ITT is no longer allowed to enroll students who rely on federal loans and grants

>>Graduation rates at non profit schools are appalling. University of Pheonix routinely graduates less than 20% of its students within six years.

I am talking about both (for and not-for profit) universities.

Isn't graduation a responsibility of a student too? If a student is not graduating, isn't there a chance that he/she is not sufficiently working for it?

or

If a student is not graduating, isn't there a chance that he/she does not have what it takes to learn a subject?

The students should do a little bit of homework before joining any university: does the university seem suitable for me? do I seem suitable for the university? do I think I am capable of handling the study work? what is the quality of the faculty? what the almuni are saying about this university? what the other academics are saying about this university?

If a student cannot or will not do this little bit of homework, then I guess he/she deserves to be surprised (may get a good surprise if lucky else bad surprise).

> There are some valuable skills that non-profit community colleges can't practically teach.

For example? Out of hand I can't think of anything obvious - but I only really knows how the system works in Germany, which is quite different indeed to the US system.. so that might be the reason why I can't.

A school's main objective is whatever they say at any given moment to you. You've got mission statements, brochure advertisements, orientation presentations, presentations to high schools, whatever is said in private from your guidance advisor. There will be PLENTY of times when you hear that they are focused on "preparing you for the real world" or they talk about growth. Funny as vague a language they might use, I've never once read a university (and I've worked at two of them) say that their main objective ISN'T to make you employable.

I am an ITT Tech graduate who paid their way through school using federal loans.

I earned my A.A.S in Electronic and Computer Engineering Technology and my B.S. in Electronic and Communications Engineering Technology from ITT Tech. I started the process in 2001. My total student loan debt was over $60K when I graduated but I knew that would be the case going in. I don't buy this crap about 18 years olds not knowing what they are getting into.

While my program of study was electronics engineering I always intended on working in IT. I wanted to get my degree in electronics engineering because I felt I would get more out of an instructor led education in electronics than I would in IT. After graduation my first job was an desktop support specialist for a software company which turned into a junior system administrator position one year later. After one more year I switched to my current job where I was hired as system administrator and am now a Senior Linux Administrator. I make good money for the location and was able to pay off all my student loans and put a down payment on a house when I was 32. In full disclosure this was speed up by about 5 years due to my mom passing and a life insurance policy I was the beneficiary on but it really only speed up the process by those 5 years. I already was doing pretty well before she passed.

I had some outstanding instructors and I refuse to do them an injustice by saying my education was sub-par or otherwise not worth the investment. Of all my friends who went to normal state universities I am doing the best for myself career wise. From what I heard from them at the time the state university standards where dropping just as much as the private for profit schools.

After earning my M.S. in Information Technology I went back and taught part time as an adjunct for both the electronics and information technology departments. I quit about 3 years ago when I moved about 1hr away and did not want to commute. This was just supplemental income for me and never my primary job so I was able to just do things my own way and not worry about the repercussions if I failed to may students or did not haul the corporate line. Things definitely where different by the time I went back to teach. The standards where not what they use to be when I was a student. They also added a lot of degree programs with attractive sounding names such as Digital Entertainment and Game Design which attracted a much broader student base and failed to provide any sort of meaningful filtering of who they accepted. However the faculty was still a outstanding group of people who knew their stuff.

I cant speak for other ITT Techs than my own. I'm sure for every person like me who had a positive experience there are numerous people who could tell a horror story about their experiences at ITT Tech. I just feel like a large part of the problem is that ITT accepts people who are not college material and these people are doomed to struggle or fail out and when they do they are also a demographic of individuals who are more likely to blame the system than accept any blame themselves. Perhaps it is ITT Techs fault for accepting them; its certainly doing the schools reputation a disservice. But just like with the student loans I have a hard time accepting people do not know what they are getting into or filling sorry for them if they did not do their research before hand.

I fully acknowledge ITT Tech has its fair share of problems which have gotten worse over the years. I just don't think its particularly unique to them or even for profit schools.