Statement from ITT Technical Institute: "Day in Court Long Overdue for ITT Tech"
CARMEL, Ind., May 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Statement from Gene Feichtner, President and Chief Operating Officer:
The ITT Technical Institutes have been under scrutiny for years – and still have yet to have a day in court. In recent news, the piling on continues by the Miami Herald who chastises the state education board for allowing ITT Tech to continue to enroll students instead of shutting it down based on allegations. The unprecedented assault persists on yet another career college that has been operating on solid footing for 45 years. Our established decades of service to non-traditional students and veterans is now only a negative and repeating headline – and a chorus of cries for change.
Enough.
The piling on from members of Congress to government agencies has pulled us off mission and into court, administrative appeals and petty bureaucracies – with actions built on misinformation, false facts and allegations only.
To date, not a single finding of fact has occurred in the light of a public arena where ITT Tech has been able to defend its reputation in courtroom or anywhere else.
We've produced hundreds of thousands, if not millions of paper documents, to federal and state authorities.
While the new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing adds to the pile, we still have not a single finding of fact or wrongdoing to confirm allegations made about ITT Tech.
We've seen authorities rush to judgment with questionable actions and also foot dragging that has kept regulatory hammers hanging over the fate of this institution for years. This is an ideologically-driven tactic, pure and simple – with little to no thought for the fate of students enrolled in our programs or working toward employment in their chosen field of study.
The most current action by the California State Approving Agency for Veterans Education is a clear example – as it denied enrollment to our students based on false facts and erroneous information that we are now in the process of correcting. Despite this flawed logic and failure to be precise with facts, even citing inaccurate statements about our financial status, other government agencies have been encouraged to follow in their footsteps.
The challenge of the 21st century is to educate non-traditional students and ITT Tech has consistently been able to meet that challenge, including being able to meet the demands of our base of over 14,000 employers nationwide who have hired our graduates in the last two years.
Our record of service to non-traditional students speaks for itself. Our graduation rates are twice that of community colleges who serve the same student demographic. Approximately 70 percent of our 2013 employable graduates obtained employment in their field of study using knowledge and skills obtained from their programs. We awarded more than $240 million in scholarships to students nationwide last year. And, more than 3,000 employers nationwide provided feedback on our curriculum in 2014 to help us meet the needs of employers.
Members of Congress and government entities alike can, and will, seek political points by attacking career colleges and entering into the growing debate over student debt and outcomes. We've come to expect these unjust assaults and will continue to work diligently to defend what matters most to our students – their education, their graduation, and their employment.
ITT Tech is proud of its 45 year record of service to students and we will defend it. The rush to judgment, before a finding of fact, is unwarranted and it only hurts the students who benefit most from the services we provide.
Let there be no presumption here that we believe we'll be treated fairly, but we'll continue to do what we can for our students despite all the unsupported regulatory and litigation roadblocks being put in place.
SOURCE ITT Educational Services, Inc.
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