ITT Educational Services Rejects the Massachusetts Attorney General's Claims

CARMEL, Ind., April 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ITT/ESI) is disappointed that the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General recently filed suit.  The litigation follows the Office's wide-ranging fishing expedition that lasted for more than three years.  Although ITT/ESI cooperated fully in the investigation, and presented evidence that its conduct was lawful, the Attorney General's Office has suddenly elected litigation over working with ITT/ESI to address any legitimate concerns it might have about ITT/ESI's practices. 

ITT/ESI also regrets that the Attorney General's Office, despite its lengthy investigation, provided no notice to ITT/ESI of many of its accusations until days before filing suit.  Even then, the Attorney General's Office withheld all but the vaguest description of its claims and denied ITT/ESI any meaningful opportunity to provide further information that could have addressed those issues. 

Moreover, some of the claims rest on a biased and selective portrayal of the facts.  For example, the complaint purports to identify "actual" placement rates for graduates of the ITT Technical Institutes but omits any explanation for how the Office calculated those rates.  It appears that the Attorney General's Office generated its own unreliable placement rates based on incomplete information it collected by surveying a small subset of individuals many years after they graduated.  ITT/ESI has contemporaneous documentation of the placement rates and has painstakingly explained to the Attorney General's Office how that documentation was derived and collected. 

The complaint also quotes testimony out of context and disregards key facts demonstrating the institution's genuine commitment to securing outstanding job opportunities for its graduates and to producing reliable and well-documented placement statistics.  ITT/ESI is confident that the facts will demonstrate that its policies and practices were sound, and that its representations were both fair and truthful.

The Attorney General's action is all the more disappointing because it extends Massachusetts' woeful record of hostility toward career colleges that train non-traditional and underserved students.  At a time when Massachusetts is experiencing a severe shortage of technically-trained professionals, this action will have a negative effect on the education and employment climate in Massachusetts.

ITT/ESI will dedicate the necessary resources to defend ourselves against these claims; and the ongoing focus of our more than 10,000 employees across the nation remains on assisting our students' efforts to complete their programs of study successfully and obtain employment in their chosen fields.  We are proud of our work over the last 47 years, and we intend to continue our mission of helping people improve their lives through the pursuit of high-quality, career-based education.

About ITT Educational Services, Inc.
ITT Educational Services, Inc. (NYSE: ESI) provides technology-oriented undergraduate and graduate degree programs through its accredited ITT Technical Institutes and Daniel Webster College to help students develop skills and knowledge that they can use to pursue career opportunities in a variety of fields. It owns and operates more than 130 ITT Technical Institutes and Daniel Webster College. ITT/ESI serves approximately 45,000 students as of December 31, 2015 at its campuses in 39 states and online. Through the Center for Professional Development @ ITT Technical Institute, ITT/ESI provides short-term information technology and business learning solutions for career advancers and other professionals. Headquartered in Carmel, IN, ITT/ESI has been actively involved in the higher education community since 1969 and can be found online at www.ittesi.com.

SOURCE ITT Educational Services, Inc.

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