Career Education Corporation Comments on Financial Times, Bloomberg Stories.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Career Education Corporation (Nasdaq:CECO) said today that stories written by the Financial Times and Bloomberg news service regarding a California regulator's letter to its Brooks Institute of Photography include erroneous information.

CEC said a December 14 Financial Times story by Stephen Schurr states that the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) has threatened to deny CEC the right to continue operating in California unless the college responds to it by December 31, 2004. The statement is incorrect; the BPPVE correspondence relates only to the Brooks Institute of Photography and not to other company schools in the state. The Financial Times has reissued the story to correct this error.

Additionally, CEC said the Financial Times story headline that CEC "faces further fraud claims" and reporting in the story that the BPPVE correspondence alleges tampering with student withdrawal forms, are also erroneous. According to the company, no fraud has been alleged against the Brooks Institute of Photography in the California BPPVE correspondence. Further, the BPPVE does not allege tampering with student withdrawal forms. CEC said the BPPVE has raised compliance issues that it will respond to by December 31, 2004 with the intent to satisfactorily address the issues raised. The Financial Times has since corrected the story to delete the erroneous reference to fraud claims.

A subsequent news brief posted by Bloomberg reporter Timothy Doyle repeated the Financial Times reporting errors. Bloomberg has since corrected its original story, except the correction includes a repeat of erroneous Financial Times reporting allegations of tampering with student withdrawal forms.

Except for the historical and present factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this release, including statements under "Business Outlook" and statements identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "projects," "plans," "will," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on information currently available to us and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual growth, results, performance and business prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by these statements. These risks and uncertainties, the outcome of which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and operations, include, but are not limited to: 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, Qui Tam, and other lawsuits; cost and potential impact of findings by the special committee of our Board of Directors that is investigating allegations of securities laws violations against CEC; risks related to our ability to comply with regulatory agency requirements or obtain regulatory agency approvals; costs and difficulties related to the integration of acquired businesses; future financial and operational results; competition; general economic conditions; ability to manage and continue growth; and other risk factors relating to our industry and business, as detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, and from time to time in our other reports filed with the SEC. We disclaim any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements.