I’m sure you all would have heard the story about ITT Tech closing its doors for good. The reasoning for that being they were told to stop accepting students who came to college on Financial Aid.
Now, I know what you may be thinking: what a horrid idea. Keeping students from their education because they need aid sounds draconian. Frankly, I do agree. Yet, I also see the reason why.
It’s easier for me to talk about my agreement with the sentiment. Many will say that the financial situation of accepting Aid students warranted the rule to be established, but the prospect of schools doing that out of the blue is extremely disconcerting. It’s already a large fear of the general populace that they won’t be able to get into college - the reality of some colleges disallowing their student's entry because of their financial aid situation is even more frightening. Money is hard to come by in the US economy, after all.
There’s also the detriment it puts on the school. When most of your students have Financial Aid in place, shutting them out will invariably deal damage to your own financial stability. This was seen in ITT, where they were forced to shut down. That’s a reputable college of technology that’s been done away with due to this decision.
As a student who suffers from the woes of college debt, I have a very primal response to this; there’s my ethos of the day. However, as a person who likes to see both sides, I also understand the need for it.
ITT Tech’s sudden closure came from a mixture of disreputable monetary allegations and the hemorrhaging of funds, among other, deeper things. While it seems that they were closed without the ability to “express their due process”, there are always more problems beneath the surface.
The policies set in place for the students coming in with financial aid was not made lightly, according to them. Their letter-of-credit requirement effectively doubled. The letter of credit, as defined, is collateral that the government wants colleges to set aside just in case they can’t pay off their debts. More students equals more debt: more financial aid equals fewer students actually paying it off with their own money.
Alongside this, there were a number of other murky details lying underneath that would be too complex for the scope of this article.
Everything about this situation reeks if we’re being honest. What do you think about the situation? Personally, I’m terrified of this becoming a rampant policy all over the United States. I would like to be able to go school, you know? I’m sure you would, as well.
