For-Profit Colleges Are A Scam (And So Is The Current Student Loan Industry)

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up into a really big excitement by my guidance counselor and an admissions representative. They had me take an assessment test that they said I scored extremely high on and that I would have my choice of classes. This is actually where I saw my first red flag.I was placed into their “best” math class, which for me, was a middle school review of what I’d already learned. I asked to be placed higher and told them my situation, but then was told that I’d fall below my credit limit and wouldn’t be able to transfer any of my advanced math credits. I should’ve just left right then and there and not attended the school anymore. I gave them another chance. After all, I was going to school mostly on the federal dime.My student loans were being directed right to the school instead of allocated directly to me as I was used to. This was another red flag I really hadn’t paid much attention to at the time but now realize that that was how they were scamming the federal government out of so much money on their loans by arbitrarily setting the prices for everything from the class prices to the materials and it seemed that they were skimming the remaining that would normally be given to me for living expenses, etc, and using it to profit off of each student unbeknownst to them.Essentially, the scam they pulled was asking for a certain amount from the government and taking the rest for themselves after paying my tuition and books. I only found this out after the fact and only through news reports and other students who had attended.My first quarter at the school was super easy and uneventful. I unsurprisingly made the honor roll and I also felt like the material was way too easy for me not to get straight A’s. Day by day, I was increasingly starting to pick up on the scam this school was throwing down. Build the confidence of the students up, take their money, and let them feel like they’re getting enough skills to enter their preferred job choice. This is when the curtain started to fall.I started bragging about my first semester to several peers and I found out that many of them had attended and were now working at places like Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut when they were promised professional jobs and after spending over 25–50K on their education just to end up exactly where I automatically assumed would be baseline without a college education.My confidence in the system and the school had completely deflated at this

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point. Right around this time as well in the news, more and more reports started surfacing about fraud and laundering with other for-profit colleges, including the one I was currently attending at the time. This, along with all of the other accounts and factors, caused me to pull my enrollment out of the school.I thought that if I withdrew properly from the school and didn’t attend anymore, that my problems would be over. This is where things started to get interesting and the school hounded me with calls to come back. I also found out years later that the school had forged my signature or had done something untoward to get the federal government and a few private lenders to give them more money for me. If not for my own experiences still dealing with the backlash from all of this so many years later, I would’ve never have believed the reports or the hype around the school.As most people know now, the school officially closed its doors and declared bankruptcy a few years ago. I tried to apply for school closure forgiveness but didn’t receive it because my case was earlier than the initial window for applicants. I’ve also tried many other arguments to plead my case in front of the federal government. My most recent plea was denied by Dolores Umbridge, er, Betsy DeVos. I’ve since reapplied under the Biden administration but am not currently holding my breath for any action on this just yet.Even though I know that I was credibly defrauded by the school and its claims and financially defrauded out of thousands that I’m told I still owe now, I carry my fight on. This is why I fight for more regulation of for-profit colleges even now. This is also why I support canceling some if not all, student debt. The student debt industry is a multitrillion-dollar scam that needs to be reset and rethought.Sure, in my own experience, for-profit colleges are scams but the bigger scam is that the federal government has turned a blind eye and a heavy pocket to it. There are millions of people just like me. Many of us are dealing with debt that truly wasn’t our fault.So, sure you paid off your student loans and worked full time while going to college, but this isn’t the education system you grew up in and you need to figure out how things work now and realize that this problem affects all of us. This scam is going to catch up to this country and it will not be pleasant once future taxpayers will have to foot an even larger bill.</article></body>

For-Profit Colleges Are A Scam (And So Is The Current Student Loan Industry)

From ITT Tech’s actual website when it was up

Before I get some hate for this title, I’d like to explain myself. I’m sure you did a good job paying off your student loans and feel like nobody should get a free ride or whatever the argument against forgiving student loans or getting rid of them altogether is. For-profit colleges are in the business of making money and making big promises to keep making big money. These institutions certainly aren’t Ivy League schools or even state schools for that matter.

It was 2003, I was barely 21 and I had just lost an academic scholarship I’d earned at 17 in high school to go to community college and then eventually to a four-year university to become a teacher. Both of those decisions were my own. Even though I was getting a full ride, I still didn’t want this institution’s money being wasted on a full four-year university with a four-year education when a two-year education at a community college would be just as rewarding.

I had essentially taken my first semesters in college too lightly because I felt like my brilliant mind was the only thing I needed to carry me. I was certainly wrong and in retrospect can identify many mistakes I made along the way to losing my scholarship. I replaced proper study habits with depending too much on my keen memorization skills. This left me in a tenuous position. I was getting kicked out of school for a couple of semesters, mainly also because I was slacking off, and I had to find an alternative.

I decided on going to a for-profit college like the ones you see in the television ads that say that job placement and real-life skills were their priority. I probably should’ve vetted this a little more than I did at the time. I was young. I just wanted to finish my education and ITT Tech seemed like a reasonable alternative. ITT Tech had all of the bells and whistles I was looking for and needed if I couldn’t attend community college anymore.

This is basically where this story starts and essentially the end is yet to be seen even 18–19 years later. I walked into the admissions office of the school right after I had been dismissed from American River College right before the next semester was to begin. I was talked up into a really big excitement by my guidance counselor and an admissions representative. They had me take an assessment test that they said I scored extremely high on and that I would have my choice of classes. This is actually where I saw my first red flag.

I was placed into their “best” math class, which for me, was a middle school review of what I’d already learned. I asked to be placed higher and told them my situation, but then was told that I’d fall below my credit limit and wouldn’t be able to transfer any of my advanced math credits. I should’ve just left right then and there and not attended the school anymore. I gave them another chance. After all, I was going to school mostly on the federal dime.

My student loans were being directed right to the school instead of allocated directly to me as I was used to. This was another red flag I really hadn’t paid much attention to at the time but now realize that that was how they were scamming the federal government out of so much money on their loans by arbitrarily setting the prices for everything from the class prices to the materials and it seemed that they were skimming the remaining that would normally be given to me for living expenses, etc, and using it to profit off of each student unbeknownst to them.

Essentially, the scam they pulled was asking for a certain amount from the government and taking the rest for themselves after paying my tuition and books. I only found this out after the fact and only through news reports and other students who had attended.

My first quarter at the school was super easy and uneventful. I unsurprisingly made the honor roll and I also felt like the material was way too easy for me not to get straight A’s. Day by day, I was increasingly starting to pick up on the scam this school was throwing down. Build the confidence of the students up, take their money, and let them feel like they’re getting enough skills to enter their preferred job choice. This is when the curtain started to fall.

I started bragging about my first semester to several peers and I found out that many of them had attended and were now working at places like Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut when they were promised professional jobs and after spending over 25–50K on their education just to end up exactly where I automatically assumed would be baseline without a college education.

My confidence in the system and the school had completely deflated at this point. Right around this time as well in the news, more and more reports started surfacing about fraud and laundering with other for-profit colleges, including the one I was currently attending at the time. This, along with all of the other accounts and factors, caused me to pull my enrollment out of the school.

I thought that if I withdrew properly from the school and didn’t attend anymore, that my problems would be over. This is where things started to get interesting and the school hounded me with calls to come back. I also found out years later that the school had forged my signature or had done something untoward to get the federal government and a few private lenders to give them more money for me. If not for my own experiences still dealing with the backlash from all of this so many years later, I would’ve never have believed the reports or the hype around the school.

As most people know now, the school officially closed its doors and declared bankruptcy a few years ago. I tried to apply for school closure forgiveness but didn’t receive it because my case was earlier than the initial window for applicants. I’ve also tried many other arguments to plead my case in front of the federal government. My most recent plea was denied by Dolores Umbridge, er, Betsy DeVos. I’ve since reapplied under the Biden administration but am not currently holding my breath for any action on this just yet.

Even though I know that I was credibly defrauded by the school and its claims and financially defrauded out of thousands that I’m told I still owe now, I carry my fight on. This is why I fight for more regulation of for-profit colleges even now. This is also why I support canceling some if not all, student debt. The student debt industry is a multitrillion-dollar scam that needs to be reset and rethought.

Sure, in my own experience, for-profit colleges are scams but the bigger scam is that the federal government has turned a blind eye and a heavy pocket to it. There are millions of people just like me. Many of us are dealing with debt that truly wasn’t our fault.

So, sure you paid off your student loans and worked full time while going to college, but this isn’t the education system you grew up in and you need to figure out how things work now and realize that this problem affects all of us. This scam is going to catch up to this country and it will not be pleasant once future taxpayers will have to foot an even larger bill.