[ghporter]

My son provided a friend a ride to a local ITT Tech location, and got what appears to be a very polished sales pitch. The salesman actually even told them that he used to be a recruiter for the Army. (Having worked with Air Force recruiters-FORMER recruiters-I have a very large concern about this bit alone.) He painted a glowing picture of one-on-one tutoring, easy financing and the possibility of a huge starting salary.

Yes, I'm skeptical. I've found a lot of their own stuff on line, and I've found a lot of very negative stuff about them as well. Can anyone provide first hand experience dealing with ITT Tech, the saleability of their degrees, and whether $45k for an ASSOCIATES' DEGREE is anything like worthwhile?

Thanks.

[Mithras]

It's a for-profit business. Take associated promotional material with appropriate skepticism.

[MacosNerd]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

He painted a glowing picture of one-on-one tutoring, easy financing and the possibility of a huge starting salary.

Of course, its his job to do so. What specific field is your son interested. That will of course dictate the entry level salary.

I don't have any first hand knowledge but just take a scan of the help wanted for jobs that ITT Tech teaches. Most if not all have a requirement of a BS degree not an associates. This will make finding a job (especially in a slowing economy) difficult and just as difficult moving to another job.

20 or 30 years ago you, this was a viable option since the computer industry was much more immature, in fact you could get started in programming w/o a degree. I know, I was one of those lucky guys that got a job w/o any degrees. I now have a couple of degrees because I understood to move around you need one.

[Paco500]

My belief is that a generic BS/BA from an accredited school would be much more valuable than an ITT associates. In fact, I think that time spent in an entry level position in his desired field building real world experience would be more valuable.

But this is coming from someone with an unfinished degree in eastern religion and no industry standard certifications that has built a pretty successful career in IT. YMMV.

[torsoboy]

I once considered going to ITT... I even went and took their entry exam and filled out all the paperwork. But then I learned that none of their classes were accredited and could not be transfered to another school if you happened to want to do that after going to ITT (so you would basically have to start over at any other school). I pulled out at the last moment and went to DeVry instead. This was 10 years ago, so the accreditation stuff may have been resolved by now.

With that being said, you can probably look at their job placement program, and their job placement percentage for new graduates. At DeVry they had a very high placement rate (in the 85% - 95% range), and businesses would actively recruit through the school. If ITT has something similar (which I am betting they do), the salary that the person was talking about can probably be verified (or discredited) by taking a look at the recruiting companies and checking out their base salaries.

Be skeptical, but also be open minded to it... technical colleges are great for people who learn better in a hands-on environment, and two years at a technical college will give your son a lot more real world type experience than two years at a traditional college.

[Chuckit]

No firsthand experience, but I've never heard anything good about them from somebody who wasn't paid to say it.

[Dork.]

If they aren't accredited, that should be a big red flag right there.

I find nothing wrong with the concept of a two-year degree, myself. It doesn't put you on the same career path as a 4-year degree, but it does put you in a path that can be rewarding. But aren't there some other options besides this (like local community colleges) that offer similar AAS programs that are accredited, and offer the option to later pursue a BS if that's what he wants to do? The tuition at the local community college has to be less than at ITT or DeVry.

Some people find that after years of doing the hands-on tech work (and generally growing older and more mature), they gain enough proficiency in debugging goofs that electronics designers make that they are much more amenable to the idea of finishing their 4-year degree and plunging into design themselves. (Some employers will pay the tuition for this, too.) It would be a shame if he had to start over because his 2-year degree wasn't from an accredited place.

[mduell]

ITT Tech is a useless scam. See the Controversy section on the Wikipedia. DeVry is much of the same.

Go to a state community college if you want a 2 year degree.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by mduell 

ITT Tech is a useless scam. See the Controversy section on the Wikipedia. DeVry is much of the same.

Go to a state community college if you want a 2 year degree.

Yup. Plus, the state will often pay you to go to school at a 2 year.

[Thorzdad]

Schools like ITT, DeVry, etc. are hugely expensive, too. The financing is "easy" because the student will almost certainly end up having to take-out private student loans (as opposed to gov't-backed).
Unfortunately, if your son is looking at schooling for one of the skilled trades, schools such as these are rapidly becoming the only game in town.

[d4nth3m4n]

i see no tech in this thread

[ghporter]

My son's interests are in network admin and security. He's ready to start an AAS program in that subject at the local (3 miles or so away) community college this summer, but he thinks that the teaching style ("small classes" and "one-on-one assistance") will fit him better. Unfortunately, I don't think his current experience with community college classes is representative enough to be able to categorize all classes, but I am not a credible source to him (even though that very community college is one I have attended).

I KNOW he wants to be upwardly mobile, so I'm certain that if he successfully completes a program whose credits don't transfer he'll HATE having to take basic courses like maths and such over again. And I'm very anxious about both the purported cost AND the fact that the folks at ITT Tech want to do all of the student aid work for the student-that bothers the crap out of me, because I feel that there is a huge amount of room for them to play fast and loose with MY (not my son's) money.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by mduell 

ITT Tech is a useless scam. See the Controversy section on the Wikipedia. DeVry is much of the same.

Go to a state community college if you want a 2 year degree.

DeVry was great for me. I learned a lot and had the chance to work for Motorolla, Intel, and many other respectable places.

I also got a two year degree at a Community college, and the degree at DeVry was a lot more in depth and could be used for real-life work after graduating. No one wanted to hire me because of my biology, history, philosophy, or english classes from the community college

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Schools like ITT, DeVry, etc. are hugely expensive, too. The financing is "easy" because the student will almost certainly end up having to take-out private student loans (as opposed to gov't-backed).
Unfortunately, if your son is looking at schooling for one of the skilled trades, schools such as these are rapidly becoming the only game in town.

I got regular government student loans. But maybe everyone isn't so lucky. For me it worked out nice.

[mduell]

Give your son the option of a state colleges on your dime or ITT on his own.

What classes has he taken at state colleges? Any in his intended field of study?

Credits from the state college should be transferable to state universities if he wants to pursue a BS, while ITT classes aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by mduell 

ITT Tech is a useless scam. See the Controversy section on the Wikipedia. DeVry is much of the same.

A Wikipedia entry that consists of 70% controversy speaks for itself.

-t

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by mduell 

ITT classes aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

I'm curious to know what authority/experience you have to say this type of thing. I didn't go to ITT, but I think you are painting with to broad of a brush on something you might not know anything about.

[Steve Bosell]

I have worked with quite a few people with ITT degrees. The job placement good, I would say that the quality of the employees from ITT is hit and miss, 50% are really good 50% dolts, there is not much in between. Several ITT people I know went back to a state school to get their BS.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by torsoboy 

I'm curious to know what authority/experience you have to say this type of thing. I didn't go to ITT, but I think you are painting with to broad of a brush on something you might not know anything about.

They're not accredited. That's only acceptable when you have enough of a reputation not to need it, and they clearly don't.

[ghporter]

I think my "crisis" is past. My son has (none-too-happily) accepted that maybe the sales dude/recruiter wasn't telling the whole story. He feels bad that he "was taken" but I pointed out that all he lost was some time, and that helped him out a bit.

My personal take is that any "school" that needs a hard-sell salesman must have some "issues". From what I've read, there are a LOT of issues with today's technical schools, including ITT Tech. So we're aimed at the community college (which is affordable without crushing student loans) and all should be well.

By the way, for some perspective on the issue of how much this 2-year degree would cost, many of my professional masters degree classmates are going to finish up their 3-year program with only a little more than $45k in loans, including what they lived on for that three years. Holy cow! That is just amazing to me.

[@pplejaxkz]

I myself am an ITT Tech student and I find it to be a pretty good school. Yes they do not allow transferring of credits which is a little discouraging. It is an expensive school, but there is just so much hands on work that I see it to be very worth it. Every class has hours of hands on experience actually doing what you've just been lectured about.

The host a lot of career fairs and if you go to the career service department, they will help you get anything from a burger joint, to an internship or a step into your field. A lot of students that are hard workers can obtain a job in their field within the first year and a half.

It does have great opportunity, but you also have every right and reason to be skeptical. Go for a couple meetings, take a detailed tour with him. They have a sheet which lists all the classes under each degree. Make sure to pick up a copy of each degree and then compare to other colleges.

I love the school, I think it's a very close nit community and there is always help. Tutoring from both students and teachers. A little on the expensive side, but if you're looking for some real good hands on experience and small classes then I would say it's a good choice. There are more expensive schools out there. I hope this helps a little, any other questions please don't hesitate to PM me!

----

[ghporter]

@pplejaxkz, I'm glad you had a good experience. But this campus and this sales/recruiter person give me such bad vibes that I can't help but think that this is not my son's best choice-particularly considering how well the local community college does with technical courses (lots of hands on) and job placement assistance. I also think that "a little on the expensive side" is a significant understatement in a lot of cases, and that's a big issue for me too.

[Lateralus]

I went into ITT a few months back. Talked to a counselor. It all sounded great. Then she told me how much it was going to cost.

I dropped a brick and said I'd get back to them.