“To wake up to an email saying your school is shutting down is just devastating”, said Antoinette Pierce, a student at the Lake Mary campus. She said after two years of hard work and $28,000, she is back to square one. Almost 8,000 employees nationwide are also without a job, as a result of the closings.
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The validity of student diplomas and education may be in question, but not all is lost regarding the thousands of dollars students requested from the government to pay their way through college. She says sacrificed a lot to earn her degree at ITT. “We have staff and faculty prepared to advise students on registration, enrollment and course curriculum”, said Dr. Michelle Howard-Vital, Executive VP and Provost of FMU. “We definitely understand that it’s a hard time”. It follows other failures in the for-profit college industry as the federal government has cut off the flow of student aid funds.
ITT Technical institute is shutting down its locations nationwide including its Clovis campus. The State Need Grant program is Washington’s primary financial-aid program for low-income students; grants do not need to be paid back.
On Tuesday, ITT blamed the department’s action for why it was closing. In 2015, ITT revenue reached $850 million, with around $580 million coming from federal student loans.
“For what appears to be political reasons, there seemed to be an outcome in mind that was going to be forced here”, Modany said.
The Department of Education said ITT’s creditor, Accrediting Counselor for Independent Colleges and Schools, ACICS, said ITT is not in compliance with criteria to stay accredited.
Students who enrolled at ITT Tech within the last 120 days can apply to have their federal student loans erased by the Education Department. The Department of Education and 19 state attorneys general are investigating ITT over its marketing and job placement claims, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Chicago Tribune reported.
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The for-profit college was recently banned from enrolling any students who require financial aid. One of those students is Linda Rose Bassett of Oxnard. “Kind of sad for the kids and students that are here now that are either a semester away from graduating and will never get anything, and the ones who just started because they have to start all over again”.
