A Bloomberg report last month noted that the U.S. Department of Education had decided new ITT students wouldn’t be able to use federal student loans and grants.
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ITT Tech, a for-profit technical institute, abruptly announced the closure of 150 campuses in 38 states nationwide on Tuesday, just before the start of a new school year.
ITT has also been ordered to pay $152 million to the department within 30 days to cover student refunds and other liabilities in case the company closes.
Almost 12,500 students used the GI Bill at ITT in 2015, according to data from the national advocacy group Student Veterans of America.
Students said the email they received indicated they’d be able to talk with staff about finances, credits and where to go from here Wednesday, September 7th from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
A business analyst at ITT Educational Services Inc.’s Carmel headquarters and an instructor at two locations in California filed the complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Delaware. “Right now, I’m probably going to hit the job market, but at the same time continue to further my education”, said Alex Cruz, ITT Tech student.
ITT Tech says these actions are unwarranted, having not been provided a hearing or an appeal, and alternatives it feels would have better served students, employees and taxpayers were rejected.
O’Brien says SMC is reaching out to the hundreds of regional ITT Tech students who are out luck to see if they can get enrolled in its similar programs.
In a Big Bang solution to an intractable problem, ITT Educational Services, parent of ITT Tech, shut down all of its 130 campuses over the Labor Day weekend.
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Closures are due to an investigation and sanctions by the U.S. Department of Education over recruiting and accounting practices at the school. It was rarely used until the 2014 collapse of for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges, which forced the Education Department address re-evaluate the standard used for reviewing appeals for debt relief.
