The company’s assets include almost $80 million owed by ITT students who were enrolled at the time of the bankruptcy filing or who had withdrawn within the previous 90 days. It’s possible that some of this $80 million was taken on by students to pay for classes that were never convened because the company collapsed.

The question of what will happen to this $80 million looms large among the ITT students. But fairness for the students is only one of many considerations for Deborah J. Caruso, the trustee appointed in the bankruptcy case: She has asked the court for permission to continue collecting that money from students on behalf of the company’s creditors.

Lawyers for the former students hope to stop the debt-collection process, since the company violated state consumer protection laws. In essence, they want the court to forgive the loans and prevent the money from being dispersed to creditors of ITT.

Ms. Caruso acknowledged that the liquidation process was a difficult balancing act. “If there is a recovery to be had for former students,” she said in a statement, “the trustee wants them to get it. But the trustee also needs to be sure that the student claims do not wipe out recoveries for other creditors.”

The lawyers working on behalf of the students also hope the judge will make a legal finding that ITT violated state consumer protection laws. This would make it easier for the students to get their loans canceled by the Department of Education. Finally, the lawyers have asked that the five students’ claims be asserted on behalf of all former ITT students.

“We’re trying all the angles, all the avenues,” Toby Merrill, founder and director of the Harvard project, said in an interview.

The filing contains 1,084 pages of powerful testimony from over 800 former ITT students and employees. They describe deceptive practices at the company and outline the hardships students experienced after graduating with crushing debt and useless degrees.