Having worked with the HPE & the Tuner School program, I can tell you that what this person is claiming is dead-on.
I was employed by Hennessey Performance Engineering a few years ago, for the purpose of developing, fabricating, and streamlining production of turbocharged packages for their 800-1200hp range vehicles. When I first came in, most of their stuff was built one-off, which took forever. Customers waited as long as a year or so in some instances.
The “Tuner School” was a separate entity from HPE, and was dressed up to appeal towards folks with GI Bill money to spend. They purchased a few used cars, dressed the place up a bit, and got students in with the promise of a challenging curriculum, plus the idea that they would be helped with finding jobs in the industry afterwards.
The money was funneled elsewhere, apparently, as there was never money to put towards anything. It was like pulling teeth for those guys to get tools, parts, etc.
I spent 2 weeks with one of the classes to work with them on developing a single turbo system for their 2011 Mustang GT. I was told by management that they didn’t have the funds to buy parts, and to just “find whatever” around the shop to use. We ended up dusting off a 78mm Turbonetics turbo, which was way too big for our power goals. We found a used intercooler from a turbo Dodge SRT8 project that had been scrapped, and then cobbled it all together. The result was a lag monster that never really made good power.. as the turbo never really got into it’s efficiency range at only 5-6psi (stock engine). It was embarrassing to have to tell these young men that we didn’t have the parts necessary to do the job properly, without jeopardizing my own job at HPE. For the most part, the students had already surmised that the class was a joke. We made the best out of it, though.
For $15k, no one should have to “settle” for anything. It’s not my place to speculate as to where the money went, but I know it wasn’t towards the school. The instructor and director did the best that they could with what they were given. Those guys were frustrated with the situation just as much as the students (in the end).
Outside of that, I witnessed so much corruption (in terms of what I had to work with), I ended up resigning from (what was) a 6 figure income. No amount of money could have kept me there. I didn’t believe in what we were doing, and I didn’t trust anyone that I worked for. I was never reprimanded once. I was there early, and one of the last to leave every single day. But, when you’re lying to customers, selling parts and not installing them, lying to vendors and running up huge bills that go unpaid for months on end, it’s just bad business. I’m not really sure how that place is still open to this day. I’m just glad that I was able to get out when I did.