Santa Clara, CA: Following investigations for fraud, ITT Educational Services has closed the doors on its subsidiary, ITT Technical Institutes, stranding some 45,000 students and 8,000 staffers. The school is among the largest for-profit colleges in the US and had been in operation 50 years.
The closure was announced by ITT Educational Services two weeks ago, after the Department of Education ended its financial aid for new students enrolling at the college following investigations by state and federal regulators.
The college, which has 136 campuses, has been the target of numerous lawsuits. Among the charges brought by investigators, is that ITT misled students about job placement prospects and lied about student loan default rates.
Experts state that the Department of Education acted appropriately. “ITT Tech has a long record of making big promises to students, only to leave them deep in debt without delivering the kind of quality education they need to succeed,” a staff attorney for Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports, stated. “We are pleased that the Department of Education has stepped up its oversight of ITT Tech and that students and taxpayers will no longer subsidize this failing institution.
In the meantime, the closure has left students scrambling to figure out what to do.
