ITT Tech is closing

I taught at ITT Tech for many semesters and for some reason I am still on their email routing.

The email from this morning said that they are canceling the Fall Semester (Sept) and will teach out the rest of the Summer Semester.

So . . . . That's it. ITT is done.


Michael

 

Yep. You called it. It is over for them.

 

Best ITT commercial ever. [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWjDK_pr8_Y[/video]

 

Where have all the flowers gone?

 

Maybe if they hired me for the online instructor position I applied to, this wouldn't have happened. :lmao::lmao:

Interesting take in the Huffington Post;

Good Riddance: 6 Facts About the ITT Tech Shut Down

I wonder if this is also the first death rattle of ACICS?

 

If the loss of recognition by USDOE stands then I cannot imagine ACICS can survive. Schools are only paying them for the legitimacy recognized accreditation provides and the access to title IV. I'd wager the latter is far more common among its accredited schools.

 

Will Capella be on the same boat in the foreseeable future?

 

Impossible to say definitively.

But Capella doesn't have any public scandals at the moment. It's also fairly small potatoes compared to these big chains. Capella also has fairly decent completion and employability numbers. Their bread and butter, for years, was graduate level study. The schools that have the worst performance offer associate and certificate level programs.

An employed professional looking for a degree for an extra leg up is in a different boat than an unskilled, under or unemployed worker who earns a certificate or associate's degree hoping to break into a new profession.

Capella also expanded into self-paced learning which diversifies their revenue by not relying solely on federal financial aid. They are also more diversified because they have a number of corporate partnerships. I can't say definitively, but I'd be pretty surprised if ITT Tech had any corporate partnerships of note.

Capella also has a number of successful alumni in both higher Ed and in the mental health world. A simple LinkedIn search shows a handful of licensed psychologists sporting Capella doctorates.

If I were a betting man I'd say Phoenix is probably the next big target. CEC (which owns AIU and Colorado Tech) probably lowered its profile sufficiently by divesting all of its NA and certificate schools.

Then again, once all of the low hanging fruit has been picked who knows how far up the tree Dick Durbin and Elizabeth Warren will climb for the next harvest?

 

If they're going after UoP, it will have to be the recruiting/retention angle. I taught for them for a few years, and whatever else anyone wants to say, they have (or at least had) their shit together in regards to academics. You can get a quality education at UoP, it's too bad they have the reputation they do.

 

This come comes closer to my understanding of for-profit, not just totally dependent on govt supported student loans.

I hope to see more competition, Lower tuition, and more innovation from for-profits. I just read where bill got $18m just to be an honorary chancellor at a for-profit. The focus should be on students and not merely lobbying for better access to student loans.

 

I think you may underestimate how much non-profit and public universities spend on political lobbying.

 

How does Capella's self-paced learning affect their revenue?

 

Because it doesn't qualify for federal financial aid. So it follows in the path of other schools following that same model such as Patten, ACE, California Southern or even WGU. It's diversifying the source of your revenue to reduce reliance on federal money.

 

Apparently, in hindsight, ITT biggest mistake was not having Bill Clinton Consultantcy as a client. Of course, there is no guarantee, but the result perhaps could have been different.

 

I am in agreement with you. In hindsight another mistake by ITT. I think in Canada these people will have to be registered with the Govt. Once registered they can lobby on behalf of their clients many of these people are quite powerful. All our living ex-PMs are consultants lobbying the govt.

 

I'm certainly a fan of some good ol fashioned snark.

But let's not pretend that ITT and Laureate are the same just because they are both for-profit. That's like arguing that Timex and Patak Phillipe produce products of similar quality because they are both for-profit watch companies.

ITT Tech was once fairly well respected in the IT world. But they saturated the nation with their strip mall campuses. They also, reportedly, just straight up stopped updating curriculum.

Walden has been fairly scandal free. All because of Bill Clinton? Perhaps it didn't hurt. But the alumni of Walden, Liverpool and St. Augustine don't seem to be filled with rage and contempt. Of course, the demographics all three of those schools appeal to are drastically different than the target demographic of ITT tech, so is that really shocking?

 

As an aside I just noticed UMT hitting social media offering to waive enrollment fees for ITT students wanting to continue their education. Say what you will about trading one NA degree for another but I think I'd rather have Ashworth, UMT, Penn Foster, Aspen etc on my resume than ITT Tech these days.

 

Almost all of their FlexPath programs qualify for financial aid. WGU also participates in Title IV.

Only their certificate programs are marked with an asterisk. Previously, their BSN didn't qualify, but that's because it was new, and they had to wait for approval.

Available FlexPath Programs - Capella University