After a ruling by the U.S. Department of Education regarding federal loans, ITT Technical Institute has stopped all operations.
Chris McCarty, a full time employee and father of five has spent the last two years studying here at ITT Tech.
"I was actually going to try to get into a cyber security after this but now it looks like I may have to start over," said McCarty.
Yet, with Tuesday's announcement, his future was uncertain.
"What am I going to do? Put a lot of time and effort in on this, just trying to figure out where I'm going to go next, ya know," McCarty said.
Like many other students, McCarty received federal aid to help pay for school, he also took out thousands of dollars in student loans.
"I think I'm over 20 thousand in student loans," McCarty said.
He feared, however, it was all for nothing after ITT Tech announced it was closing its doors permanently, more than 130 schools nationwide.
"It's a hard thing for me to swallow right now. I was trying to better my life and my kids education, trying to make better for them and their future," said McCarty.
In a statement from the institute's parent company, ITT Educational Services Incorporated, the company said it was forced to cease operations due to federal regulations.
The U.S Department of Education has banned for profit colleges from enrolling students who receive federal aid.
Former ITT Tech adjunct instructor Marti Kibbe said that made up the majority of students at the school and her classes.
"The students were just money makers, just generated money makers. That's all that they were," Kibbe said.
She left the school after one year citing moral and ethical differences.
"I've always told anybody that has come to me and ask about for profit schools, stay away form them," said Kibbe.
ITT Educational Services, Inc. released the following statement:
"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 actions of and sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education have forced us to cease operations of the ITT Technical Institutes, and we will not be offering our September quarter. We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution.
Effective today, the company has eliminated the positions of the overwhelming majority of our more than 8,000 employees. Our focus and priority with our remaining staff is on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options.
This action of our federal regulator to increase our surety requirement to 40 percent of our Title IV federal funding and place our schools under "Heightened Cash Monitoring Level 2," forced us to conclude that we can no longer continue to operate our ITT Tech campuses and provide our students with the quality education they expect and deserve.
For more than half a century, ITT Tech has helped hundreds of thousands of non-traditional and underserved students improve their lives through career-focused technical education. Thousands of employers have relied on our institutions for skilled workers in high-demand fields. We have been a mainstay in more than 130 communities that we served nationwide, as well as an engine of economic activity and a positive innovator in the higher-education sector.
This federal action will also disrupt the lives of thousands of hardworking ITT Tech employees and their families. More than 8,000 ITT Tech employees are now without a job – employees who exhibited the utmost dedication in serving our students.
We have always carefully managed expenses to align with our enrollments. We had no intention prior to the receipt of the most recent sanctions of closing down despite the challenging regulatory environment that now threatens all proprietary higher education. We have also always worked tirelessly to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and to uphold our ethic of continuous improvement. When we have received inquiries from regulators, we have always been responsive and cooperative. Despite our ongoing service to this nation's employers, local communities and underserved students, these federal actions will result in the closure of the ITT Technical Institutes without any opportunity to pursue our right to due process.
These unwarranted actions, taken without proving a single allegation, are a "lawless execution," as noted by a recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal. We were not provided with a hearing or an appeal. Alternatives that we strongly believe would have better served students, employees, and taxpayers were rejected. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable.
We believe the government's action was inappropriate and unconstitutional, however, with the ITT Technical Institutes ceasing operations, it will now likely rest on other parties to understand these reprehensible actions and to take action to attempt to prevent this from happening again."
