On September 6, ITT Tech Institute announced that it would discontinue its operation for good. After ten days, on September 16, 2016, ITT Tech filed a Voluntary Petition for Bankruptcy and stopped all activities of the company. ITT Tech closure was unpleasant news and disappointing situation for its students. Fortunately, there are options for ITT Tech University Student Loan Forgiveness. In this article, we will try to explain what these options are and how you can use them for ITT Tech University Student Loan Forgiveness.
As we know, ITT Tech was a for-profit institution, and according to statistics, the average age of approximately 77 % of students in for-profit four-year institutions is over 24. It is difficult for those students to restart their education. Of course, they have an option to transfer their credits to a new college, but transferring credits is not easy). Besides this, the concern of ITT Tech students is the student loans which they got to take their education.
The University was one of the largest for-profit educators in the US, was founded in 1969. It had operated for about 50 years, had approximately 130 campuses in 38 states in the USA, and served more than 40,000 students. It offered on-campus and online classes in business, nursing, health sciences, and information technology.
The Reason of ITT Tech Closure
ITT Tech closure was no surprise to many who were aware of preceding events.
For example, in 2002 state and federal investigations began in ITT. The Institute currently faced fraud charges and a lawsuit. Also, 19 state attorneys general commenced an investigation against them.
Besides these, on August 25, 2016, the U.S Department of Education banned the school from enrolling new students rely on federal financial aid. It was the main source of revenue for ITT tech, last year ITT generated $850 million in revenue, and $580 million of this revenues came from federal student loans.
Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education required it to put aside $247.3 million in case the school went out of business. It was similar to a death sentence for ITT Technical Institute. The administration of the Institution blamed the Department of Education for ITT Tech closure, calling it “unwarranted,” “inappropriate” and “unconstitutional.”
The U.S. Department of Education put blames on ITT technical Institution for its closure. They justify their decision by saying that they made this decision for protecting students and taxpayer from potentially worse educational and financial damage in the future.
Some experts support the decision of the Education Department. They blame the company in mismanagement for ITT Tech closure. However, other experts criticize the choice of the Education Department by saying that the U.S. Department of Education could have worked more cooperatively with ITT to keep it from closing, as it has done for nonprofit colleges.
The Impact of ITT Tech Closure
It is evident that ITT Tech closure affected its students badly since they had gotten student loans to get their education. However, it is not first that something like this takes place. Dozens of colleges and universities have shut down until ITT Tech closure.
In 2019, the students who attended ITT Tech University between years of 2006&2016 may be eligible for forgiveness benefits through either the Closed School Loan Discharge program or the Borrowers Defense to Repayment Program.
Forgiveness via the Closed School Loan Discharge
It is good news that ITT Tech University Student Loan Forgiveness can forgive the student loans of ITT Tech students. This program operates under the Federal Government`s Closed School Loan Discharge Program.
If you are qualified for ITT Tech University Student Loan Forgiveness, then you have better hurry up because President Trump`s Student Loan Plans could cancel this profit. Fortunately, even the proposal of the President has not passed yet and also if it comes into force, it will not affect the students who benefit from the forgiveness program before July 1, 2019. It means that, if you want to benefit from ITT Tech Student Debt Discharge, you have to apply to it before the time mentioned above.
To apply for ITT Tech Student Loan Forgiveness through a Closed School Discharge program, you can either
– complete and return the Closed School Loan Discharge Application sent to you by your servicer,
– complete a Closed School Loan Discharge Application and return it to your loan servicer, or
– contact your loan servicer about the application process to discharge your loan.
Are You Eligible for ITT University Student Debt Discharge?
The eligibility needs for ITT Tech University Student Loan Forgiveness is straightforward. If you were a student of ITT Tech and you could not complete your degree program due to ITT Tech Closure, then you can apply for ITT Tech Student Debt Discharge.
Transfer your Credits
Students impacted by ITT Tech closure could try to complete their degree program by transferring their credits to another institution. However, in this case, it should not be forgotten that those students who do transfers cannot apply for Student Loan Forgiveness.
If you transfer your credits to a similar program in another school, that school will asses your ITT coursework and will decide whether to give you credit for already completed works or not. In addition, what courses you need to take to complete your program of study.
The Education Department works with ITT officials and representatives from the state and postsecondary education oversight organizations. The aim is to process student records from the 136 schools. So that transfer schools could start assessing students’ remaining qualifications for Federal Student Aid funds.
ITT will take responsibility for any return of federal student aid funds. The Department will work with ITT officials to make sure the loan funds are restored for future eligibility. If you transfer the credits toward a similar program and you completed or are going to finish that program, you will not be eligible to receive a closed school loan discharge.
In addition to above-mentioned, ITT has released a list of school that offers similar programs.
ITT Tech University Student Loan Forgiveness through BDR
Borrower`s Defense to Repayment Discharges (BDR) is another option which students can apply besides ITT Tech Loan Forgiveness through the Closed School Discharge. BDR is a federal loan forgiveness program, and it established in 1994. Students can apply to this program when schools defraud or mislead them. If school closed before a student can complete his/her degree program, he/she could apply to this program too. Taking into account ITT Tech closure and the massive lawsuit filed against ITT Tech, you have a strong reason for applying.
If you apply BDR for Student Loan Forgiveness, you will get chance not only to eliminate your loan but also you can be eligible to get a refund.
It must acknowledge that before BDR had very complicated language and even, it required lawyer`s help. However, recently the Department of Education has just clarified the rules to help borrowers to understand how this process works. New rules simplify borrower defense guidelines, making it easier to obtain loan forgiveness, and extend eligibility to existing borrowers who consolidated their loans.
Unfortunately, I have to mention that for ITT Tech Loan Forgiveness you cannot apply for BDR and Closed School Loan Discharge Program simultaneously.
Income-Based Repayment program
The essence of the Income-Based Repayment Program or Income-Driven Repayment Program differs from ITT Tech student loan forgiveness via Closed School Loan Discharge and Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Discharges. The income-driven repayment program is a student loan repayment program. It regulates the amount that a borrower must pay, taking into account the borrower’s current income and family size. IBR offers a more reasonable monthly payment covered at 10-15% of your discretionary income. Besides, under this program, the student loan might be forgiven after 20-25 years of payments.