Random thoughts from an ex IT Program Chair
ITT's first responsibility is to their shareholders. Period. End of story. IF the students can be educated for a reasonable amount of money, that's nice, but the stockholders come first. I remember my first year there as the Program Chair of the IT Department. I walked around with a constant smile, so totally engrossed in this wonderful place, certain that I would be able to help my students realize their dreams, still completely oblivious to what ITT was really all about. It took a year to realize that the first priority was certainly not my students. There were a handful of us who were dedicated teachers and staff and truly cared about our students and went above and beyond for them. But it was a small number. One of our directors was wonderful, a few others just there for the money, still another was fired for screwing (I mean literally) one of the salespeople. Our Finance guy was dedicated and really cared. But you all need to understand that ITT is a for-profit business. They happen to be in the business of educating students, but at it's core, it's still a business. And the first rule of business is to make money for it's share holders.
I used to inwardly cringe if I happened to overhear what a prospective student was being told during the tour. The latest and greatest of everything, cutting edge technology, etc. We DID NOT have anything close to that, usually the IT students had stuff at home before we did.
An important point that people need to realize is regarding regional vs. National accreditation. Someone else on this board gave a good description of the difference so I will give you the quick and dirty version. A monkey with a blackboard and a piece of chalk can get national accreditation. It means very little from an educational standpoint. Joe's Truck Driving School can get national accreditation if they want. Regional accreditation is much more difficult to get and keep the educational standards are much higher and regional accreditation is what allows your credits from a 2 year school to transfer to a 4 year school. Unfortunately the sales people at ITT do not spend much (if any) time talking about this. Many of the younger, right out of high school students listen to the crap on the tour and think this is the greatest place ever. They don't know what they don't know. They have no idea about accreditation and what it means, and just assume their credits will transfer. They don't know to ask these questions, they make assumptions, and believe me, no sales person is going to offer any information they're not required to give. The school is about numbers and filling seats, and keeping them in the seats. I was FORCED to pass students who had no business passing, as were other instructors. Numbers are the only thing that matters.
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