GNTC reaches out to ITT Tech’s displaced students Georgia Northwestern holding informational sessions, advisement options

Northwest Georgia’s largest college is reaching out to thousands of displaced students who saw the doors to their college campus close forever this week. The former students of ITT Technical Institute are being offered academic and financial advisement sessions by Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC).

ITT Tech, open for more than 50 years, had campuses all across the United States; including Chattanooga, Tenn., and Atlanta, Ga. Now, Georgia Northwestern, another college with more than 50 years of educating the people of the Tennessee Valley and Northwest Georgia, is reaching out.

GNTC has scheduled special informational sessions for the local ITT Tech students now without an educational home.

The big concern for many of these former students is that they now have a large debt to pay and no college degree or diploma to show for it.

“We want to give them a real option, right here at home, that will allow them to continue their collegiate education,” said GNTC Vice President of Student Affairs Stuart Phillips. “At this time, we are thoroughly evaluating the best course of action to help these students. We just want to give each of them a chance to focus on what will be the best next step for them and their families.”

Georgia Northwestern and ITT Tech offer a number of the same programs and courses. Accounting, business administration, computer support specialist, criminal justice, cybersecurity, drafting and network specialist programs at GNTC have different options. Students can enroll in classes offered at GNTC through one of its six campuses or online. Campuses are in operation in Catoosa, Floyd, Gordon, Polk, Walker, and Whitfield Counties in Georgia.

Georgia Northwestern Technical College is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia. The state college plans to have many of the answers to the questions former ITT Tech students will be asking when they host informational sessions for all ITT Technical Institute students in Room A103C on the new Catoosa County Campus in Ringgold, Thursday, Sept. 22, from 10-11 a.m.

For more information on these sessions, students may call Georgia Northwestern Technical College Catoosa County Campus manager Leigh Ann Pettigrew at 706-965-1120 or send an e-mail to lpettigrew@gntc.edu, or call the college’s toll-free number at 866-983-4682 (GNTC).