Career Education Corporation Announces Plans for Strategic Divestitures of Selected Schools.

Company Focuses on Brand Prioritization and Targeted Business Strategy

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ: CECO) today announced its decision to sell several of its schools and campuses, including the nine campuses that comprise the Gibbs division; McIntosh College; the two campuses belonging to Brooks College (Long Beach and Sunnyvale) and Lehigh Valley College.

"As Career Education positions itself for the future, we will be better targeting our business strategy and concentrating our resources on those areas where we have the greatest competitive advantage, the highest levels of expertise, and proven success," said Bob Dowdell, Career Education's interim president and chief executive officer. "We believe that the net result of these decisions will be a stronger operation and a more effective focus on what we do best: preparing students for careers they are passionate about through our high-quality boutique schools, our gold-standard brands, and our flexible, student-centered product offerings."

The company will continue to invest in the schools throughout the divestiture process, including strengthening educational programming and services to students, and continuing its support of faculty and staff. "Each of these schools is valuable and important in its local community and has real future potential," said Dowdell. "We are confident that they will flourish under new ownership."

Conference Call Information

Career Education Corporation will host a conference call today, November 15, 2006 at 9:00 AM (Eastern Time). Interested parties can access the live webcast of the conference call at www.careered.com. Participants can also listen to the conference call by dialing 617-213-8837 (international) or 866-700-7101 (domestic) and citing code 34740612. Please log-in or dial-in at least 10 minutes prior to the start time to ensure a connection. An archived version of the webcast will be accessible for seven days at www.careered.com. A replay of the call will also be available for seven days by calling 617-801-6888 (international) or 888-286-8010 (domestic) and citing code 69377175

About Career Education Corporation

The colleges, schools and universities that are part of the Career Education Corporation (CEC) family currently offer high quality education to approximately 100,000 students across the world in a variety of career-oriented disciplines. The 80-plus campuses that now serve these students are located throughout the U.S., and in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, and offer doctoral, master's, bachelor's, and associate degrees and diploma and certificate programs. Many students attend the fully online educational platforms offered by American InterContinental University Online and Colorado Technical University Online.

Career Education is an industry leader whose gold-standard brands are recognized globally. Those brands include, among others, the Le Cordon Bleu Schools North America; the Harrington College of Design; the Brooks Institute of Photography; the Katharine Gibbs Schools; American InterContinental University; Colorado Technical University and Sanford-Brown Institutes and Colleges. The mission of CEC, through its schools, its educators, and its employees is education -- their primary goal, to enable students to graduate successfully and pursue rewarding careers.

Except for the historical and present factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this release, including statements identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "expect," "intend," "project," "will," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our actual growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these statements. Except as expressly required by federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update such factors or to publicly announce the results of any of the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect future events, developments, or changed circumstances or for any other reason. These risks and uncertainties, the outcome of which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and operations, include, but are not limited to, the following: future financial and operational results, including the impact of the impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets; risks related to our ability to comply with accrediting agency requirements or obtain accrediting agency approvals, including the adverse impact of negative publicity concerning the continued probation status of American InterContinental University and ongoing review by its accrediting body; risks related to our ability to comply with, and the impact of changes in, legislation and regulations that affect our ability to participate in student financial aid programs; costs, risks, and effects of legal and administrative proceedings and investigations and governmental regulations, including the pending Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department investigations and class action, derivative, and other lawsuits; costs and difficulties related to the integration of acquired businesses; risks related to our ability to manage and continue growth; risks related to the sale of any campuses; risks related to competition, general economic conditions, and other risk factors relating to our industry and business and the risk factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and from time to time in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

[TABLE OMITTED]
[TABLE OMITTED]
[TABLE OMITTED]