itt tech scam?

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Oct 22, 2014

That is their "advisors" job. To make you feel like you hit the jackpot there. They aren't really advisors, they are salespeople trained to sell you a very expensive product and make you feel good about giving them $60,000 for an education that isn't really worth a whole lot. Itt tech is not accredited here and graduates are looked upon poorly. Also they wait until you are ready to graduate and tell you you owe them a bunch of money and will hold your degree.

KrisFreya · Oct 22, 2014

The other thing to look at is their pass rate. The one here locally near me has a 75% pass rate on the NCLEX (these numbers can be found on your state nursing board website). This made me knock them off my list right away. That makes me think they aren't teaching you what you need to know to pass and be a good nurse. I am now looking at two schools that have at least a 95% pass rate. I know I will get my moneys worth! I also looked at how many of their students are getting hired after graduation. which means there is faith that their program is doing a good job.

HarryTheCat, MSN, RN · Oct 22, 2014

The other thing to look at is their pass rate. The one here locally near me has a 75% pass rate on the NCLEX (these numbers can be found on your state nursing board website). This made me knock them off my list right away. That makes me think they aren't teaching you what you need to know to pass and be a good nurse. I am now looking at two schools that have at least a 95% pass rate. I know I will get my moneys worth! I also looked at how many of their students are getting hired after graduation. which means there is faith that their program is doing a good job.

When choosing a nursing school, you're really "hiring" them to do three things for you: 1) Teach you the basic skills you need to begin practice as a nurse; 2) Teach you the things you need to know to pass the NCLEX and get a license; and 3) Provide you with a degree that is respected enough for someone to give you a job. If a school you're thinking of "hiring" can't do all three, you should probably avoid it. An NCLEX pass rate of 75% is pretty dismal, meaning that you have a 1-in-4 chance of not being able to get a license. And if employers won't hire you because your degree is from "XYZ School of Nursing and Motorcycle Repair" you've just invested a whole lot of time, effort and money for nothing.

Just my $0.02. Your mileage may vary.

studentnursemon86 · Oct 22, 2014

When choosing a nursing school, you're really "hiring" them to do three things for you: 1) Teach you the basic skills you need to begin practice as a nurse; 2) Teach you the things you need to know to pass the NCLEX and get a license; and 3) Provide you with a degree that is respected enough for someone to give you a job. If a school you're thinking of "hiring" can't do all three, you should probably avoid it. An NCLEX pass rate of 75% is pretty dismal, meaning that you have a 1-in-4 chance of not being able to get a license. And if employers won't hire you because your degree is from "XYZ School of Nursing and Motorcycle Repair" you've just invested a whole lot of time, effort and money for nothing.
Just my $0.02. Your mileage may vary.

YES! Here is a weird fact. I applied to two schools last year before choosing my community college. The third I never applied to because the deadline was after I got my acceptance letters.

One was PSU And the other was a community college. I'm not sure the exact percentage at the community college (which I now attend for nursing), but it is over 90%. PSU sent all prospective nursing students a letter staring they were under review and reviewing their curriculum due to their NCLEX pass rates; though I'm not sure what they are.

I chose the school with the better rating. Luckily, it also had the better price tag.

SoniaReb · Oct 23, 2014

The other thing to look at is their pass rate. The one here locally near me has a 75% pass rate on the NCLEX (these numbers can be found on your state nursing board website).

Many times the 75% pass rate is very misleading, since the number of people from the school that actual took the test is very small. What is doesn't reflect is the high number of their students that were not allowed to take the test in the first place. That is, a large percentage of their students failed their exit exam or not allowed to take the exam because they had outstanding debt to the school.

As to the school giving $35K, the OP probably misunderstood what they were saying. That $35K might be actually Pell Grant and/or Student Loans that she is qualified for. There is so much bad press on this school that it amazes me that people are still signing up for various programs from this For-Profit School.

KrisFreya · Oct 23, 2014

Very good point SoniaReb! I would like to see a lot of these schools post how many of their students pass the exit exams that are required. I know where my husband is going to school for his airplane mechanic license, this rate is really low! Out of his class of 30 only 2 have passed the exit exam for part one.

A lot of people may attend these schools because they don't require entry exams or pre-req prior to acceptance. Its easy to get in even though it costs an arm and a leg. They are also very structured. They tell you what you are taking to get your degree. I think a lot of community colleges need to follow that model a bit more and they would have a higher graduation rate (the one my husband is at is at 12% and that's sad!). A lot of people just sign up for classes and later find out they don't apply towards the major they want. Academic advising should be required for new students. The other scary part about these schools is we had a friend that attend EPCI and HALF of his credit wasn't transferable.

HarryTheCat, MSN, RN · Oct 23, 2014

Many times the 75% pass rate is very misleading, since the number of people from the school that actual took the test is very small. What is doesn't reflect is the high number of their students that were not allowed to take the test in the first place. That is, a large percentage of their students failed their exit exam or not allowed to take the exam because they had outstanding debt to the school.
As to the school giving $35K, the OP probably misunderstood what they were saying. That $35K might be actually Pell Grant and/or Student Loans that she is qualified for. There is so much bad press on this school that it amazes me that people are still signing up for various programs from this For-Profit School.

I would really like to see schools required to publish their graduation rates in addition to the BON disclosures of their NCLEX pas rates. There is a world of difference between an 85% NCLEX pass rate for a class that graduates 98% of students who started their program and an 85% pass rate for a class that graduates only 50%. Too many schools are puffing up their NCLEX pass rates by failing to graduate their weaker students who can't pass an exit exam.

rubato, ASN, RN · Oct 25, 2014

The hospital I work at will not hire ITT tech grads. HR told me all about the for-profit schools and how they go ahead and tell those grads when they call that they are unacceptable applicants. Just making you aware.

ready2baRN · Oct 30, 2014

I was in the same boat at you. However I researched many different schools with ITT being one of them. Affordability for me plays a key factor because I am not eligible for grants and have exhausted my loans while getting my BS degree from a non-profit private university here Florida. Basically I will be funding my entire education from private loans and I felt highly uncomfortable taking out a private loan for 50k and more debt.

After been turned away from the state school and community college here I started looking at other options. Keiser University which is accredited but they offer no institutional aide and I would have to fund the entire program through private loans some 30 something thousand dollars. I had to think long and hard before i took that leap.

I visited ITT and was quite impressed with the whole process and never felt like I was "forced" into anything. After the tour I left came home did a TON of research made a few calls to different hospitals and schools here florida concerning getting my BSN and a few online schools Kaplan and University of Phoenix. After doing all my research and calculating the cost I thought it would be the best decision for me. Your circumstances may be different.

I will say if you never attended college before you have to find a school that will take ITT credits if you wish to pursue your BSN which I hope you do plan on doing. If you have never attended school before and you have the available financial aid to do a public school honestly I would go with that choice. You will not have to deal with the headache of finding a school that will allow you to enroll in their RN-BSN program. Three schools here in south florida told me I would not be able to matriculate in their RN-bsn program because the school is not regionally accredited and two schools told me that I would be able to as long as I can prove that I have a bachelors degree from a regionally accredited university. Kaplan and University of Phoenix told me I would be able to enroll as long as i have my RN license.

As far as employment goes I called a few hospitals here where I live and spoke to HR generalist and visited the hospital where I worked in the past. I asked if they showed prejudice against people that have a degree in nursing from ITT. They responses that I received was something to the tune of 'everyone has to sit and take the same NCLEX-RN exam. If the individual show they are a solid nurse then they will be considered for employment'. BUT They did go on to tell me that 'Many hospitals are seeking out BSN degrees over ADN so if anything hinders getting hired in a hospital it will be the fact that you have an ADN and may get overlooked for people with BSN degrees'. I would encourage you to call around and ask HR departments in your state of residence. You can't listen to people that say "my hospital won't hire such and such because of this or that" that's considered hearsay if the people they are claiming provided this information is not here to validate it. You have to do some extensive research and find out for yourself.

As far as the scholarships they are provided to help reduce the amount of debt the students at the institution acquire when seeking out degrees there. They were also instituted to encourage students to stay and finish their degrees at the school not sure how that would be considered a scam I was offered similar scholarships.

Again you have to do some extensive research and see if it's the right school for YOU. You can take advice but do what's best for you.

Good luck!!!!!!