ITT Tech

Student Loan Relief for North Carolina ITT Students

In September 2016, national for-profit college chain ITT Educational Services, Inc. announced that it would shut down all of its campuses and online learning programs after the U.S. Department of Education called for additional oversight to address the college’s ongoing failure to meet accreditation standards.

If you attended ITT, you have several options depending on when you attended and what types of loans you took out.

PEAKS Settlement

In September 2020, Attorney General Stein reached a settlement with private lender PEAKS Trust that will result in 1,500 North Carolinians who are former ITT students receiving $12,048,741.50 in total loan forgiveness. Students do not need to do anything to receive to this debt relief – forthcoming notices from PEAKS will explain the relief and their rights under the settlement. Students may direct questions to PEAKS at customerservice@peaksloans.com or 866-747-0273, or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/ or (855) 411-2372.

CUSO Settlement

Pursuant to a settlement announced in June 2019 between Attorney General Stein and private lender Student CU Connect CUSO LLC, 412 North Carolinians who attended ITT will receive $4,257,783.11 in private loan relief. Former students that will benefit from this settlement do not have to do anything – they will be contacted directly with notice of their debt relief by CUSO representatives.

Loan Forgiveness

Former ITT students may be eligible for a type of student loan forgiveness called closed-school federal student loan discharge. Here’s how it works:

This option is available to students attending ITT when it closed September 6, 2016 and students who withdrew from ITT on May 6, 2016 or after.
Your student loan debt may be forgiven and you can restart at another school.
For more information, see ITT Announcements from the U.S. Department of Education.
Due to litigation brought by our office, in September 2019 any student that attended ITT during the dates above who did NOT graduate or enroll elsewhere and graduate should have their loans automatically forgiven.

If you feel like you were misled by ITT into taking out federal student loans, you can apply to have those discharged through a process known as Borrower Defense to Loan Repayment. Learn more about the process through the U.S. Dept. of Education here.

Transfer Credits to a New School

If you wish to complete your program, you can try to transfer your ITT credits to a different school.

You’ll need to get your student records and transcript from ITT. Find out how to obtain your transcript.
Contact your local North Carolina Community College to see if your ITT credits will transfer to a similar program. Community Colleges offer a range of degrees in fields similar to ITT but at a much lower cost.
Verify with the school you select in writing that your ITT credits will transfer. If your credits will not transfer, apply for loan forgiveness instead.
Keep in mind that if you decide to transfer your credits, you likely will not be able to have your ITT student loan debts forgiven.