For-Profit ITT Technical Institute Closes Campuses Nationwide

By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 6, 2016 5:38PM

Via Wikimedia Commons

On a day in which students of all ages are returning to school, ITT Technical Institute has announced that it will shutter all of its roughly 130 campuses across the country. The announcement comes shortly after the Department of Education eliminated the for-profit schools’ access to federal financial aid.

Late in August, the Carmel, IN-based ITT Educational Services—the company that owns and manages ITT Technical Institutes—was prohibited by the Education Department from admitting new attendees who received federal assistance after if failed to meet accreditation standards. Following that ruling, ITT Technical Institute added a banner on their homepage that reads, “We are currently not enrolling new students.”

ITT Tech released a statement on Tuesday announcing the closures:

“It is with profound regret that we must report that ITT Educational Services, Inc. will discontinue academic operations at all of its ITT Technical Institutes permanently after approximately 50 years of continuous service. With what we believe is a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process to the company, hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees will be negatively affected.”

The move will affect an estimated 40,000 students across the country. Current or recent enrollees might be eligible for loan forgiveness, John B. King Jr., U.S. Secretary of Education, said on the Department of Education's Homeroom blog.

As Gizmodo pointed out, ITT Tech had a demonstrated history of reaching out to students who took financial aid, having netted some $580 million in federal dollars last year. (Remember, this is a for-profit company.) ITT generated $850 million in revenue in 2015, the L.A. Times reports.

According to Gizmodo, the company "preyed" on students who were more likely to live in poverty and less likely to understand the ins-and-outs of student debt. Many students at for-profit colleges don't finish their degrees.

Some lawmakers took the news as opportunity to admonish the for-profit industry model, as the L.A. Times notes. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) warned that "predatory practices, the exploitation of taxpayers, and the deception of students have no place in our higher education system.”

“ITT Tech has cheated students, taxpayers, and veterans for far too long," he added.