College is an expensive investment. Students enter a public, private, or trade school to enter a lucrative field and achieve career success. Unfortunately, not everyone that enters college graduates successfully. While a variety of factors affect a student’s ability to graduate, ITT Technical Institutes recent closure is a reminder that the success or failure of a college or academic program can directly affect student’s ability to graduate.

If you find yourself marooned by a sinking academic institution, there are strategies to navigate academic limbo you find yourself stuck in.

Transfer Schools

Take a deep breathe. Rant about the unfairness of the world a little. Your first option is to locate another university or college that will transfer your credits. Don’t just choose one college. I would recommend pinpointing four or five potential colleges that you can see yourself attending.

Why pinpoint a few different schools? The main reason is that transferring credits can be difficult and it often leads to students losing some or all of their credits. You should call the college and have them evaluate how many credits they are willing to offer you before deciding to attend the school.

Evaluating Credit Transfer

As you choose new potential schools, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by making note of how your previous school and your potential school is accredited. Accreditation according to Ohio University program coordinator RuthAnn Althaus, for those that don’t know, “is very important and provides assurance to students, their employers, and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) that institutions are meeting rigorous educational standards and are professionally sound.”

There are two types of accreditation in the United States: national and regional. If you attended a school like ITT Tech that was nationally accredited, you will find yourself severely handicapped as you search for a new school. Due to the less rigorous standards set and upheld by national accreditors many regionally accredited schools either cannot or will not accept credits from colleges with national accreditation. You might need to limit yourself to checking out other nationally accredited colleges and checking a few long-shot public community colleges.

Evaluating Professional Licensure Adherence

As you seek out the best credit transfer deal, you might find yourself looking at either on campus or online out of state programs. If you are pursuing a program that requires professional licensure like engineering or nursing, you should double check that the program meets state authorization and professional licensure guidelines.

You can usually double check that the program’s state authorization information by checking the programs website. If the information is not on the website, I would recommended asking your contact at the school before applying.

Confirming the program meets professional licensure standards is a tad more complicated. According to ASU authorization page, it is the “student’s responsibility to contact the appropriate licensing board in their home state to confirm whether [the program] will meet the requirements for licensure in that state.” You’ve already had one major academic hiccup; I would recommend doing everything you can to ensure there are no more potential problems that could put your academic career in jeopardy.

Last Resort: Start from Scratch

If you can’t find a good school to transfer your credits to, you might want to scrap your academic career and start from scratch. How much time and money you will lose is really dependent on your circumstances.

If you attended a school that closed, you can apply to have your federal student loans discharged. If you took out private loans, you’ll need to hope that the private lender allows you to discharge your loan; they don’t always. I’m afraid if you spent your own money on the education, you’re a tad stuck.

Warning: If you discharge your student loans, you can’t change your mind in the future and attempt to transfer the credits.

While scrapping as much of the debt as you can might push your graduation off by another four years, it might (depending on the circumstances) be the better choice after some analysis. You need to not only find a college that will accept your credits, but will also safely allow you to finish your education. If the only schools that are offering credits are giving off major red flags, might be best to steer clear. Try not to jump onto another sinking ship.

School closures, like ITT Tech, can leave thousands of students in academic limbo, but it is a circumstance that can be navigated. Students should take the proper time to research their best option. Hopefully you will be able to transfer all of your credits, but if you can’t, you might seriously need to consider starting your academic career from scratch.

Samantha Stauf graduated from U of Idaho with a technical writing degree. She spends her free time eating strawberries, writing, and reading.

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Email:  General Information   |   Prof. David C. Pecoraro

Thank you!

Daniel & David

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