ITT Tech is closing

What happens next?

Do we see a huge surge in enrollment at community colleges near former ITT campuses?

I thought I read that part of the closing prosess includes coordinating with local colleges for existing students to complete degrees as transfer students?

Will we see RA schools offer to be more liberal with ITT transfer credits in an effort to gain enrollment from ITT?

I would think that local colleges, especially private not for profit schools, would consider this a giant opportunity. I would like to see the colleges I graduated from proactively recruit ITT students.

Thoughts?

 

Well, that'll happen when you don't update your information periodically.

Now that I think about it I was only looking at certificates when I perused Capella's website for FlexPath info. And I have a terrible habit of mixing up WGU and Patten/NCU guidelines. Oh well.

 

ACICS Alternatives?

"On 8.23.16, NACIQI voted to recommend that ACCSC's recognition be continued for 5 years." From the site: Welcome | Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges

ACCSC is a USDoE recognized accreditor. If ACICS goes south, I'd wager ACCSC might well have some former ACICS-accredited schools seeking new accreditation.

Another USDoE recognized accreditor, ACCET, might do well in similar circumstances - but only with those schools that are OK with awarding nothing higher than an Associate degree. ACCET

I don't think all would be lost, accreditation-wise, for accreditable (i.e. good) schools on the list of about 900 in all, if ACICS ended up gone. Any bad ones? Yeah, gone for sure. "Cleanup in aisle 12."

J.

 

I think the other Accreditors may be cautious for fear of popping up next on the political hit list. I don't think any accreditor wants to be known as the successor to ACICS and the Saviour of the ACICS schools.

Right now all of the ACICS schools, even the good ones, are tarnished by the Everests and ITT Techs out there.

If we talk about California Miramar making the wrong play in ditching DEAC for ACICS then I think we need to give props to CEC for just getting out of the ACICS business rather than staying to fight the good fight.

 

You make good points. Helluva system, isn't it? Glad we have a totally different one in Canada.

J.

 

I thought the same thing, but as Neuhaus points out, ACICS is about as popular as a raging venereal disease right now, so I don't know if any other accreditor wants to be associated with them, even third-hand.

Plus, even combined, ACCSC and ACCET couldn't handle the amount of work it would take to accredit the number of schools that ACICS did.

 

Im sure some of the ACICS schools will find a good home. But I just don't see a mass migration happening. Granted, that's just my opinion. I'm basing it off of what I call the Madoff Effect.

When Madoff's fraud went public his former employees became untouchables. Even former secretaries and administrative assistants were unable to find work. Some said that prospective employers felt that they "had to have known" but, perhaps less dastardly, I can't imagine a company in the financial sector wanting to hit the news because some overzealous reporter decided that they were providing safe haven for fraudsters.

The most well-known school in ACCSC's portfolio is Full Sail which, while very expensive, has some pretty positive graduate outcomes and a fairly loyal alumni base. Full Sail today actually resembles ITT Tech of 20+ years ago. I'm hopeful that they stay the course and don't try to follow in ACICS path. Sometimes it's the present you need to learn from.

 

When the ITT closure hit the news, I wondered whether they still offered BSET programs that wre accredited by ABET-TAC. Such degrees are generally quite valuable. But I think I might have mistaken ITT for DeVry which does offer such programs at campuses all over the country.

The second thing I wondered is whether there is anything in the wind about certain law schools that also seem to recruit underprepared students who end up unempployed and deeply in debt.

 

From what I've read, that might be most law schools at present.

 

Do they have/Can they get recognition from CHEA?

 

Care to elaborate?

 

ACICS presently has CHEA recognition according to CHEA site. The only National Career-Related Accrediting Organizations listed by CHEA are DEAC and ACICS.

ACCSC and ACCET have USDoE recognition, but do not appear on the CHEA list.

I wouldn't want them to do nearly that number. Trouble is, the ones we'd least like to see accredited would probably be first in line, brandishing money and hammering on the doors, like it was a Black Friday sale.

J.

 

Excellent analogy! :laugh2:

I don't have the time or ambition to check, but does anyone know how many ACICS-accredited schools offer some sort of Christian programs? I'm thinking that TRACS would be the next port of call for those schools, or you might see other schools "find religion" pretty fast.

 

From the ACICS site, Bruce:

" We accredit institutions that offer programs in professional, technical, and occupational fields..."

I seriously doubt we'd find any religious programs here. I have looked through the entire ACICS list at one point and don't remember any. TRACS and several other National accreditors handle those programs.

If there are any ACICS schools with religious programs (and I doubt there's even one) then yes - I suppose they'd have TRACS and three other CHEA-recognized National Faith-based accreditors to pester - two Christian and one Jewish. In reality, I don't think these organizations are going to hear from any affected school.

I suppose one or two schools (maximum) might try "getting religion" as a last resort. If so, they can just start praying right now. We'll see if it works for them! :smile:

J.

 

I mentioned TRACS because I know that at least one school (Liberty) used them as "backup" when their RA was in jeopardy, so I assumed they accredit entire schools, as Liberty offers all sorts of academic programs.

Any specific speculation as to what schools might do that? :laugh:

 

It looks like foxnews reads DI. There was a show earlier today echoing some of the views from this tread. Basically ITT and Corintians could have still been in business if they had the right consultants on their payroll. It was a pro for-profit piece.

 

Republicans tend to be pro for-profit colleges, but how many Republican politicians and media people would send their child to one?

 

Most of the people you're talking about are legacies at either Ivy League schools or other elite or well known schools. If I'm a fifth generation Harvard legacy there might very well be an expectation that my kids are going there as well.

Does that mean I can't support any other college in any other situation?

I support community colleges. I especially like the one where I teach. But I wouldn't send my kids there either. At least, not straight out of high school. While I understand and appreciate the cost savings of going to CC first and then transferring I'd prefer my kids get a full four year college experience.

Now, if they hit the workforce first or join the military and then want an education, sure, CCs are now more attractive for that situation.

If Mitt Romney's kid wants to get a job in Hollywood I'm sure he has the connections to make that happen. He can get him into the best programs and introduce him to the right people.

But for the kid from a lower middle class family from rural Pennsylvania going to a place like Full Sail might be the only clear academic path. I'm talking the kid who has no real shot at getting into a decent film school or doesn't have the resources to just move across the country and stand outside a movie lot hoping to get a shop gopher job. They're expensive. But they also have some pretty successful alumni and a whole bunch more who actually reached professional goals.

If my kids wanted to be chefs I'd very much prefer they get into CIA or Johnson and Wales. But if one of them found a way to pay for the Art Institutes in a way that made financial sense and that education helped them reach their goals then why wouldn't I be happy?

But you're talking about a different segment of the population. Bill O'Reilly doesn't want his kids cooking for a living. Ted Cruz probably wouldn't be thrilled if his kids said they were comfortable with their salaries capping out at $50k. And even if their kids did that they'd have some family money to fall back on. It's just different from the target demographic of most for-profit schools.

Also, there are at least a handful of Ivy League educated hedge fund folks who earned UPhoenix MBAs. So clearly there are some elites willing to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to for-profit education.

 

As with so many other things, Democrats are "do as I say, not as I do" about for-profit colleges.

Hillary Blasts For-Profit Colleges, but Bill Took Millions From One

I started at a city-owned 2-year college, and saved thousands of dollars by stockpiling credits there, then transferring them to a 4-year school. Granted, I went the military route rather than traditional college, but I don't feel as though I missed much by not having the "college experience".