“I’m still lost for words,” says 24-year-old Aicha Sow, recalling the moment she found out her college, ITT Tech was closing its doors nationwide. “I woke up to 57 messages and 17 missed called from family, friends, and classmates. When I first heard about the investigation, I was trying to calm everyone down by telling them that this is a big company. There’s no way it's going to shut down.”
But shut down it did. In a surprising announcement last Tuesday, for-profit college chain ITT Tech announced that it would cease operations immediately, leaving its 35,000 students across 130 campuses nationwide in limbo.
For Sow, the closure was just the latest in a string of disappointments from the school she had enrolled in less than a year prior. Sow studied nursing at the ITT Tech campus in Hilliard, Ohio, hoping that a degree could open up new opportunities for her. Unlike most other schools in Sow's area with traditional, semester-based programs, ITT Tech offered immediate enrollment, and Sow jumped at the chance to start.
Once she got there, however, she noticed that things were not how she imagined.
“There were multiple times us nursing students were told to look up the answer using our phones,” she recalled. One of her teachers told them that all the exams were provided by corporate. “If we didn’t get the same answers that corporate gave then we were wrong,” she said, a frustrating experience since “We received multiple books that didn’t match what corporate had.”
1) This week ITT Tech shut down. Thought it would be helpful to provide some more info on for-profit colleges for broader context.
These were just some of the sketchy policies for which the government was investigating ITT Tech. The investigation came after years of questions regarding the quality of ITT Tech’s curriculum, the success of its graduates, and its students’ ability to repay their loans. Sow and her classmates found out about the investigation midway through the semester, and went to the school seeking answers—which they never got.
“No one would speak to us about what was going on. An employee even said to us, ‘You are only trying to become a nurse and I’m trying to feed my kids,’” Sow recalled. “I was lost for words.”
The ITT Tech investigation was just the latest major development in the federal government’s crackdown on for-profit colleges. Last year, the U.S. Department of Education waged a very public fight with Corinthian Colleges—which operated schools like Everest and WyoTec—which similarly ended with a shutdown of the entire college chain. The government later brought a $1.1 billion judgment against the company with claims of false advertising. As of now, ITT Tech is following a remarkably similar path.
No one would speak to us about what was going on. An employee even said to us, ‘You are only trying to become a nurse and I’m trying to feed my kids.' I was lost for words.
Unlike traditional non-profit schools, for-profit institutions are typically geared toward specific careers and offer classes with credits that are non-transferrable. They’re also much more likely to cater to low-income, racial minority, and first-generation college students, many of whom require significant financial aid from the government in order to be able to attend. Some for-profit colleges are respected institutions that offer solid career training in fields that aren’t available at more traditional universities, but other chains have been called out for using high-pressure sales tactics and keeping students in the dark about finances.
A 2015 Brookings Institute study concluded that while “non-traditional borrowers” (meaning for-profit and junior college students) made up only 9 percent of students, they represented 31 percent of borrowers in the federally-backed student loan program. It also found that they were more than twice as likely as students at traditional colleges to default on their loans within two years, and were far less likely to be employed in their field of study after graduating. Issues like these dogged ITT Tech, and ultimately led the government to deny the school access to federally-backed student loans—a critical source of revenue. Rather than reform itself, the school chose to shut down its entire operation.
Current ITT Tech students have been presented with two options: transfer their credits to another school or drop the loans (and credits they’ve earned) and walk away with a clean slate. The latter option leaves students with nothing to show for months or years of work, but it’s proving to be an enticing option for those seeking a fresh start.
We owe it the the men & women enrolled at ITT Tech to make sure they have every opportunity to graduate and succeed. pic.twitter.com/CxDJXhAh87
Aaron Marshall, an ITT Tech student in Tuscon, Ariz., noted that he narrowly avoided having to go through this exact process. “I was waiting for my loans to come in this month, and find out they aren’t and the school is closing down,” he told Complex. Although Marshall avoided getting saddled with loans, he feels like the school should have done more to keep students in the loop about its problems. “I didn’t know they were going to close down, and I was a year into it … And I only needed nine more months to go,” he said. Luckily, he’s been able to transfer his credits to the Art Institute, another national chain of for-profit colleges, where he hopes to complete his degree in drafting and design.
Unfortunately for many other students, finishing their degrees elsewhere is proving to be challenging. Janine Redding, a 51-year-old nursing student from Theodore, Ala. said that she only needed three more courses to complete her associate degree in nursing, but was struggling to find another nearby school that accepted her credits.
“No one is willing to accept ITT nursing credits,” Redding told Complex, noting that many students in her program had contacted other colleges in southern Alabama without success. “We are all willing to keep our loans and gladly pay for our degree if only someone would let us.” Redding didn’t have a problem with ITT Tech itself, saying she enjoyed the "family atmosphere" and the instructors who taught with “experience and professionalism.” But she's been incredibly frustrated with the lack of options following the school’s dissolution.
We are all willing to keep our loans and gladly pay for our degree if only someone would let us.
For students who have already graduated, their options are even more limited. Although the value of their degree took a hit when the school ceased operation, it’s unclear if they’ll be eligible for loan forgiveness. When Corinthian shut down, students invoked something called a borrower's defense to repayment law, which allows federally-backed student loans to be discharged if students were defrauded by the school due to false advertising practices or other violations of the law. This helped thousands of Corinthian students get their loans wiped out, albeit at significant cost to the American taxpayer. In the case of ITT Tech, rumors of a class action lawsuit are already spinning, and it’s possible that the government will hit the school with a similar ruling that it brought against Corinthian.
Now it’s time to focus on helping @ITTTech students – the real victims – get their loans cancelled or finish programs at schools that care.
Until that time comes though, many former ITT Tech students are stuck between throwing out years of work or taking their chances trying to finish school elsewhere. The law also doesn’t cover private loans, which many students take out in conjunction with federal ones. For those who are fine with loans and just want to get their degrees, ITT Tech’s non-transferrable credits still leave them with severely limited options.
We had to work less hours to attend clinicals and classes, take time away from our family as all our efforts went towards getting our degree in the last two years. I am not willing to just lay down.
Despite this adversity, many aren’t ready to give up. “We have struggled hard to get to this point financially,” said Redding. “We had to work less hours to attend clinicals and classes, take time away from our family as all our efforts went towards getting our degree in the last two years. I am not willing to just lay down. I will take every avenue and fight as hard as I did to get to this point. I look at this as another bump in life that I can and will hurdle.”
Sow agrees. “This made me want to give up, but my mother wouldn't let me,” she said. “I will never trust ITT Tech again, but then again I'm thankful I was only there for three months and not longer. Going through this experience teaches me to ask more questions when applying for other schools.” Sow's attitude represents for-profit students well, many of whom overcome significant obstacles just to get to college in the first place. Still, the scars will remain. Out of everything she’s lived through, Sow says, “This is the worst experience I have ever had in my 24 years of life.”
