The Carmel Indiana-based company that operates the national I-T-T Technical Institutes will shut down every one of its campuses.
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In a statement released on the for-profit company’s website, ITT officials said the institution is closing because of “the actions and sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education”. For ITT Tech students relying on federal aid, the US Department of Education said it will forgive loans if students decide to discharge from ITT Tech and start their education over.
Mike Traina, the Dean of the Columbus school, says he was surprised to see the doors locked, but is more concerned about his students. “In response, over the last couple of years, we at the Department of Education have increased our financial oversight over ITT and required the school to boost its cash reserves to cover potential damages to taxpayers and students”.
ITT held the federal government responsible for its closure.
The attorney general said the school was lying to students about graduation rates and job placement and worse when it came to their curriculum.
“Ultimately, we made a hard choice to pursue additional oversight in order to protect you, other students, and taxpayers from potentially worse educational and financial damage in the future if ITT was allowed to continue operating without increased oversight and assurances to better serve students”, King said in a statement.
“I have four-year students who are about to graduate and are a few credits short [and] I can’t imagine what they are going through”.
A voice mail recording at the ITT campus at Lake Mary said the administrative offices were closed and the messages were full.
“I kind of feel lost”, said ITT student, Shawn Miller.
The school accuses the government of “unfairly” stripping it of eligibility for student aid.
Read a message from the US secretary of education, here.
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About 200 ITT employees will help students obtain grade transcripts and apply to other schools, and the chain said it is seeking agreements with other schools that would help students transfer class credits.
