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US tech college ITT is not pining for the fjords. It is no more. It has gone and met its maker

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For-profit US-wide college ITT will shut down in the wake of a government decision to bar it from accepting federal student aid money.

The technical training school said Monday that effective immediately, it will be ceasing all operations and terminating most of its staff.

"The actions of and sanctions from the US Department of Education [DOE] have forced us to cease operations of the ITT Technical Institutes, and we will not be offering our September quarter. We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution," the former school said in a statement.

"Effective today, the company has eliminated the positions of the overwhelming majority of our more than 8,000 employees. Our focus and priority with our remaining staff is on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options."

The decision to shut the school down hardly comes as a surprise, after last week's decision by the DOE to bar ITT from accepting any students who relied on federal financial aid due to concerns that the school would not stay afloat long enough to put that money to use. The state of California went a step further and barred ITT from taking new enrollments. The school then took it upon itself to halt enrollment of new students nationwide.

Now it seems that not even those who are already enrolled at the school will be able to finish out the semester.

The DOE has already said that any credentials already earned through ITT programs will be considered valid, as will any units completed and transferred to other schools (provided those schools previously recognized credits from ITT.)

With its last breath, ITT made sure to curse the DOE for what it sees as "unwarranted" actions that led to its demise.

"We were not provided with a hearing or an appeal. Alternatives that we strongly believe would have better served students, employees, and taxpayers were rejected. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable," the school said.

"We believe the government's action was inappropriate and unconstitutional – however, with the ITT Technical Institutes ceasing operations, it will now likely rest on other parties to understand these reprehensible actions and to take action to attempt to prevent this from happening again." ®

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