Commentary: American Federation of Teachers New Mexico President Stephanie Ly released the following statement:
“It is saddening to see thousands of students being educationally stranded with the closure of ITT Tech, the nation’s largest for-profit college chain. What’s more distressing is that these students will be saddled with thousands of dollars in debt and have little to show for it. For-profit colleges like ITT Tech and others have been shown to be little more than sham diploma mills whose main goal has been lining the pockets of their investors at the expense of their student.
“New Mexico is not immune to these closures with ITT Tech’s Albuquerque campus shuttering along with the rest of the national chain. It is critical at both the federal level and state level that we have strong policies that protect students from predatory practices of for-profit educational institutions.
“We support federal efforts to help students discharge their debt from fraudulent institutions like ITT Tech, and advocate for additional debt clinics to be made available in New Mexico to help students navigate their finances to achieve their educational goals.”