Rose, says it’s permanently closing all of its campuses nationwide after the U.S. Department of Education prohibited the for-profit college operator from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid.
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ITT’s recruiting and accounting practices have been the subject of federal investigations.
In a letter to more than 35,000 students, the Indiana-based parent company ITT Educational Services announced that campuses won’t open for the fall term that was scheduled to begin September 12, leaving students scrambling for last-minute options since many USA colleges have already started fall classes.
ITT Technical Institute is a chain career-focused technical school with more than 130 campuses located in 38 states.
In an email sent to ITT students, the U.S. Department of Education said they have two options: apply to have their student loan debts erased, or transfer their credits to another school.
The for-profit education sector has been struggling with falling enrollment, poor job placement records and regulatory scrutiny. Effective today, ITT said it cut most of its 8,000 employees.
“The school’s decisions have put its students and millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded federal student aid at risk”.
Just a year ago, for-profit Heald College in Honolulu shuttered its doors after its parent company Corinthian College was fined $30 million by the government for misleading students. “But I caution students to look closely at their credits to make sure they fully understand which ITT credits transfer and which do not”, Brown said.
Most students were between academic terms, slated to start the next quarter on September 12.
Or they can seek to have the loans wiped out through the government’s “closed school” discharge. “Kind of anxious. Does that affect our degrees for the people who have gotten them”, said Shana Andreotti-Briggs, a former student.
This of course, is not the first big for-profit school system to close.
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Those ITT students who left the school within the last 120 days would be eligible to have federal loans for their ITT education forgiven if they want to start over at another school, Education Department officials said.
