The sudden closure of ITT Technical Institute has left tens of thousands of students wondering if their time spent at the for-profit school was a waste, leaving them with nothing but debt and worthless college credits.

ITT announced Tuesday it was ceasing operations. The company has 140 locations in 35 states, serving about 45,000 students, including 1,600 at Alabama locations in Mobile, Madison and Bessemer. As many as 8,000 ITT employees will lose their jobs as a result of the shutdown, the company said.

The move comes after increased scrutiny from the Department of Education which claimed ITT encouraged students to sign up for federal loans while falsely promising employment opportunities. Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would no longer allow ITT to enroll new students using federal aid to finance their education.

"The school's decisions have put its students and millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded federal student aid at risk," said John B. King Jr., U.S. Secretary of Education. "Last week, the Department of Education took oversight actions to prevent ITT from continuing to add to that risk. When we made that decision, we did not take it lightly."

ITT reported almost $850 million in total revenue in 2015, roughly $580 million of which came from federal student loans. According to federal data, the average annual cost for attending ITT is $23,000, about $7,000 higher than the national average for not-for-profit public colleges. Nationally, only about 25 percent of ITT students graduate and more than 30 percent default on their student loans.

Student loans and ITT

Government officials said many of the students who are using federal loans to attend ITT will be eligible to have those debts discharged. You can see more information on that process here.

The Education Department is offering a series of national webinars designed for ITT students on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. EST. You can access the webinar link here.

What about ITT credits?

Aside from student loans, the other big question is what happens to the credits earned by students attending ITT. The Education Department said students - especially those close to graduating - may be able to transfer their credits to another institution.

On its own website, however, ITT cautioned it was "unlikely that any credits earned at the school will be transferable to or accepted by any institution other than an ITT Technical Institute."

ITT's website includes a list of articulation agreements with schools that accept its credits towards degrees. In the past, credits were able to be transferred to other ITT locations but since those are closing that's no longer possible. There are other for-profit schools that accept ITT credits but many of those - such as the nation's largest for-profit school the University of Phoenix - have been under fire for the same practices as ITT.

ITT has released a list of schools that offer similar programs but it's unlikely they will accept transfer credits.

King said he knows the news of ITT's closure will be discouraging to many but he urged students not to give up on their education.

"Higher education remains the clearest path to economic opportunity and security," he said. "Restarting or continuing your education at a high-quality, reputable institution may feel like a setback today, but odds are it will pay off in the long run."

Updated Sept. 7 at 11:58 a.m. to clarify that other for-profit schools accept ITT credits.