Document and Entity Information	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013
Document And Entity Information [Abstract]
Document Type	10-Q/A
Amendment Flag	true
Amendment Description	ITT Educational Services, Inc. (“we,” “us” or “our”) is filing this Amendment No. 1 (“Amended Filing”) to its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, originally filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on April 26, 2013 (the “Original Filing”), to amend and restate its unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures for the three months ended March 31, 2013. In February 2014, we commenced a review of the accounting for a variable interest that we held in a variable interest entity (“VIE”), which is a trust (the “PEAKS Trust”) that purchased, owns and collects private education loans made under the PEAKS Private Student Loan Program (the “PEAKS Program”). We engaged significant internal and external resources to perform supplemental procedures to assist us in reviewing our financial statements and accounting practices (the “Supplemental Procedures”). As a result of the review and the Supplemental Procedures, on June 18, 2014, the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors determined that we should have consolidated the PEAKS Trust in our consolidated financial statements beginning on February 28, 2013. February 28, 2013 was the first date that we had the substantive unilateral right to remove the servicer of the private education loans owned by the PEAKS Trust (“PEAKS Trust Student Loans”). Within this Amended Filing, we are restating our previously issued condensed consolidated financial statements as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2013 to reflect our determination that we should have consolidated the PEAKS Trust in our consolidated financial statements beginning on February 28, 2013 (the “Consolidation”) and to reflect other corrections and reclassifications.
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2013
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2013
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Trading Symbol	ESI
Entity Registrant Name	ITT EDUCATIONAL SERVICES INC
Entity Central Index Key	0000922475
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Current Reporting Status	No
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding	23,362,123