GREENFIELD — Jason Nyikos didn’t believe the news. Surely, his friend was joking.
Nyikos had to see it for himself, so he drove to the ITT Technical Institute campus. There were only a few cars in the parking lot. But it wasn’t until he pulled on the locked door handle that reality set in: the college he had invested his time and money for more than a year — an education he was due for serving his country — had abruptly closed.
Nyikos of Greenfield is one of about 7,000 veterans robbed of federal education benefits when ITT Technical Institute went out of business unexpectedly last fall.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryHe was nearly two years into a four-year degree studying electrical engineering when the school shut down its 130 campuses in September. When Nyikos began looking at other colleges where he could finish his degree, he learned his credits from ITT Tech wouldn’t be accepted, and the educational benefits he earned from his time in the U.S. Navy, which he used to pay tuition as well as household bills, were gone.
A bill authored by U.S. Rep. Luke Messer, who represents Indiana’s 6th congressional district, including Greenfield, would restore the benefits Nyikos and other veterans lost when ITT Tech closed amid scrutiny of its accreditation and recruiting practices.
Messer introduced the Protecting Veterans from School Closures Act in the U.S. House of Representatives shortly after ITT Tech closed, but it didn’t garner the support needed to become law. He reintroduced the bill this month, and his office hopes it will receive a hearing in coming weeks, Molly Gillaspie, Messer’s press secretary, wrote in an email to the Daily Reporter.
When ITT Tech closed its doors, many students were able to discharge loans they had sought to pay for courses, but veterans didn’t have the option to recoup their GI Bill benefits so they could start their education over elsewhere, Messer said. The bill he proposes would allow veterans to recover the benefits they spent at ITT Tech or other colleges or universities that close.
Many veterans impacted by ITT Tech’s closure have struggled with transferring credits and, in some cases, have been forced to start their education over at their own expense if they were near the end of their degree program and out of education benefits, he said.
They counted on their GI Bill education benefits to earn a degree and find a good job after serving the country, considered critical in the transition from military to civilian life; through no fault of their own, they lost that opportunity when the college closed, Messer said.
His bill seeks to forge a path forward for veterans to complete degrees they’ve already started.
“It’s common sense,” Messer said. “We have a moral obligation to do right by these veterans.”
Nyikos supports the bill and has shared his story as part of Messer’s efforts, saying restoring lost benefits to veterans is the right move for the men and women who served their country and are now stuck in limbo, deciding whether to pursue their degree by paying for it out of pocket or calling it quits.
The GI Bill of Rights — first known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 — aimed to help veterans returning from World War II re-adjust to civilian life.
After World War I, discharged veterans were given little resources to find jobs upon returning home, according the to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Following World War II, the original GI Bill provided veterans with opportunities for education and training, loan guaranty for homes, farms or businesses, and unemployment pay, the agency reports.
The bill was updated in 1984 and again in 2008 to offer veterans who served following Sept. 11 education benefits that covered additional education expenses, such as living and book expenses.
Nyikos, 34, served in the Navy between 2003 and 2007, embarking on several overseas tours while defending his country. When his four-year commitment was up, he took a job at MacAllister Machinery in Indianapolis, where he worked until 2015 when he decided to start a new adventure. He wanted a bachelor’s degree.
He quit his full-time job, choosing to rely on the GI educational benefits, which include a housing allowance, he earned through his time in the Navy to pay for school and help make ends meet at home while he was taking classes. He was interested in electrical engineering, a program ITT Tech offered. The school fit what he was looking for: a college close to home that offered small class sizes. So in mid-2015, he enrolled.
When the school closed, about 22 months into his degree, his benefits stopped. The housing allowance he had been relying on to pay his mortgage and put food on the table for him and his wife vanished. And the hits kept coming; he got a letter in the mail saying he owed the veterans affairs office, which administered the benefits, $600 for a stipend he had recently received to pay for books and other class expenses.
Unsure what to do next, he began picking up odd jobs to help pay the bills: electrician side jobs, FedEx just before Christmas. When that wasn’t enough, he gritted his teeth and dipped into money he’d saved up for retirement.
When he wasn’t working, he was calling colleges and universities across the state to see if they’d accept his ITT Tech credits. The answers were all the same; each institution was leery of validating coursework from a college with ITT’s history. He guesses he made some 300 calls; over and over again, he got the same answer: no. His credits wouldn’t transfer.
Eventually, he decided he would just start over. Ivy Tech was accepting mid-year transfers. Instead of pursuing the electrical engineering degree he originally sought, he switched majors altogether.
Now, he’s about two months into a two-year program for imaging sciences. He’s attending the Lawrence campus full time, living with a friend near Indianapolis Monday through Friday.
He’s using what remains of his benefits — he’s entitled to 36 months of school altogether — to pay tuition as he seeks an Ivy Tech degree.
Finishing the courses needed to earn his degree — his ultimate goal — will likely cost him money out of his own pocket down the line, so he’s hopeful Messer’s bill becomes law, restoring the benefits he lost. No matter what happens, he’ll finish his degree, he said. Even if that means taking on loans of his own.
“It’s my money that just went poof,” Nyikos said. “I hope it works. … I’m cautiously optimistic.”
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Hoosier veterans who were impacted by ITT Tech’s sudden closure are invited to share their stories with Rep. Luke Messer, IN-06.
Call 202-225-3021.
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Hancock County residents may contact Rep. Luke Messer, IN-06, by calling his Washington, D.C., office at 202-225-3021. To send Messer an email or schedule an appointment to meet with him, visit messer.house.gov/contact.
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ITT Technical Institute, based in Carmel Indiana, closed all of its 130 campuses across the nation abruptly in September, leaving about 40,000 students unsure how to finish their education.
In August, the U.S. Department of Education banned the school from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid to pay tuition — the largest source of its revenue — amid scrutiny of its accreditation and recruiting practices.
Following the sanctions, the school closed and filed for bankruptcy in September.
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