Federal Probe Targets ITT Tech
3/2/2004 -- Classes are back to normal at ITT Technical Institute campuses across the country after federal agents raided the company's headquarters and 10 of its campuses last week in response to grand jury subpoenas and search warrants seeking various enrollment data.
Last Wednesday, agents searched ITT's Indianapolis, Indiana headquarters and 10 schools, including campuses in California, Nevada, Texas, Florida, Oregon and Louisiana. The grand jury subpoenas that triggered the searches were issued by a U.S. District Court in Houston, and sought data on student placement, retention, attendance and grades, along with recruitment and admissions materials, graduate salaries, and transfers of credits to other schools.
Classes were cancelled for the day at the targeted campuses, and students, faculty and staff were questioned. In a statement, a U.S. attorney in Houston did not give a reason for the raids. No charges have been brought against the company.
ITT spokeswoman Nancy Brown said today that the probe won't affect current ITT students, and will have no effect on anyone holding a degree from any ITT Tech school. "All the colleges are open and functioning perfectly normally," she added.
At an investor conference call this morning, ITT's chairman and CEO, Rene R. Champagne said he believes the company has had strong internal controls and that the investigation "will show that we're in compliance." Analysts who focus on the education market said the probe might be related to Title IV, a federal regulation that requires education companies to report certain student data related to federal low-income grants to states. According to company regulatory filings, about 68 percent of ITT's 2003 revenue came from federal education aid programs.
The federal raids immediately affected the company's stock, which fell from last week's high in the mid-50s to a low of $34.50 last Thursday. ITT Educational Services Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ESI." News of the probe also affected the entire for-profit education sector, whose shares tend to fluctuate as a group. ITT was trading around $35 a share by mid-week this week, and the remaining stocks in the sector had largely returned to their pre-probe numbers. "In light of the pending federal grand jury investigation of the company and resulting shareholder class action lawsuits," Champagne said during Wednesday's conference call with shareholders, "the company is not able to confirm the internal goals and other projections for the Company's 2004 fiscal year that were previously disclosed by the company."
The dramatic drop in stock prices triggered several class action lawsuits by investors late last week - a common practice when a stock price drops substantially. The lawsuits claim the company artificially maintained or inflated its stock price by issuing false facts or omitting other pertinent ones.
ITT, with some 75 locations in 30 states, is the largest operator in the U.S. of post-secondary school technical education. It offers technology-based associate, bachelor and masters degrees in a variety of subjects, including computer programming, Web development, and engineering, to over 37,000 students. It also offers online education. According to the U.S. Department of Education, ITT granted nearly 15 percent of the total number of associate and bachelor degrees awarded in the U.S. in electronics and electronics-related programs in the 2000-2001 school year, the largest percentage of any single institution.  -Linda Briggs
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There are 166  user Comments for “Federal Probe Targets ITT Tech”
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| 4/27/04: joe kerr from SoCal(anaheim and San Bernardino) says: |
i am currently in the 6th quarter CNS and so far i have had so much gone wrong with ITT. I have had my truck stolen in an ITT parking lot (with a security guard walking around), about 70 of my CD's stolen from ITT employees, i cant understand any of my instructors (their all foriegn...fresh imports). When i signed up in the beginning they told me that it would be so easy to transfer between the different campus' that it would be "seamless"!!!! ha ha..that was a BIG LIE! I wanted to transfer from Anaheim California to the San Bernardino location---i spent 3 weeks of traveling back and forth between the two. everyday they gave me the run-around by playing dumb. every person i spoke with in Financial Aid tried to schedule me for another day to START my paper work because "the person before didnt tell me everything to get for the next meeting. The ONLY reason im still here, is because i have already invested too much money and time to quit now. ----It's too late for me....save yourself while u still can!!!! |
| 4/28/04: Anonymous says: |
I would not waste my time with CompTIA's Aplus, Network plus,and Security plus. These are a waste of time IMO. CCNP, CCNA, and of course MCSE. These are big ones for Networking people. Just my two cents. |
| 4/28/04: Anonymous says: |
MCSE and CCNP are a waste of time for an entry-level person. Those are certifications that you should only get if they pertain to your present employment or can get you promoted (companies have differing requirements.) CompTIA's base-level certs and training are prerequisite for getting to those other levels. What would you want to pay for certs? $290 for Aplus, $207 for Network plus, $225 for Security plus or $875 for an MCSE (which is WORTHLESS for entry-level.) By the way, all those CompTIA certs counts towards an MCSA or MCSE. The skills and knowledge tested are base level for networking people - there are MCSE test topics that a networking person may never utilize. A CCNP (overkill again for an entry-level) will cost at least $500. For every exam you will require training or at least study materials for each exam. Don't waste your time going for a lot of certs - just cover the bases and get a variety (don't do just Microsoft or Cisco - the CompTIA exams are at least vendor-neutral, at least they aren't comepletely Microsoft-oriented.) If you are ambitious and have a lot of resources and time, consider the RHCE if the area you live in has companies that use Linux. |
| 4/28/04: Anonymous from TEXAS says: |
I am currently a student at ITT Tech, and frankly I dont feel like im getting my 35,000$ worth, and for that much money i could go to a community college for 4 yrs , and after reading all of these statements made by people who know what im talking about, I feel more comfortable that im not alone. When I first started, it looked to be a good choice for my future, but know im having second thoughts about this school, but im already in quater 4, and if I drop now I will still have to pay them for half of the 35,000$, which in my way of thinking is not right at all, because they promise a good education, and its not so great after all. And on top of that some of the teachers just suck at teaching, its like they have no passion to teach, and make it creative while they are teaching, it makes it more interesting to the student to learn what they need to know, the teacher need to change there style of teaching, or student will just get up and walk out of class with out saying a word, and it seems the reason the teachers are procrastinating about the subject at hand, is because they feel like they are being treated badly, it came straight from the mouth of one of my teachers, he quoted man we are being treated badly, in what way the teachers are being mistreated, I wouldnt know how they are being mistreated but its bad enough to effect the teachers way of teaching and make them not care if the student passes or fails, well I do care if I pass or fail because that breaks down to about 1500$ everytime you have to retake or drop a class, thats alota money for someone who cant aford a bus pass at the end of the month. And the last time I seen my quarter 2 DC electronics teacher, she was out in the hall way backed into a corner getting her ass chewed out by a student, the student was yelling at her saying you didnt teach us what the hell we need to know to pass the FINAL, when I seen that i was a little bit shocked but it wasnt a surprise to me because she sucked at teaching and the intire rest of my class thought so as well. So it boils down to this, me and no telling how many other stident of ITT Tech think that we are getting ripped off, and on our way to paying debt for the next 10 to 20 years, so what do they care if we have to fight for a job as long as they get their money, its just one big mess someone needs to do something about it, and soon to, I hope, because I cant afford to get a lawyer to file a lawsuit, they need to clean their act up and get their heads out of their rear ends and start giving a damn who passes or fails, and stop treating the teachers like crap, because in turn the teachers treat the students poorly, and this is for the students if you have a problem with your teacher or school write a report about it get it to your dean or board director. PS to those who read this please express how you have been treated at ITT Tech because the more we know the better. |
| 4/29/04: not dumb just no time for BS from TEXAS says: |
OK the person who is calling everyone cry babies needs to back up one step and actualy listen and do his research a little bit better, because the reason the students are slacking is because the teachers are being treeated badly and in turn the student is the victim, not the person to blame, because one of my teachers at ITT TECH said infront of the classroom that he felt like he, and few others felt like they where being treated very poorly, and he said that if it keeps up he's going to find another job, because its not worth the trouble any more, so that explains why the school has gone threw about 4 to 6 teachers in the past 7 months, huh beats me, im tired of the crap I want something done about the problem, just as long as the teachers are happy and im getting what I paid for. Please I hope someone from ITT reads this, then maybe things will straighten out for the good, because im already to far into the school to quit, lets just hope it gets better, because if not alot of students are going to start dropping if it does get worse, and I cant stand to lose friends over something like that. I hope someone out there feels the same way I do about this, and if some please leave your comments, and dont be posting here putting people down, name calling, or just being plain rude, I dont think you could acctually stand face to face and tell someone that, I know I wouldnt unless I HAD MY FACTS STRAIGHT. |
| 4/29/04: Anonymous says: |
I currently attend Itt-Tech and I have been complaining since I enrolled. I have complained about the quality of the school and its teachers. I finally have classes that open the books. Previously we worked on hand outs and never opened our text books. A lot of the teachers are foreign and really do not know anything or how to teach. I have a teacher that is a software programmer. He does not know anything about computer hardware yet he teaches our hardware class and gets confused alot. The lessons in our VB class are a joke about 75% of the lessons do not work and our teacher hands out forms with code that would work. I have lost all respect for this school but my job will pay for it if I stay and complete it. If it wasn't for that I would be gone. Another thing I have noticed about the job placement. Many of the jobs are temp. agencies, or tech support in someother state with 8.50 pay. I have seen many jobs on the placement list that are not tech related, like a job for Chuck E. Cheese, or fork lift driver. I am stumped about those jobs. If you have a choice do not choose ITT. Read books and get certifications, then attend cert classes when the subjects get tougher. |
| 4/30/04: Networking Nobody says: |
Regarding Certs, i agree that CompTIA's certs can be a waste of time. The A plus cert is a complete joke and waste of money. As a Network Administrator what certs are good for that field, it would be safe to bet that CompTIA certs would not be brought up. CCNA, CCNP, MCSA, MCSE are what will get you where you want to be, so what if you are over qualified for a entry level position? Try www.gocertify.com as you can take practice exams for many certs including CCIE, but good luck on that one. :) |
| 4/30/04: Anonymous says: |
So what if you're over qualified as an entry level? Are you high? First, do you want to WASTE your money on those higher-level certs? When I see an entry-level certified as an MCSE I know that they are nothing more than a paper-cert in those upper-level exams - they aren't going to have any 'real' experience in designing Active Directory, Exchange, SQL, desgining security, etc. - MCSE and CCNP are for individuals who have EXPERIENCE or they don't mean ANYTHING. I know the A plus curriculum and it can be a joke, depending on how the training is constructed. If you don't know the base-level material covered in the exam, then you don't have a foundation to go further. Even mentioning the CCIE in this coversation shows that you know very little about hiring at this level, Nobody.. |
| 4/30/04: Dave says: |
Face reality people. Most of you are too stupid to attend a 4 year program. Graduating from high school was a challenge for you. Keep your job at Burger King and find a nice trailer park to live in. Welfare and disability checks are your future. |
| 4/30/04: Anonymous says: |
Condescending ass - 4-year, 2-year doesn't make much of difference - concepts, theory, some hands-on or mostly hands on. I've have both - most of the day-to-day tasks that a tech has to do only really require specific training, most of it hands-on oriented. You can learn the other skills - business communication, project mgmt at either - just how do you need or want to pay? If you really a skilled tech, you would provide a good business and technical case for your viewpoint rather than resorting to being a pompous prick. |
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