Thread regarding ITT Educational Services Inc. layoffs

As far as what's been announced thus far, the VA is still funding ITT under the GI Bill. The risk to those students is if ITT shuts down before they are able to complete their degrees. The DOE imposed the sanctions - basically forcing an immediate shut-down - and it is extremely unfortunate for those caught in the cross fire.

Basically, the VA isn't concerned with accreditation or eligibility for Title IV funding. Veterans have the flexibility to use the money for training in a multitude of different contexts that aren't necessarily in line with a traditional 4yr college plan. How does that make the VA predatory? Uninformative and failing to provide halfway decent exit counseling to learn about different education options? Yes. But they provided the funds, and the Veteran chose how to use them. They aren't pulling funds from and existing student or even future students unless something has changed in the past 24 hours. The only organization holding anything hostage right now is ITT.

As to the predatory nature of ITT's recruiting tactics, if a student understands what he or she is buying by attending ITT and understands the risk of enrolling at a trade school that has been on the verge of imploding for years, they wouldn't be a victim - they made a bad decision. The issue arises when the school sells nationally accredited "associates" degrees, that are completely non-transferable, as equivalent to what a student achieves by obtaining an Associate's degree from a regionally accredited community college.

"Preyed on"... how? How was I "preyed" on? Everyone acts as though every student that started with ITT is a victim in some way. How exactly am I a victim by going to school there? You think my experiences at the previous two colleges were in my head? Not everyone is a victim a--holes. Any of you "victim" a--holes actually serve in any capacity?

The predator in this case is the VA if they hold my education hostage by not funding the rest of my education.

@J9SubaQ-kvd

That's disgusting. I normally don't feed the trolls, but...

Students may have made a bad decision enrolling here, but ITT preyed on the most vulnerable, using specific pain points to get them enrolled and reap the government benefits.

Read the statements from former admissions reps selling the school - salesmen that knew exactly how to get Veterans excited about the college experience, many of whom had already tried and failed at another school. Or worse yet, maybe it was their first civilian experience after discharge.

The MHA is supposed to support Vets and their families while they are in school full-time. Those students, and often their kids depend on the monthly stipend to pay for rent and food.

It's not just about the potential sudden loss of the MHA, Veterans don't get back the months of training they used attending ITT (limited to 36 months total). Unlike loan forgiveness, if the credits don't transfer or they aren't able to complete the certificate/degree (regardless of its actual value) there's no getting that portion of the GI Bill back.

"LMAO"---not a respectful way to treat vets, do you work for HQ?

VA just cancelled all certs for students. NO BAH for you military boys and girls. SHOULDA WENT TO A REGIONALLY ACCREDITED SCHOOL LMAO!!!!

Depends on the individual case. I hate to flog a dead horse, but ITT-Tech's total lack of genuine advising for students is causing a huge problem now.

You are basically asking an online, anonymous discussion forum to shake the magic 8 ball for you and give you a direct answer. You might also want to call a psychic hot-line.

Nursing students are posting here, advocates for vets are posting here. All wondering what is going on and what to do. But this is an anonymous board for posting gossip about layoffs! You will get all kinds of responses on here, from right-wing wackos to old-timers who graduated from ITT-Tech a million years ago.

What you should be asking is, "where can I go to get some reliable information?" Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that.

My suggestion is there needs to be a quick line of communication opened up between existing ITT faculty who care about their students and their colleagues teaching at their local community college. At least where I teach, as a full-time faculty member I am often the key decision maker as to what does or does not effectively transfer for those courses we teach in my discipline that are being asked to consider. An initial focus for students should be on the transferability of general education courses. This is simply because many of them may not want to pursue the same "major" because doing so may result in their inability to gain student debt discharge. As convoluted as it sounds, they may actually be hurt financially by continuing with their previous educational goals if they are too aligned with their need educational goals.

I wish things were simple. Unfortunately that's not the case. One final comment. If you are an instructor and the possibility exists that you may lose your job, having those relationships with community college faculty in your discipline is probably a good idea from a future employment perspective.