I decided to pursue my degree in Criminal Justice. Being that I am 33 and have a full-time job, I decided to look at an online program. I visited the local ITT TECH campus in St. Rose, Lousiana to get started. I started classes in December. The first quarter went well, with no issues and my GPA was just shy of 4.0. On to the second quarter... And everything changed. I was completely unable to access any of my class work online after the first week due to an unsolved technical issue. So, I emailed my 2 instructors to inform them of my technical problem. I then emailed technical support, and received a phone call from 'Andre'. He proceeded to run through the various settings on my computer to see if anything was changed, and nothing was. This is the same computer that I accessed every class with the whole time, with no changes to it during this time. But I still kept getting the same error message when trying to log into class.
I sent a screen shot of that error message to Andre, because he had never seen it before based on my description over the phone. Once he ran out of ideas, he promised me that he was going to send my file up to the next level help desk and I would be hearing from them within a day. Well, that call never came. That was seven weeks ago. I have sent repeated emails to my instructors, to the academic support office, and also to technical support. So far, the only person that has seemed even remotely interested in helping me is one of the instructors. She contacted the dean of students at least three times. Each time, she reported back to me that the dean would handle everything from there.
Ok, so academic services calls me this past week, for the fourth time since this all began. Do I finally get someone who's willing to help me? NO—I get a guy telling me that I am in violation of the school's attendance policy because I havent logged into my classes! This is the same exact thing that the academic support office has done each of the four times they have called me. Not once did anyone from that office even mention my problem—I found out that the reason is because no notes were placed in my permanent file about it! Despite my numerous emails, my numerous phone calls to various people at ITT, and despite their numerous calls to me, no one has any idea that I am having this problem?!?
I saw no other alternative but to withdraw from the program entirely. This was done within the last two days. Up until that point, I was still 100% unable to access any of my classes. This was a total waste of my time, let alone money—now I am expected to repay student loans that:
1—are completely worthless because the credits I did earn are non-transferrable.
2—are completely worthless because I cannot complete a degree program if I am not allowed to access the friggin classes.
3—ate up a portion of the funding I am allowed per year, so that I cannot enroll in another school until next year unless I pay out of pocket.
I have seen numerous entries on this website from people who like ITT. I am sincerely glad for you. But please—while I appreciate any feedback, do not come here and post a rebuttal just to discredit what I have experienced, or to discredit me.
One final note—I called the recruiter yesterday, from the local campus. I made her aware of my decision and the events that made it my only option. She was absolutely angry—she asked me if I would let her pass my story to her boss, one of the directors. I agreed. She promised that either she or that director was going to want to speak to me and that they would be calling me back in just a couple hours. That was yesterday. No call came. No call came today either. Why am I not surprised?
Bottom line, do not under any circumstances trust this school or its online program. This was a waste of time and money for me, it doesnt have to be for you. I encourage anyone else who has had similar issues to contact me about any legal proceedings. This was nothing more than complete negligence on their part, and that cost me.
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