In a statement, ITT Educational Services Inc., blamed the “actions of and sanctions from” the U.S. Department of Education, for ending the school’s approximately 50 years of operations. The government’s reasoning is that ITT Tech failed to properly get accredited by a government-recognized accrediting agency.
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CBS2’s Vince Gerasole reports, the ITT campus in Arlington heights was locked up tight Tuesday, no one in the administrative offices, student lounges empty, but display monitors touting the school’s IT programs were still playing behind glass doors.
Ivy Tech is looking for ways to assist ITT Technical Institute students who are trying to salvage their degrees.
The for-profit education sector has been struggling with falling enrollment, poor job placement records and regulatory scrutiny.
The move will impact hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees, according to ITT Educational Services. Federal officials say the students and those who left the college within the past six months will be eligible to have their loans forgiven. In order to qualify for this form of debt relief, students who want to continue their education must start all over again.
Both the school and the federal government have said they will reach out to students about their options. “This really doesn’t surprise us as this is one of the typical, predatory, for-profit schools that has been out there taking advantage of students in MA and across this country”.
The semester is over before it begins for more than 1,900 Tennessee students.
There will also be webinars about the closure. The now-defunct Corinthian College chain agreed to sell or close more than 90 US colleges in 2014 amid a fraud investigation over advertising practices.
“We have no way to get our transcripts”, said Amanda Powell, ITT Tech student.
ITT operated vocational schools in 38 states.
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Former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has also called for more oversight of ITT and other for-profit colleges.
