Federal officials based the decision on findings from many state attorneys general, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the nonprofit Veterans Education Success.
Investigators found widespread evidence that ITT Tech made false claims about the ability of its students to find jobs after graduating, the agency said. They also found that the chain misled students about their ability to get credits transferred to other schools, and about the accreditation of the chain’s nursing program.
Tasha Berkhalter enrolled at ITT Tech in 2006 to pursue a career in criminal justice after being honorably discharged from the Army. Recruiters promised she would easily find a job after graduating. But after earning her bachelor’s, no one would hire her.
“It was all for a degree that no one takes seriously. Whenever I told employers where I attended college, I was shown the door,” said Berkhalter, of Lima, Ohio.
Berkhalter previously got much of her nearly $100,000 in debt erased through the borrower defense rule, and said she expects more to be canceled soon.
“The cloud has been removed from over my head,” she said. “I know there are hundreds of thousands of former students like myself who are finally getting the relief they deserve.”
Read the full story in The Associated Press here.