ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down • Hacker News Board

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#41

Post by pgt » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:38 PM UTC

aaronchall wrote: post #35

The dream: take students who are mostly unprepared to succeed at college and educate & prepare them for success in the real world. The reality: most of these students will not realize a return on the investment of their time and acquisition of a ton of debt that they cannot discharge in bankruptcy. Many will fail to attend class, fail to take notes, fail to do homework, fail to learn, and will not complete - but beca…

Perhaps apprenticeship programs as are common in Germany, which are more focused on practical skills development than theoretical learning?

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#42

Post by ams6110 » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

joedissmeyer wrote: post #20

I am personaly happy to see the hammer come down on these for-profit universities. I too feel for the students as I was one of the Corinthian Colleges students a few years ago at Everest University through one of the Florida campuses. My degree program was the A.S. in Computer Information Sciences -- such a waste. Look up the job placement rates for that program in 2010, just insane. Thankfully I too have been able t…

Easy student loans for worthless education is what created the problem of sham for-profit universities to begin with.

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#43

Post by jrs235 » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:40 PM UTC

What enabled this greed scheme to work? Government guaranteed loans. The schools and institutions need to have some of their own skin in the game.

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#44

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

at-fates-hands wrote: post #6

I live in Minneapolis and the City Pages did quite an exposé on them back in 2015. It was pretty eye opening and gives a really good glimpse into their tactics: http://www.citypages.com/news/itt-tech-sells-an-american-dre...

[deleted]

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#45

Post by Yhippa » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

aaronchall wrote: post #35

The dream: take students who are mostly unprepared to succeed at college and educate & prepare them for success in the real world. The reality: most of these students will not realize a return on the investment of their time and acquisition of a ton of debt that they cannot discharge in bankruptcy. Many will fail to attend class, fail to take notes, fail to do homework, fail to learn, and will not complete - but beca…

What's the case against community colleges historically? I graduated from university a while ago and still take a community college course from anything from math to photography when I have the time. I have been largely impressed by what they have to offer.

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#46

Post by kayla210 » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #9

kayla210 wrote: post #5

I really feel for all the students who are so close to graduating and not knowing if they'll have anything to show for it.. And their credits will most likely not transfer to another school because of the different accreditations.

That their credits had virtually no chance of transferring to any other institution --- a point ITT was forced to make on its own website --- is a pretty good reason not to allow it to be the beneficiary of billions of dollars of public financing.

The fact that credits weren't transferable always seemed so shady to me. That just made it seemed that whatever credits you did earn weren't legitimate or worth anything if they couldn't be equated to credits at another college.

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#47

Post by miiiiiike » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

qaq wrote: post #29

JulianMorrison wrote: post #11

Every student's loans to these slimy operators should be simply struck off with no penalty.

Why should avg. taxpayer take on this burden?

Because the federal government allowed ITT to participate in the student aid programs.

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#48

Post by warmblood » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:44 PM UTC

qaq wrote: post #29

JulianMorrison wrote: post #11

Every student's loans to these slimy operators should be simply struck off with no penalty.

Why should avg. taxpayer take on this burden?

Because the burden on your (so-called) average taxpayer of having a stagnant, debt-crippled workforce is greater and worse to bear in the long term.

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#49

Post by whorleater » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

Thank god. Next on the menu: University of Phoenix please.

Re: ITT Technical Institutes Shuts Down

#50

Post by beachstartup » Tue, Sep 06, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

Yhippa wrote: post #45

aaronchall wrote: post #35

The dream: take students who are mostly unprepared to succeed at college and educate & prepare them for success in the real world. The reality: most of these students will not realize a return on the investment of their time and acquisition of a ton of debt that they cannot discharge in bankruptcy. Many will fail to attend class, fail to take notes, fail to do homework, fail to learn, and will not complete - but beca…

What's the case against community colleges historically? I graduated from university a while ago and still take a community college course from anything from math to photography when I have the time. I have been largely impressed by what they have to offer.

> What's the case against community colleges historically?

nothing, but they don't have slick advertising and promise you a $75k/year job, or aggressively recruit you by calling you non-stop and using manipulative pressure tactics like you're buying a $50,000 cell phone plan at a mall kiosk.