ITT Technical Institute - Controversies

Controversies

ITT Technical Institute charges among the highest tuition in the industry. It also has the industry's highest rate of loans that go into default within two-years of attendance.

A two-year associate degree at ITT Tech (which requires 96 credit hours, 12 credits per quarter, 3 classes every quarter, and 4 credits per class) costs approximately $47,328 and that cost comes out to $493.00 per credit hour.

Out of concern that students at ITT Tech and other for-profit Technical Institutes are taking on unsustainable levels of debt, the Department of Education implemented new regulations that restricts students at for-profit Technical Institutes from taking out more debt than their future employment prospects would justify.

Additionally, because of its business and academic practices, ITT Tech has been in the news a few times. Most of the situations reported on are summarized below.

• In August 1998, 15 former students alleged misrepresentation, fraud and concealment by ITT arising out of their recruitment and education at ITT campuses. In September 1998, ITT settled all of the claims.
• On February 25, 2004, federal agents raided the company's headquarters and ten of its campuses. The investigation negatively affected the company's stock and triggered several class action lawsuits by investors.
• In October 2005, ITT agreed to pay $730,000 to settle a lawsuit with California in which employees alleged that it inflated students’ grade point averages so they qualified for more financial aid from the State of California.
• An investigation by WGBA-TV found evidence of widespread grade inflation. In one instance, a student got 100% on a computer forensics assignment by emailing the professor a noodle recipe. The station believes this to be a way to increase federal student aid funding.
• In early March 2011 WTMJ-TV (NBC4, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) ran an investigation finding teachers lying on attendance records so they could get cash bonuses paid by ITT Tech. ITT Tech uses an attendance policy as part of a requirement to get financial aid to show student progress.