ITT Educational Services officials released a statement Sept. 6 declaring a “cease of operations” at all institutes.

ITT Tech officials blamed the closure on the U.S. Department of Education’s Aug. 26 decision to prohibit ITT Educational Services, the parent company of ITT Tech, from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid, according a statement from the vocational school.

“The Emergency Decision will order the Institution to CEASE ENROLLMENT OF ANY NEW STUDENTS IN ALL PROGRAMS at all of the following 15 locations,” according to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education website. “You have the right to be heard before the Director of the Department of Consumer Affairs, or his designee, regarding the allegations in the Emergency Decision prior to the effective date of the Emergency Decision.”

ITT has over 130 campuses in 38 states, with the closest to the Santa Clarita Valley being in Sylmar. The Sylmar office had ceased direct communications as of Sept. 6.

“Our responsibility is first and foremost to protect students and taxpayers,” said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Education. “Looking at all of the risk factors, it’s clear that we need increased financial protection and that it simply would not be responsible or in the best interest of students to allow ITT to continue enrolling new students who rely on federal student aid funds.”

The moves revolve around issues related to investigations by federal and state officials into ITT Tech issues regarding the school’s curriculum and finances, according to official reports.

The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) questioned ITT’s “administrative capacity, organizational integrity, financial viability, and ability to serve students in a manner that complies with ACICS standards,” in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Additionally, the institution has been placed under heightened cash monitoring, investigations by state attorneys general, and has been involved in a pending legal dispute with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commision.

The company is reported to have 14 campuses in California, seven of them in the Greater L.A. area.
More than 8,000 employees, as well as hundreds of thousands of current students, will be affected by the closure, according to ITT Tech officials.

Furthermore, the institute’s officials state that, “We believe the government’s action was inappropriate and unconstitutional,” and that they have been “without any opportunity to pursue (their) right to due process,” and, finally, that these are “unwarranted actions, taken without proving a single allegation.”