Now, as a former instructor of ITT Technical Institute, there are many things that you should be aware of before considering this school.
First, the good things.
ITT does allow some students to be successful without the hassle of attending a traditional college. Each program at the school does take two years (when passing all of your courses) while most of your classes are smaller than 20 students, especially in your major area. I am aware of many students that graduated from ITT with excellent jobs starting at 15-20 dollars an hour with incredible benefits. I also know of students attending right now working in their field of study to gain additional experience. The ITT I worked at had several good instructors who were knowledgeable and willing to help most students.
Now, the bad things.
The tuition at ITT for an associates degree is approximately $42,000, which I find outrageous for any school. I have heard many complaints about the financial aid programs because the aid students received tend to be loans. I would advise people do NOT take out any unsubsidized and/or private loans since these earn interest the second you sign the paperwork. This is the only information that I have about the financial aid at ITT — so be very aware if you choose to attend here.
ITT also has a very open enrollment policy, anyone can go there as long as you have graduated high school or obtained your GED. The test to enroll is very simplistic and anyone above the age of ten could easily pass the test. This gives too many students a false sense of security that can be successful at this school when in actually 75% should not even attend this school. To support my case, I taught College Math I and II, which are very tough math courses to cover in eleven weeks time. Many students could not even complete simple algebra (a major problem in College Math I because the entire course deals with a wide range of algebra concepts). Some students struggled through the course and failed because of lack of commitment to learn mathematics.
The problems start to begin here when students who had NO math skills retook the same class with another instructor and earned As and Bs. I discovered on many instances this instructor left the classroom when they were taking tests and quizzes (I heard this from several students along with seeing the instructor leave the classroom while I was teaching). As I discovered, ITT grades instructors on their attendance rates and passage rates for the class.instructors there have been known to inflate grades (easy to do with 10-20% participation grade in every class) to satisfy the corporate heads. I also noticed at ITT there was a high instructor turnover (it seemed like every quarter there were at least 3 new adjunct instructors). During my time there, I noticed more adjunct instructors so the corporation does not have to pay for benefits.
Another major issue with ITT (and this was the straw that broke the camels back) is the used car sales people that convince students to attend this school. These individuals tell many fabricated stories to give students an opportunity to succeed at ITT when they have no business being there. I have heard everything from guaranteeing students they will have a high paying job after they graduated (definitely not true) to stories of students who do not exist. The used car sales pitch is given to so many and too many fall prey (which is very unfortunate). I know these individuals receive additional compensation on how many students they start at the school as well as bonuses for those graduating.
In conclusion, I highly recommend that you stay away from ITT Technical Institute and do no even consider this as an option for college. I have heard too many horror stories and seen students who have spend lots of money and time to come away with absolutely nothing. The best thing to do is to ignore the television commercials and brochures that come in the mail and look for other opportunities to improve your life.
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