After taking out thousands of dollars in loans, students of ITT Technical Institute are now finding themselves lost and degree-less, as the for-profit chain of schools announced last Tuesday that it would be closing its doors for good after 50 years of operation. The shutdown is prompted by federal sanctions against the company barring ITT Tech from enrolling new students who rely on federal grants and funding in light of an investigation of fraud related to the CEO and other high-level executives. The for-profit chain called the investigation's actions "inappropriate and unconstitutional", and issued an apology to the students now left with debt and no degree to show for it.

"Two quarters ago there were rumors about the school having problems, but they told us that anyone who was already a student would be allowed to finish,” Leon Wiggins II, an ITT Tech cyber-security major, told the Los Angeles Times. Wiggins, like all other 35,000 students currently enrolled in programs offered by ITT Tech, recently realized that they would never be receiving a degree, some of whom went thousands of dollars into debt to pursue. “Am I angry?” he said. “I'm like angry times 10 million." Sweeping mass layoffs will also cost 8,000 ITT Tech employees their jobs.

Those left out in the dark by the shutdown have a couple of options on how to proceed going forward. Students who left the school within the last 120 days will be eligible to have federal loans for their ITT education forgiven if they want to start over at another school, Education Department officials said. Education officials are urging universities and community colleges to be flexible in regards to accepting credits from ITT Tech in light of the current investigation.