5,000 former ITT Tech students in Wisconsin will have their federal loans canceled after investigations into the school's practices

Nearly 5,000 Wisconsin borrowers who attended ITT Technical Institute will have their federal loans canceled, authorities announced last week.

“Student borrowers who were defrauded by a predatory for-profit school shouldn’t be left with federal student loan debt as a result,” Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement.

State and federal agencies that investigated the for-profit's practices found ITT Tech used "widespread and pervasive misrepresentations" related to job placement, transfer credits and program accreditation, according to the state Department of Justice.

ITT Tech operated three Wisconsin campuses, in Madison, Greenfield and Green Bay. The 4,830 Wisconsin students who attended ITT Tech between Jan. 1, 2005, and September 2016 will receive $96 million in full loan discharge. 

Former ITT Tech students were left with problems after attending school 

One of the beneficiaries will be Travis Higgins, who was drawn to the Madison campus in 2009 because ITT staff secured a loan for him within 30 minutes of him visiting the school.

Higgins said he studied criminal justice with plans to transfer to a technical college or University of Wisconsin System campus. Then he learned his credits wouldn’t transfer. With $24,000 in debt already accumulated, he dropped out. 

When applying for jobs, the reference to ITT Tech on Higgins' résumé drew questions from employers. Embarrassed, he decided to remove it altogether. He said he's made payments on his loans and is down to about $5,000 left to pay.

Higgins had thought about trying to pursue a bachelor's degree but worried having two sets of loans would complicate his finances. Now, with his debt cleared, he said he's going to seriously consider restarting his education.

U.S. Education Department canceling billions of dollars for ITT Tech students

Borrowers will receive a letter from the U.S. Education Department informing them of the pending discharge. No application is required.

Altogether, the department is wiping away $3.9 billion for 208,000 former ITT Tech students nationally. It's their latest action to crack down on for-profit colleges that have deceived and defrauded students, many of whom ended up with significant debt and no degree.

The Education Department earlier this summer also canceled $5.6 billion in loans for former students of Corinthian Colleges, which operated an Everest College campus in Milwaukee from 2010 to 2013.

Both Corinthian and ITT Tech filed for bankruptcy years ago, leaving taxpayers on the hook for both federal debt discharges.

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KellyMeyerhofer.