Testimony of Christopher Glock

U.S. Education Department’s Negotiated Regulatory Rulemaking Panel

November 2021

Good afternoon. My name is Chris Glock and I am a veteran from Colorado. I joined the Marine Corps following 9/11 and served as an intelligence analyst. After leaving the service, I fell in love with the restaurant industry and the person that it allowed me to become. For years I managed restaurants in Hawaii and Las Vegas, but eventually I found myself back home in Colorado where I decided to combine my analytical skills along with my passion for the restaurant industry and my love for computers.

My goal, to design a universal, easy to use system for the small mom and pop restaurants that are often left behind in the technological world. So I enrolled in ITT Tech using my GI Bill. I was about a year in a half into my computer programming degree when the school closed abruptly, interrupting my study and causing me to reconsider my future.

At this point however, my benefits were nearing their expiration and after taking time to think about my options, I eventually decided to enroll in Colorado Technical University in 2019. I was told that I would learn all that I need to know to get a computer programming job, that I would be able to design websites and understand programming languages.

For the first few semesters, everything seemed ok and I thought it was the right decision. But then came the online courses, I found that the classes were low quality. I was often being shown YouTube videos and not really being taught anything of substance.

Although I experienced these issues, I stuck with it because my benefits were expiring and I genuinely thought they would bring it all together at some point. I graduated in September 2021. I have not been able to get a job in my field and the school has not provided me with any career counseling at all. I don’t know what they were talking about when they promised me that during my recruitment, but it is completely non-existent.

I was also told that my GI Bill benefits would cover all of the tuition for the program and I would not have to pay anything out of pocket. However, I was charged various fees that were not covered by the GI Bill, including extra fees for taking classes online during COVID. Because of those additional fees, I am left with a bill for thousands of dollars for YouTube videos and online course materials that I can no longer access.

They promised me so much just to get me in the door and none of it was true. The sad part in all of this is that looking back, even in ITT Tech took care of their students in the school’s final moments. However, unfortunately with college there is no money back guarantee and transferring schools becomes slightly complex. CTU not only wasted the governments money and my time, but they destroyed my passion to achieve my ultimate goal. Now I am left with bills, a worthless degree, and an uncertain road ahead. I just wanted to share my story with the committee to ensure student veterans like me are considered during this process.

Thank you for your time.

Draft Testimony of Chris Glock