Does the survival of ACICS depend on ITT Tech?
Last week, the Department of Education announced that it was barring ITT Tech from enrolling new Title IV students. A letter from Ed to Kevin Modany, ITT’s CEO, lays out the details. The connection between this announcement and the recent ACICS show-cause notice to ITT Tech is unclear. It is arguable that ACICS may feel the need to flex whatever muscle it may have to demonstrate that it is not an industry-controlled rubber stamp that permits predatory for-profit institutions to operate. Rumors abound that ACICS evaluators have paid unannounced visits to ITT Tech campuses, although this blogger can state from experience (see prior postings) that these visits, whether announced or not, have relatively little value because the evaluators see only what the campus administrators let them see. It is not unusual to generate documents specifically for the visit, documents which suggest compliance with various rules, when in fact there is little or no compliance. So, once again, we are seeing a ‘dog-and-pony show’ from ACICS, while ITT Tech students wait helplessly and perhaps hopelessly, rightfully concerned that their school is going the way of Corinthian Colleges, Inc. Students who are trying to overcome obstacles are having a new one thrown up in front of them. The critical factor in all of this will be how ITT Tech’s students are treated once their school ceases operations. The credits they have earned have little to no actual value, and cannot be transferred in most instances to legitimate schools, so the solution of waiving the student loans, while appropriate, doesn’t come close to making these student victims whole.