Career Education Corporation Says Inclusion in D.O.E. Project Underscores Quality of Its E-Learning Efforts.

Business Editors

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2001

Career Education Corporation (Nasdaq: CECO) said today that its selection to participate in the U.S. Department of Education's (D.O.E.) Distance Education Demonstration program is a positive indication of the high-quality education offered by AIU Online, its E-learning initiative.

"Since the launch of AIU Online in April, student demand has exceeded our most optimistic projections," said John M. Larson, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "The D.O.E.'s action underscores our rapid progress to date and will enable us to make the benefits of E-learning available to a broader student population."

The AIU Online project is one of 10 announced yesterday by the D.O.E., following an earlier group of 15 projects announced in July 1999. The program waives certain legislative provisions, thus eliminating limitations on the number of students to whom AIU Online can offer distance education.

"The restrictions were intended to assure that E-learning programs met the same quality standards as traditional learning alternatives," said Nick Fluge, executive vice president and chief operating officer of CEC's E-learning division. "By identifying and working with high-quality E-learning programs like AIU Online, the D.O.E. program fulfills the legislative intent without precluding students from accessing an educational option that for many represents the best choice."

AIU Online currently offers an associate degree program in business studies and will begin a bachelor's degree program in information technology next month. A master's degree program in information technology will launch in January 2002.

AIU Online's course content differs dramatically from typical E-learning offerings, Fluge said. "Many institutions simply post a professor's lecture on a Web site and call that online education. AIU Online courses are designed to leverage the full capabilities of multimedia technology and provide students with a superior educational product."

Career Education Corporation is one of the world's largest providers of private, for-profit postsecondary education in the career-oriented disciplines of visual communication and design technologies, information technology, business studies and culinary arts. The Company currently operates 38 campuses throughout the United States and in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, with more than 32,000 students enrolled as of April 30, 2001. CEC colleges enjoy long operating histories and offer a wide variety of master's degree, bachelor's degree, associate degree and diploma programs. Major brand names operated by CEC include American InterContinental University (six campuses), the Katharine Gibbs Schools (nine campuses), the International Academy of Design & Technology (eight campuses), and Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Program North America (seven campuses). CEC also operates a number of unique brand name colleges with well-known reputations.

The forward-looking statements contained in this release are based upon various assumptions, and certain risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated. Factors that could cause such differences include costs and difficulties associated with opening new campuses and in integrating acquisitions, costs associated with E-learning operations, changes in the regulatory environment and those matters disclosed in Career Education Corporations filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Career Education Corporation assumes no obligation to update those forward-looking statements.