Austin Community College Helping Former ITT Tech Students

TWC News/Spectrum News: Austin Community College Helping Former ITT Tech Students

AUSTIN, Texas — Imagine being a student ready for classes to resume, only to find that your school unexpectedly closed its doors.

“It is a crisis for these students, absolutely,” said Mike Midgley, vice president of instruction at Austin Community College.

That’s the reality for about 400 ITT Technical Institute students in Austin, who were left scrambling earlier this month when their school shut down.

“It happened very quickly, we have responded but we are still in the process of responding,” Midgley said.

On the day ITT Tech closed, Austin Community College started getting calls from frantic students.

“We see it as a real responsibility for us, these are Austinites who were caught in a really unhappy situation,” said Midgley.

ACC isn’t receiving any funding to help out these students, but they’ve extended advising hours to accommodate as many as possible.

“It’s not a huge pool of students, and so it’s not a number that we can’t absorb into our normal operations,” said Midgley.

As for current ACC students like William Cates, they advise former ITT students to make ACC their new home.

“You’re looking at maybe 8 to 15 people per class, so you get a lot of one on one time with your teacher,” Cates said. “It is really personal.”

ACC says every student will have different needs, but they want to do what they can to help former ITT students get back on track to achieving their academic goals.

“We can help you explore some of those options, and we can be, for some students, a solution to this crisis you’re in,” Midgley said.

If you are a displaced ITT Tech student and would like more information on ACC’s aid efforts, click here.

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