National Education Corporation Announces Two Additional Letters of Intent to Sell its Education Centers.

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 1995--National Education Corporation (NYSE:NEC) has signed two additional letters of intent with buyers who have expressed an interest in purchasing certain of NEC's Education Centers which offer post-secondary career training throughout the United States.

According to Jerome W. Cwiertnia, NEC's president and chief executive officer, one of the letters of intent was signed for the purchase of 12 schools with Corinthian Schools, Inc. (CSI), whose principals include individuals currently or recently employed by the Education Centers, while the other letter of intent was signed with Remington University, a private nonprofit educational organization based in Oklahoma, for the purchase of four schools.

The agreement with CSI anticipates a completion date in late June 1995 while the transaction with Remington University is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 1995, Cwiertnia said.

"Although the completion of these transactions depends upon the accomplishment of certain milestones and conditions, including various regulatory approvals, we believe these additional letters of intent represent significant progress in NEC's effort to sell the Education Centers to buyers who have a strong commitment to the successful operation of the schools going forward," he said.

In June 1994, NEC announced plans to discontinue the operations of the National Education Centers subsidiary after an extended period of attempting to restructure the business to operate in an increasingly restrictive regulatory environment. As a result of this decision, a loss on disposal of the Education Centers was recorded during the quarter ended June 30, 1994, in the amount of $40.0 million. Based on current assumptions, Cwiertnia said, NEC believes the amount reserved for the disposition of the Education Centers operations is sufficient.

In January, NEC announced a letter of intent with Career Education Corporation (CEC) for the purchase of six Education Centers, contingent upon reaching agreement with the U.S. Department of Education on certain issues related to student default rates. Based on these discussions with the Department of Education, CEC has indicated its intent to move forward with the purchase of two of the six schools with an expected completion date in late June 1995.

The letters of intent with CEC, CSI and Remington University account for the anticipated sale of 18 schools. NEC continues active discussions with several other potential buyers with the objective of reaching agreements with qualified purchasers for substantially all of the remaining 11 schools during the second and third quarters of 1995.

NEC's continuing operations generated revenues of approximately $242 million during 1994 and include: ICS Learning Systems, the world's largest and most established provider of distance education opportunities, including Continuing Professional Education courses; National Education Training Group, a worldwide provider of multimedia products to educate and train corporate and government employees, with specific emphasis on information systems (IS) training; and Steck-Vaughn Publishing Corporation, one of the country's largest publishers of supplemental educational materials which address instructional needs from childhood through adulthood.

CONTACT: National Education Corporation, Irvine

Connie McCluskey, 714/474-9483