Ken Paxton
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that Texans who attended now defunct ITT Technical Institute will be able to obtain their academic records, thanks to a settlement approved today in the long-running Chapter 7 bankruptcy case of the Indiana-based for-profit education company.
Last year, Attorney General Paxton’s office filed a federal lawsuit against ITT’s bankruptcy trustee to ensure that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board would take possession of students’ academic records, as is required by applicable state law. “ITT pulled the rug out from under Texans who were attempting to better their lives through education, and their record of classroom work could have vanished forever had we not taken legal action,” Attorney General Paxton said. “I’m pleased that my office has helped secure the academic records of former ITT students, who’ll be able to use official transcripts to obtain professional licenses, gain employment and transfer ITT credits to other institutions.”
ITT Educational Services abruptly closed in 2016 after the U.S. Department of Education prohibited it from enrolling new students who receive federal financial aid. ITT offered private post-secondary degree programs online and at 137 campus locations in 39 states, with 10 locations in Texas, including Austin, Houston and San Antonio. At the outset of the bankruptcy case, the trustee exercised her duties and took possession of over 100,000 boxes of various documents and records, including academic records and transcripts, located at ITT’s former campuses and locations around the country. Under the terms of a settlement approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis, the trustee will provide digital copies of student academic records and transcripts to the applicable regulatory authority for each state in which ITT did business.
Attorney General Paxton’s office served as de facto lead bankruptcy counsel in the ITT mediation and settlement, which benefits 30 other states in which ITT operated, along with eight mediating state regulatory authorities: the Maryland Higher Education Commission; the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education; the Missouri Department of Higher Education; the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education; Florida’s Commission for Independent Education; the Private School Licensure Division, Alabama Community College System; the New York State Education Department; the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and the Board of Governors for the University of North Carolina.
View a copy of the settlement here: https://bit.ly/2H7HjEe