glad.

There are a lot of soldiers who get conned into going to degree mills like itt and end up using their gi bill benefits for degrees that aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

[Tyrianth]

isn't every school a for-profit school?

No, most schools are nonprofit.

Non-profit doesn't mean no profit. It just means that they have to reinvest all profits back into the organization, unlike a for-profit organization which is allowed to payout the profits to its shareholders.

[Stormspellz]

And yet the DOE wont be going after colleges that promote segregation and racist campus policies.

Shows you where their priorities are.

ITT Tech has been operating since 1969 with around 130 campuses graduating hundreds of thousands of students. But are we really supposed to believe its all been a giant scam?

I don't know of a single business out there that doesn't have an database full of complains saying its a scam. Hell, even Blizzard held an F rating with the BBB for many years.

Do a lot of people leave ITT with debt and no job prospects? Of course! But the same can be said of any college/university in the country. Are they all scams too?

Plus consider two things: a) the unemployable quality of current college/university "graduates", and b) the target market for ITT Tech. ITT scraped the bottom of a spoiled barrel.

I'm not defending ITT and I don't have any first hand knowledge of their education but if we're going to start closing down education institutes because they fail to produce qualified applicants then ITT is the first in a long line of institutes that need to go. But of course the radicalized indoctrination factories I'm referring to would never come under investigation by this Administration.

Gonna bet those are behind the scope of the DOE mandate, not full filling academic requirements on the other hand...

[zenkai]

No, most schools are nonprofit.

Non-profit doesn't mean no profit. It just means that they have to reinvest all profits back into the organization, unlike a for-profit organization which is allowed to payout the profits to its shareholders.

Doesn't mean they don't squeeze student's out of every penny they can, there is a reason why tuition far outpaces inflation.

[Tyrianth]

Doesn't mean they don't squeeze student's out of every penny they can, there is a reason why tuition far outpaces inflation.

Yes, but there is a clear difference between a for-profit school and a non-profit school. For profit school, that tuition goes into the pockets of shareholders, nonprofit tuition gets reinvested back into the school.

To put in perspective, Harvard president takes home a yearly compensation of $899,734.

In 2013, the CEO of ITT Tech, took home $798,596 base, plus $1,000,093 in bonuses, plus another $1,115,594 in equity.