The news left tens of thousands of students stunned: Just as the fall semester was starting, ITT Technical Institute, one of the nation’s largest chains of for-profit colleges, shut down all its campuses, stranding some would-be graduates a few months shy of a diploma.
As wrenching as the closure is, though, it should have happened sooner. Like Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit chain that collapsed last year, ITT Tech was forced to the brink because the Obama administration has cracked down on an industry that thrived on shady practices. Those colleges have made their money by recruiting desperate and vulnerable students of modest means and charging overly high tuition rates.
