Letter to the Honorable John B. King, Secretary of the Dept. of Education - Response to Closure of ITT Tech
Letter
Dear Secretary King,
I write to express my support over the Department of Education's decision to ban ITT Educational Services, Inc (ITT) from enrolling new students and for increasing financial oversight of ITT's financial accountability system. With an ITT campus located in my district, in Torrance, California, and directly impacting my constituents, I am committed to protecting these students and ensuring that they receive a quality education.
In that vein, I am deeply concerned with the Department's ITT findings. According to your letter sent directly to ITT, ITT's accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), determined that the school failed to comply with federal and state student financial aid administration requirements, financial stability, administrative capacity, and student achievement requirements; and admission and recruitment standards.
Additionally, you noted that since 2014, you have monitored ITT's financial and operational compliance, as well as the civil litigation filed against ITT by state and federal law enforcement. Based on this oversight, which has resulted in no less than 8 letters directly to ITT, the basis of your concerns stem from ITT's financial instability, due to its assets to liabilities ratio of 0.72 and its below-standard student achievement outcome for 8 campuses in both 2014 and 2015.
I continue to share your concerns of ITT and the effect its practices may have on students, especially those in my district. I urge the Department to continue its oversight over ITT and its work on policies protecting student borrowers and taxpayers, especially the defense to repayment process which continues to move too slowly and has addressed too few students thus far.
Once again, thank you for making the prudent choice to hold schools accountable. I look forward to continuing to work with you to protect vulnerable students within the for-profit college industry.
Sincerely,
Maxine Waters
Member of Congress
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