High Tech Institute
by
Massage therapy students at a Nashville technical school say they are getting cheated out of the education they paid for.
Students allege they’ve been teaching themselves with no instructor for weeks.
To see if that is the case, Messed Up cameras go into High Tech Institute in Nashville.
We travel down a long corridor lined with students wearing blue scrubs.
We ask the students studying a trade where the massage therapy unit is. They point us down the hall.
We arrive in a rear waiting room where we find several students sitting in chairs. The lights are off. Some of the students are browsing through paperwork. Other students are quietly sitting in chairs.
I have only been here a few seconds, but this sure doesn’t feel like a high intensity learning environment.
“Are you jennifer,” I call out to a woman before me, whose eyes are wide open.
“Yes,” she exclaimed, almost surprised Al and I have arrived.
“Did I find the right place?” I ask, putting my camera down on the little magazine table before her.
“Yep, this is what we do.”
“You guys learning?” I quip.
“Oh yeah we are learning a lot; waiting for people to unlock the door so we can get chairs out to do chair massages if we want to.”
Jennifer Smith is from Carthage and tells me she drives an hour each way, every day to come here to study.
Smith tells me, she entered High Tech Institute in December of 2006. Her goal: to graduate May 2008 with a degree in massage therapy.
According to Smith, when the class instructor became ill, the school did not replace her. Subsequently, students continued to gather here, she says, to teach themselves.
“I am in the last internship of my program before I am able to graduate and now they are telling us we don’t have an instructor. So I come here to study for about four hours sometimes we do chair massages.”
“So how long have you guys been sitting in these chairs here in school doing nothing?”
“This is about the third week now.”
“Three weeks! Everyday?”
“Yes. For about four hours.”
“You sit here doing nothing.”
“Yes, pretty much. We either study or we can try and do chair massages as you can see the door is locked and we can’t get anyone in to let us get the chairs.”
“What do they tell you?”
“They say make the best of it.”
I speak to a classmate of Smith. She is seated by the locked massage therapy door. She is holding papers in her hand. She tells me that she is studying.
“Who is teaching you right now?”
“Myself.”
“You are teaching yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Do I want to be a client of yours you teaching yourself?”
“It bothers me yes.”
“What bothers you?”
“That I don’t feel like I am getting the education for $11,000 I paid.”
Messed Up calls High Tech Institute corporate offices in Phoenix, Arizona for a statement.
Vice president Diane Gilmore sends me this statement:
PHOENIX, Ariz. (May 12, 2008) – Established in 1999, High-Tech Institute (HTI) Nashville offers career focused training programs in the fields of health care and technology. Below is in response to current issues raised by WKRN:
High-Tech Institute is aware of concerns raised to WKRN by at least one student in the Massage Therapy Program in regards to an instructor shortage. The instructor in question has been out with a serious illness and the school is working diligently to find a replacement. High-Tech Institute is also working with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to find an amenable solution for all students affected by the shortage of instructor issue. We expect the issue to be resolved in a very short period of time.
The statement goes on to say:
As part of an ongoing accreditation process, the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, (ACCSCT), has advised High-Tech Institute that its schools have been placed on probation. High Tech-Institute was founded on the highest standards therefore it has been fortunate to maintain excellent accreditation records over the years. Supported by a long history of educational excellence, High-Tech Institute believes that it will satisfy ACCSCT’s concerns and expects to be successful in being removed from probation in the near future. Meanwhile, all High-Tech Institute schools remain accredited and continues to be committed to its students, employers and the communities we serve as has been our legacy for more than two decades.
I call the Tennessee Higher Education Commission about High Tech.
The state agency licenses high tech institute and secondary schools like it. The executive Director, Richard Rhoda tells me his agency has placed the school on what’s called “conditional authorization” for what Rhoda says are issues relating to “adequate and credible faculty”
“It’s under watch it is probation in a general sense. There are issues there the administration has been cooperative not bringing new students into new programs.”
“Their instructor got sick but nobody else could fill her shoes?” I ask.
“Correct and that is just not a good practice I mean proprietary schools are businesses but that is not how you do business.”
Thanks to Messed Up’s involvement, Richard Rhoda says the Tennessee Higher Education Commission will make sure that Jennifer Smith gets that degree she has worked 16 months to achieve.
Rhoda also says High Tech Institute has been working well with the state trying to rectify its problems.
The accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology placed High Tech on probation in January of 2007. High Tech appealed that process.
That statuse changed Tuesday, May 13, when ACCSCT issued this press release:
ACCSCT Commission Announces Conclusion of Appeals Proceedings Regarding High-Tech Institute, Inc.
Arlington, Virginia (May 13, 2008) – The Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT) announced today that the appeal of an October 12, 2007 Commission action regarding schools owned and operated by High-Tech Institute, Inc. has concluded.
In accordance with the Commission’s decision, High-Tech (refer to May 13, 2008 Public Notice for individual schools and locations included in the Commission’s decision) will no longer be eligible to enroll new students in accredited degree programs without new approvals from ACCSCT. However, students who are currently enrolled in High-Tech Institute degree programs will be able to complete course work at their current schools and receive a degree from an ACCSCT-accredited institution. The schools remain on probation.
ACCSCT believes that by having valid and reliable standards, we can ensure the academic quality of programs offered by our accredited member schools. When a school applies for and receives accreditation, the school accepts the obligation to demonstrate its continuous compliance with ACCSCT’s high standards through the accreditation process which requires an explicit demonstration of quality educational delivery.
Hopefully, this 16 month long debacle is over, and students can rest assured that they will get the education they are promised and they are paying for.
Ok, I believe that everyone should question all the 2 year schools in the area! THEC has complaints from other schools just like this one but yet it is generally NOT public knowledge when students visit and decide if they are going to enroll in these clearly “for profit” schools. THEC should come down harder on these schools and the public should be aware of each complaint BEFORE they enroll. Also, I am sure NONE of these credits would transfer to a 4 year university!
So yea, all these 2 year schools are messed up!
I went to HTI and I totally agree with the things these students are saying. I purchased my degree in Dental Assisting for $20,000. Due to the poor “education” I received I am still unable to do the job, I paid to be trained for. I graduated in 2005 from HTI with my piece of paper labeled “degree” and promptly enrolled at MTSU in 2006 to get a real education. Basically, I paid HTI for teachers to give me answers to test questions so I could pass the tests and keep the school’s scores up. This was a typical study session before every test. In a nutshell, I paid $20,000 for a worthless piece of paper.
Well, I went and visited High Tech as well as two other schools before I chose which school I wanted to go to for Massage Therapy. I did not choose High Tech as I called the board to check on the schools before enrolling. However I did choose another Massage School in the area that is a very good school and I have learned a lot in. I really enjoy the program and believe that it is probably one of the best schools out there. So please if you are looking in to Massage Therapy Programs please do not believe that all schools are like HTI. There are other good programs out there. So if you want to do a story on real Massage Therapy Schools and the education you get from them e-mail me and I will introduce you to my school.
I went to High Tech hoping to get my degree in IT. Due to lack of instructors, I had to audit for six months. When I went to re-enroll, the school told me I could not do so because they were on probation and could not accept “new students.” Now I am four classes short of graduating and I already have to start repaying my $12,000 worth of student loans. I wish I had gone to Nashville Tech or MTSU.
I have been attending HTI for 11 months for the associate degree of applied science for massage therapy. I wasn’t told about the probation when I was enrolled and didn’t know anything until Oct 07 when they finally told us they were on probation. I was told on May 14th there would be a delay in classes due to no teachers and I might not get the degree I paid for, They have offered to refund money but what not sure I can transfer my education.I may have to start from scratch. Help
We enrolled my daughter in December, 2007 in Dental assisting. After a couple of months she said she did not feel like she was learning anything and that it was really laid back, sometimes the teachers didn’t even show up, etc. I called the school and they assured me that they were the best and that getting their associates degree in dental assisting was much better than any other school around. As time passed Michelle continued to hate going to school and said that she knew that if she was in a dental office, that she would not feel comfortable with no more than she had been taught. Friends that she met were ready for their externship at dental offices and 3 & 4 weeks into that externship HTI still did not have them placed anywhere to work it. We made a decision to not re-enroll the next semester as we had made student loans with Sallie Mae for 11,000 and she had nothing to show for the money spent. Just last week, I sent a letter to the TN Higher Education Commissions office asking for their help in getting HTI to repay the monies to Sallie Mae on our behalf. Teachers were always late or didn’t show up, after checking around several people that had gone there told us they were unable to even secure jobs in their chosen field due to the school that they attended. Also, we later found out that they are not accredited with the American Dental Association, which they said they were when she enrolled. They are nothing but a scam and should be closed down so that no other students go thru what my daughter did. She would love to be in the dental field, however, you cannot transfer anything from High Tech and we are not in the position to borrow even more from Sallie Mae to further the education unless these loans are paid back by High Tech! I would love to discuss this further with Messed Up - please email me. Thanks!
I went to hi tech a few years ago myself.I was in the first class of digital design and animation to graduate.It was a joke!We were some guniea pig class because they didnt know what they were doing!They couldnt decide how to do our schedules and what classes and other things we needed to learn.They werent prepared at all!Later on, I found out all the things we “learned” AND paid for we could’ve learned for free!Like photoshop,nero burning software,illustrator,excel,powerpoint,and only 2 software programs to make websites and 1 program called 3d studio max for animation!
What a rip off!They concentrated more on web design than ALL digital design and animation areas.They even had us do an assignment where we made these cheezy videogames that looked like a knock off of the old school galaga.They didnt cover anything in photography(which is digital media and can be used in digital design too!) and taught us very little of actual design and animation.Majority of it was about how to put things on a web as if we were IT students!I dont even like computers enough to be an IT!
Our teachers seemed like they were from sylivan learning center(my mom said my cousin went and they taught him nothing,only said”good job!” and didnt correct him when something was done wrong).They pretty much did the same to me.I was frustrated because so many people in the class needed help understanding things that I felt left out on the “one on one” learning basis they claim they offer in the commercials.Im glad someone else spoke out.Knowing my luck if I were first to say anything,it’d be brushed off immediately!Since this is out I image our degrees are useless and no one will hire us students when they find out we attended hi tech.Leaving us with shattered dreams and no proper career!Im SO suing if at all possible!
I attended High Tech Institute for a Associates degree in limited scope x-ray. I finished all my classes and the day before my last exam I found out I was pregnant. I finished all my classes and took my exit exam but I asked my teacher what about my extern because I was pregnant? She told me to lie to the school and not tell them that I was pregnant because if I did I couldn’t do it. I found that really negliant advice coming from a x-ray teacher who knows the effects of radiation to a fetus (espically in the first trimester). I told the school because I wasn’t going to put my childs life at risk for my education. The school made me sign a termination paper because I wouldn’t be able to finish my extern in the alloted time that I was supposed to graduate. The school told me that after I had the baby all I had to do was re-enter the program and finish my extern. When I signed the paper to terminate they turned my loan over to collection they didn’t even give me a chance to pay at the school I had the money in my hand. Well…months went by I had the baby I called HTI the day after I came home from the hospital because they said it would take a month or two to get me back into the system. HTI called me less than a week later wanting me to come on and re-enroll. We set up a date and then they told me that I couldn’t re-enroll for the Associates degree that I had already paid $23,350 for now I am still waiting on a reply from the TN Higher Education from the letter that I wrote them. I also complained to the Better Business Bureau and HTI’s reply to the BBB was sorry you signed the termination paper and they won’t refund any of my money, transfer any credits, that I could just wait for the accrediation process to be over and re-enroll then. Now, I am out $23,350 wasted 1.5 years that I could be getting an actual education, and still have nothing to show. no job, no education, and no money. HTI wants me to sit around and wait for the accrediation process to go through and then they will be shut down. Also, I spoke with a state representative and they are trying to pass a law to bann ALL out of state schools. The state was disgusted to hear what all had been going on.
I started at high tech last summer and in october found out that High Tech
was on probation and had been on probation even before i started school
there and they never told me. They were going to find out if they could
keep giving degrees (which is why they were on probation) in january but
instead of waiting and waisting my time and money on them i quit so i could
go somewhere else.i never found out if they won the case or not but now i
cant start any school until i have transcripts which they are holdind until
i pay half of what i owe directly to them which is somewhere around $1100.
For the four months i went there and got nothing out of it i am paying over
$10000. I wouldnt have even considered going there in the first place if i’d
have known they were on probation.
thanks
chelsea
hawkins
Hello Mr. Cordan. I got wind of the High Tech Institute article from my
current massage school because they knew that I had transferred from High
Tech due to being unhappy with their program. When I saw the article I
both laughed and felt bad. See, I was in classes with both Jen and Ellen,
the two women that were pictured and interviewed. I still keep in contact
with some of my old classmates. Unfortunately, Jan Taylor is the only good
teacher they had and I’m sure that she is the one you are referring to when
you say sick teacher as she is fighting cancer. I would love to share my
experience and also like to speak highly of my current massage school, Mind
Body Institute. It is the professional, demanding and rewarding school I
wanted it to be. If you have any questions, please call
I was enrolled in High Tech in January 2008. Soon after we began having no
teacher. We proseaded to teach ourselvles for the next three months. Then
in April we were put on audit do to no teacher.However they insist on us
paying for an education we never recieved. Do to the fact that we had no
teacher, we transfered schools, and accumulated more student loans.We are
looking for help to get out of the debt that we owe high tech for an
education that was never recieved. Don’t you think they are in breach of
contract?
Good Morning Andy,
I am writing in response to the High Tech Institute piece. I am a
qualified licensed massage therapist that applied to HTI in February. I
have excellent credendtials and certifications. This school has had the
opportunity to hire a qualified teacher. This issue goes deeper than what
HTI is leading the public to believe. I am greived to know that these
students that are ready and eager to learn massage therapy are being short
changed in such a blatant disgregard of education.
Please contact me if you need any documentation in regards to my
credentials.
Perhaps you should refrain from posting a comment in which an instructor’s name and medical condition are divulged.
In response to the first comment- not all 2 year schools in this area are bad. I attended Vol State for 2 years before transferring to WKU. Some of the classes that I took here at Vol State were more informative than the ones taken at WKU. Vol State is a great school that I would recommend to anyone. Oh and about the transferring of credits- I had no problem getting all of my credits to transfer from Vol State to WKU, however, I did come back to Vol State for one semester for extra classes and had a hard time getting WKU credits to transfer back. As for HTI- I had checked out the massage therapy program at one time and I thought the price to be a little much!! After seeing this on the news, I was extremely glad I had decided not to enroll in this program! HTI should be ashamed of themselves for doing this to their students who are spending all that money and working hard to get a good education!!!
i am currently a student at hi-tech in the massage degree program and i have been in scjool for the last 17 months. they say i can’t finish because they have no degree teacher in clinic. i either have to postpone my education or go diploma. i feel that this is so unfair seeing how my previous co therapist have been able to graduate under diploma teachers. any lawyer willing to take on this case would make a lot of money sueing the hell out of hi-tech. please if you want to go to hi-tech save your money and go somewhere else that is worth the time and money.
I was enrolled in HTI in 2001 for limited scope x-ray. Even 7 years ago, it was the same way. I would go to class and the some teachers would show up half way thru the class period, or not at all. The teachers are not even certified teachers! I did not find this out until 10 months into the program. I sat in classes that I feel was not worth the money that HTI charges. Now I am stuck with a $15K student loan for nothing. I heard a rumor once that there was some people that has taken HTI to civil court and won for money due. If anyone has any info on that, please post it for the rest of us!
HTI posts enormous amounts of ads for teachers on careerbuilder. i’m over-qualified for any IT teaching post and have applied twice but haven’t received as much as a confirmation email. It appears they post ads but don’t hire teachers, as this blog seems to confirm.
My daughter started at HTI in Memphis in August of 2007 working on her Massage Therapy degree. We were promised wonderful future career possibilities with outstanding teachers and an Associates Degree which most MT schools don’t offer. In fact we chose HTI over other MT schools because of the degree program. WIthin 3 months she was informed that the school was on probation and she might not get a degree. Although she had the option at that time to withdraw with a refund, we (the ones paying the bill) were not informed, so she chose (at age 18 she is not very mature in decision making ) to “stick it out”! She was very excited when she began last fall because she had a wonderful instructor and was getting a lot of lab time. However, around Christmas time, her teacher and many other qualified teachers at HTI were let go to be replaced by people inexperienced or not as enthusiastic about teaching. She now gets NO lab time and her classroom time is often interrupted by a teacher who either shows up late, is called out on personal cell phone calls, or who DOES NOT SHOW UP AT ALL! Now we find her teacher has had a serious illness and will not be in class for an indefinite period of time, so he probably won’t be replaced. We are seriously considering transferring her to another school although it means a loss in any credits she has earned and a great deal of money! What can be done about this SCAM? Can’t the state of TN do anything to stop this school from hoodwinking people into a situation where they are paying thousands of dollars and receiving NO education? We’re not even sure if our Sallie Mae loan will transfer to another school so what does this mean for us?
To follow up on the last comment left. An Associates Degree is not reguried for liensure for massage therapy. Only 500 hour are required by tha state and passing an exam.HITECH and many other con you other wise you will get no better of a job with there drgree. Some school will transfer in credits and some will not check with local schools. Complain to TN Higher Education and you may get a refund still.