A shutdown of 136 ITT Technical Institute campuses across the country has left about 40,000 students out of school and almost 8,000 employees out of jobs.

Southwestern College may get some ITT refugees.

More than 100 students went to the SWC National City Higher Education Center for a workshop with counselors for financial aid and course evaluations. ITT had a National City campus.

Shannon Stuard was a student at ITT Tech studying electrical engineering.

“I received an email at four in the morning from ITT stating it was shutting its doors,” he said. “I did not go to the school that day and received texts from classmates saying that the doors are shut. None of the emails mentioned what to do next with our credits or loans.”

ITT shut down and filed for bankruptcy following years of investigating by the U.S. Department of Education. DOE had recently banned ITT Tech from receiving federal student aid funds.

Students that dropped out or graduated from ITT Tech within 120 days of closure have the option to file for closed school loan forgiveness and will receive 100 percent back if eligible. The students will have to contact their loan servicer or complete a Closed School Loan Discharge Application.

Many students like Stuard had just a few courses remaining to complete their degrees, he said.

He also said he is exploring legal options.

Some students may have the option to apply to have some credits transferred over to a public college, according to SWC Public Information Officer, Lillian Leopold, although transferring credits from a for profit school can be difficult.

One option is to take a challenge exam at SWC for $46 per unit. If the student passes, the credit will be put on their SWC transcript. A student who fails has the option to retake the test, but no refund.

Some former ITT Tech students may also be eligible to have student loans forgiven. Students on G.I Bills will not receive the money back, but will be able to transfer remaining money to another school. Students with Cal Grants will be able to use the remainder of their funding, but will not receive refunds from ITT Tech.

SWC Counselor Adriana Garibay spoke at a workshop to help former ITT students. “Southwestern does provide similar programs you were following at ITT and hopefully you will transfer and start working within our programs,” she said. “We will not be able to give you course-for-course equivalency.”

Counselor Ed Cosio said students need to carefully weigh options.

“We are not here selling you guys to come to Southwestern,” he said. “Our goal is to have our students graduate and if you are not a match for us, we will help set you up in a different path.”