ITT Tech Loan Forgiveness: Things to Know
Students who attended the now-defunct ITT Tech are entitled to federal student loan forgiveness. If you attended an ITT Tech institution between 2005 and 2016, you should be able to get your federal student loan debt discharged.
Learn the details about what happened at ITT Technical Institute, how it affected more than 200,000 students, and what you need to know about ITT Tech student loan forgiveness if you attended the school during the specified time period.
Key Points
• ITT Tech loan forgiveness cancels federal student loan debt for students who attended ITT Technical Institute between 2005 and 2016, when the school closed its doors.
• The Department of Education discharged $3.9 billion in federal loans for 208,000 ITT student borrowers.
• The forgiveness program applies automatically, without students having to apply for loan discharge.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau forgave hundreds of millions in private student loans to ITT borrowers.
• Students with private loans whose debt was not forgiven can contact their lender to explore their options, find out about any state assistance programs, or consider student loan refinancing.
What Is ITT Tech?
ITT Technical Institute, also known as ITT Tech, was a private, for-profit technical school that had approximately 130 campuses in 38 states. Owned by ITT Educational Services, ITT Tech schools had associate and bachelor’s degree programs in various areas of technology, including software, electrical engineering, and cybersecurity, as well as criminal justice and business management.
The institution, which was founded in 1969, offered students a chance to get their undergraduate degree without going the traditional college route.
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What Happened to ITT Tech?
On September 6, 2016, ITT Tech ceased operations, closing all of its campuses. After years of investigations and lawsuits from federal agencies and some state attorneys general, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) cut off ITT’s federal aid.
According to a report from the Project of Predatory School Lending at Harvard Law School, ITT made false promises to prospective students, such as offering a valuable education, flexible schedule, the ability to easily transfer credits to other schools, and a high likelihood of job placement after graduation. ITT also engaged in unethical, predatory practices, the report found, which included recruiting and taking advantage of low-income students.
Without the billions of dollars ITT Tech had received from federal student loan aid, it could no longer remain open. ITT filed for bankruptcy 10 days after closing its doors.
ITT Tech’s closing left more than 35,000 students in limbo, without a viable path to obtain their degree. And hundreds of thousands of students were on the hook for the federal student loans they had taken out to attend ITT.
Who Will Get Their ITT Tech Loans Forgiven?
On August 16, 2022, the DOE announced the cancellation of all remaining federal student loan debt to students who attended ITT Tech from January 1, 2005 through its September 2016 closure.
According to the latest information, a grand total of $3.9 billion of federal student loan discharges have been given to 208,000 borrowers who attended an ITT Tech school during the time period.
The DOE’s ITT Tech student loan forgiveness only applies to federal loans, not private student loans. However, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which investigated ITT and brought a lawsuit against the institution, eventually reached settlements with ITT that forgave hundreds of millions of dollars in private student loan debt.
Students who borrowed private loans to attend the institution and didn’t receive ITT Tech loan forgiveness may want to consider options to make repaying their student loans easier, such as checking whether their state has a program to help students after a college closure, or exploring student loan refinancing. When you refinance student loans, you replace your current loans with a new private loan.
Ideally, the new loan will have a lower interest rate, if you’re eligible, or more favorable terms, in which case refinancing could save you money.
Use SoFi’s student loan refinancing calculator to see if refinancing makes sense for you.
What ITT Tech Student Loan Debt Relief Is Available?
With the federal government’s ITT student loan forgiveness decision, anyone who took out a federal student loan should be eligible to have their debt erased. What’s more, the DOE made ITT Tech loan forgiveness easy by not requiring former students to apply for a borrower defense to repayment discharge. Instead, students who attended ITT Tech automatically had their loans discharged without having to take any action.
In addition, hundreds of thousands of dollars in private student loans were forgiven through the efforts of the CFPB.
If you were a student at an ITT Tech school during the specified time period, and you haven’t had your federal student loan amount waived, the DOE advises you to contact your loan servicer. If you’re not sure who your servicer is, you can find out by logging into your account on StudentAid.gov.
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The Takeaway
The 2016 closure of ITT Tech campuses nationwide left tens of thousands of students with no opportunity to finish earning their degree. It also resulted in hundreds of thousands of students being left with private and federal student loan debt.
The Department of Education has canceled federal loans borrowed by students who attended ITT Tech between 2005 and 2016. And separately, hundreds of millions of dollars in private student loans were forgiven through the efforts of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
If you attended ITT and your federal loans haven’t been forgiven, contact your loan servicer. Those individuals still dealing with private loan debt may want to consider other methods to help manage it. For example, they could speak with their lender about any repayment options the lender might offer given the circumstances, check to see if their state has any programs to help students after a college closure, or explore student loan refinancing to see if they qualify for more favorable rates and terms.
Looking to lower your monthly student loan payment? Refinancing may be one way to do it — by extending your loan term, getting a lower interest rate than what you currently have, or both. (Please note that refinancing federal loans makes them ineligible for federal forgiveness and protections. Also, lengthening your loan term may mean paying more in interest over the life of the loan.) SoFi student loan refinancing offers flexible terms that fit your budget.
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