Loans Canceled For More Former Wisconsin ITT Tech Students

WISCONSIN — Thousands of students who took out loans from the federal government to attend ITT Tech in Wisconsin will have their debt forgiven in a move from the U.S. Department of Education.

You might recall ITT Tech for its TV commercials. It was a chain of private, for-profit schools that closed in 2016 amid accusations of fraud. Investigations found the schools engaged in widespread misrepresentations about the ability of students to get a job or transfer credits, the Wisconsin Attorney General Office said Wednesday in a news release.

In Wisconsin, 4,830 federal student borrowers who attended ITT Tech will have their loans fully discharged, $96 million of debt in total, according to the DOJ. It's a move that was encouraged by numerous states' attorney generals in 2021, including Wisconsin's.

Altogether across the country, the federal government is discharging $3.9 billion in full loan discharges for people who attended ITT Tech.

Prior to the federal loan decision this week, the Wisconsin DOJ said it worked to relieve other debt taken on by students who attended ITT Tech. In 2019, 647 former ITT students in Wisconsin secured debt relief in a settlement, the DOJ said, and a similar agreement came in 2020 for 1,137 additional students.

“Student borrowers who were defrauded by a predatory for-profit school shouldn’t be left with federal student loan debt as a result,” said Attorney General Josh Kaul in a news release. “Thank you to the U.S. Department of Education for taking action on behalf of former ITT Tech students.”