Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Issues with my private college

I attend a technical school here in Buffalo and I can't help but feel I've been cheated out of a lot of money. My education, upon completion of an associates degree, will have cost $37xxx. The great thing about the school is the hands on experience in a working environment; I actually want to go to school, it's a nice feeling

But that's where the warmth ends, however. For starters, it seems the program chair and the school dean are lacking quality instructors; and so are employing current instructors to teach classes they know little about. I'm not talking composition or math here, I'm talking industry leading software for gaming and special effects design. You need specialists for these types of classes, in which the school employs. When trying to protest the current, inexperienced instructor, currently instructing our animation 1 class; the Dean rolled his eyes at all of us and said the experienced instructor is an easy grade. Quite the insult if you ask me as that's not true!

To get into depth, we, as a class, typed a formal request to discuss with the program chair a replacement for the before mentioned Instructor. Took her a week to respond, she took some statements. She forgot about it; we went to the dean- he rolled his eyes. We went ABOVE HIM, to the school admin. He at least talked to us, but porked back behind his desk once we left, and did nothing. We almost took it as far as the corporate office, but decided not to.

I find it disturbing that for $37xxx, a school cannot

-Hire janitors.
-Provide some sort of computer/ gadget to the students for their major; though, all other Majors recieve hard drives. I'd expect at least SOMETHING. No, we Multimedia students recieved a pack of rewritable CDs.





I stay to finish the school because my credits will not transfer anywhere else, something, of course that was "forgotten" during recruiting time. Also, because it's better I finish than leave.

I don't regret my choice, as I've learned a lot.

The school won't even address where the tuition money goes, though. Answer that queestion and we'd try to understand better, but it goes unanswered. So, we tend to believe what everyone thinks: that the admin/ dean are just trying to pocket money.

It really bothers me. I'm not one for mile long posts, sorry, no cliff notes as it can't be explained that way.

Any suggestions? Points of wisdom? Crtique? I feel the class would have a case if we took it to Corporate or the local News.. the class as a whole has actually considered it.

How is this school organized (who owns it)? Is it a non-profit, is it a privately held corporation? How long has this school been in existence? Is it accredited in any way? What research did you make prior to enrolling?

Really... at this point, I honestly think you are stuck. I agree with your issues, and totally sympathize... but unless they are clearly promising something they are not delivering... it's not fraud. It's not a crime to be non-responsive. It's not a crime to be non-transferrable (and only fraud if they PROMISED otherwise).

If they are non-profit or publicly held, their financial reporting is public record. If they are privately held, it is not.

Is there a Board of Trustees? They may be another avenue.

If they are accredited... you can always go the accrediting agency and file complaints to have them withdraw the accredation... however, that could do you more harm than good, as it could cheapen your degree.

Finance major from a private university... just throwing out some of the things we learned when digging through the school's financials.

I happen to know that it's ITT Technical Institute that he's talking about. I think you have to take the mindset that you get your paper, get your first job and get on with life. When I was at George Washington University Law School there was a big hubub for all 3 years about how much of the tuition money (over $22k/year) was going to support the undergraduate programs when the law school was in desparate need of resources. We protested, wrote letters, etc. and what changed? Nothing. Do I care any more? No - that was over 8 years and 3 firms ago.

On the other hand, if they're not providing what they promised (i.e., competent instructors) then you have a legitimate beef that you ought to take up the corporate chain. Taking it to the Buffalo News and Channel 4 isn't going to get you very far other than giving you a little satisfaction, but do you really want to denigrate the degree you're going to be relying on soon for your first real job?

Scott

Wow, I work at a carreer college and I notice some of the same things. Luckily I am only there for another year but from what I have seen it is a total ripoff. 60 minutes has done to exposes on these schools now and one was on last night. It is supposadly the fastest growing industry in the nation right now.

I'l never understand why these people pay over $30,000 to attend a school that is only accredited by a board that was created by the school for the sole purpose of saying they are accredited. Like you said, once you are in you are screwed. You can't transfer anywhere. They make all their money from your signing up for government funded student loans. You get the loan and the government pays the school. Then all they have to do is keep passing you through the school and they keep getting the money.

As far as teachers go, I know for the comptuer side of things, only an A+ or a few years of experience are required to teach. We've gone through so many teachers here in the year I've been here that it is pretty sad. I've even subsituted for weeks at a time while teachers are out and these kids aren't learning much from most of the teachers. I mean I've had students that have gone through 3 or 4 terms already and can't even find the IP address of their own computer when they've already had netowrking classes. Not to mention the teachers are paid a crap salarey too.

My biggest grumble about this though would be how much these poor kids pay. My associates @ my local community college only cost me about $10,000 and I can transfer the credits to any school in Michigan. So why in the world would anyone pay $30,000 for the same thing at a carreer college when they learn less, pay more, and can't even transfer. I know they feel like they have job placement but thats a joke. I mean, all they have to do is find you any job and if you turn it down thats your fault (IE - folding shirts at the GAP).

your situation really sucks. My friend is a computer genius and could have gone to Univ or RI or a good private school, but he was afraid he wouldn't get enough money or get into the schools. he ended up going to one of these career schools with a 100% acceptance rate and learned some computer programing stuff with an associates degree. He was never able to get his bachelors degree because it was getting too expensive. Luckily some of his credits did transfer to a regular college and he is slowly trying to get a 4 year degree at a local college. These places really screw you over. I would apply to a real college and hope you can get some scholarships or financial aid. You will be out some large chunk of money, but you would be able to get a good job. you could also just get a computer job and build your resume with experience. Lots of great experience can really help you if the educational stuff did not work out, but I dont know how much just having an associates degree will hold you back.

I feel I've learned quite a bit more than the average student of this type of school. Outside of the curriculum, I've taught myself many other computer programs.

I'm in the process of creating a digital resume similar to a DVD introduction and menu; it'll be real cool/useful when it's done.

I highly doubt I will pursue bachelors from ITT. I'm hoping my skill and creativity merit an employer to see through the discrepency. Maybe it's not even a discrepency if my talent is good enough.



I'm just stuck. It's brought class morale down, too.

If you can get in, the money can be found. All you're out is an application fee and a little time to get in... so why not reach and try?

For-Profit education is a complete rip-off. The admission departments are ran as Sales departments. They look to qualify you for Govt. aid or Govt. Loans not on aptitude.

The joke of an education you get is not considered to be the equivalent of a Univeristy either. HR epople who do the hiring know this!

These schools will pass anyone so that they continue to recieve their Govt. funding.

They have been under investigation from the SEC for securuites fraud for lying about their graduation rates, job placement rates, and their admittance criteria.