DOE approves more relief for ITT students

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Inside INdiana Business) — The U.S. Department of Education has approved claims for 130 former nursing students who attended ITT Educational Services Inc., which was headquartered in Carmel and shut down in 2016. The department says ITT misled students about the accreditation of its associate degree in nursing program.

According to the DOE, ITT falsely told students it either had or would soon have the necessary accreditation that would help the students’ ability to get a nursing job.

“However, the school repeatedly failed to obtain programmatic accreditation for years as the accreditors found that ITT failed to meet standards for job placement and licensure pass rates, had insufficient physical and fiscal resources, and unqualified faculty,” the department said in a news release.

As a result of the ruling, more than $3 million in discharges has been approved for 130 students.

Since ITT’s closure more than five years ago, the DOE has approved about $660 million for some 23,000 students. The largest and most recent approval came last year after the department found ITT lied about employment prospects and the ability to transfer credits.

The approval is part of more than $415 million in borrower defense discharges made by the DOE, including more than $71 million for 1,800 former DeVry University students. The department says an investigation found DeVry made “widespread substantial misrepresentations about its job placement rates.”

The DOE says it is the first time claims have been approved associated with an institution that is still operational.

You can read more about the approvals from the DOE by clicking here.