Complaint Review: ITT Tech

Hello all,

Well I'll start at the beginning (please forgive the rambling). I had gotten injured on the job and had been living on workers comp. for a little over a year, when I saw ITT's commercial on TV. Because of my injury, I'll never be able to go back to doing what I've known and loved all my life, which is construction. Since I hadn't been doing much of anything with my life, after the accident, I called to set up an appointment to go speak with them about enrolling.

I'm a big "vidiot" also so I was wanting to go into computer programming. When I got there I told the Admissions lady that I wanted to record what we talked about (for my own records, in the case that they didn't follow through with what they said.) She told me I could not record our conversation or we couldn't talk. (I was in the army so I know how recruiting goes.) This really should have threw up a red flag, but I thought, "This is a school, they want me to better myself"....So I thought.

So, we continue talking about getting into programming. They started asking me about what kind of work I've done and suggesting I major in Auto-CADD instead. They kept saying how much I would enjoy it, seeing how I loved construction. I really had my heart set on programming b/c I like gaming so much. After about an hour or so I changed my mind. I was tempted by the money they said I would make once I finished this class, how easy it would be for them to find me a job once I finished. Also, she explained to me that it was hard for a programmer to get a job these days b/c everyone was going into it for the same reason I was (who wants a job where there is so much competition?).
So I signed up for Auto-CADD. I went to irrelevant classes for two quarters and then we finally get started in Auto-CADD class. The instructor acts like we have been doing this program for years, as if we should already know everything. And when we asked for help she acted like we were interrupting her; when we were in class all she could talk about was her family, or church, or current events; she never covered anything we were supposed to be learning about. Then she expected us to have our class work done by end of class (which was roughly 2 hours long) and the cycle continued, every week<. there were many talks among my peers about quitting b of that teacher and lack guidance.>
After we were halfway through the entire course, we learned that once we were finished with this class, if we wanted to become an architect (which over half of my class was planning on doing) we had to go to an architecture college and spend another $50k. And if we wanted to be engineers, the same thing- another $50k at another college, plus our credits would not transfer. None of what we learned at ITT would be considered by other schools- NONE.

Needless to say, none of us stayed. What did ITT tech care? They got their money from Sallie Mae. Now I know why even if you had the money to pay for the tuition upfront they require that you go through Sallie Mae. Oh and how about this: when I first went to talk to them they told me that I couldn't use South Carolina EDUCATION Lottery money, which I soon found out was another lie. I have spoken to a lottery employee personally, and was told that lottery money is for ANYone to go to any college in the state. (ITT had told me that only kids coming straight out of high school-- which is not ME-- could use lottery grants.) I still cannot work in construction and I'm no longer on workers comp. I still do not have a degree and I am now scared to go back to college because I cannot incur any more debt. If I were to owe anymore money for college loans I'll go bankrupt. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to pay it all back, all for over a year of completely wasted time. All I wanted to accomplish was getting a decent education and job to support my wife and children. All I got was $25k in debt.

Wonderingpunk
Taylors, South Carolina
U.S.A.