Career Education Corporation Reports Record Results for 2004 First Quarter; Quarterly Revenue up 64% & Net Income Up 117%; 1Q Starts up 83%; April Student Population Up 57%

Business Wire, April 20, 2004

Business Editors

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2004

Career Education Corporation (Nasdaq:CECO) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2004.

Three Months Ended March 31, 2004

First quarter 2004 revenue was $402.8 million, up 64 percent from $245.5 million for the same period last year. First quarter 2004 net income was $41.8 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, up 117 percent from last year's first quarter net income of $19.2 million, or $0.20 per diluted share.

Start and Population Data

First quarter 2004 new student starts rose 83 percent to approximately 26,700, up from approximately 14,600 for the same period last year.

Total Career Education Corporation (CEC) student population on April 30, 2004 is expected to be approximately 85,300, up 57 percent from approximately 54,400 on April 30, 2003. Of the total expected CEC student population on April 30, 2004, approximately 12,100 students are attributable to the Whitman Education Group, which was acquired on July 1, 2003. On a same school basis, student population is expected to increase by approximately 29 percent from April 30, 2003 to April 30, 2004.

Total full-time student population of CEC's Online Education Group on April 30, 2004 is expected to be approximately 15,600, more than three and a half times the April 30, 2003 population of approximately 4,100 students.

"Career Education Corporation is off to a great start in 2004," said John M. Larson, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We achieved significant growth in student population, and lead flow more than doubled compared to last year's first quarter. We will continue to execute our multi-faceted growth strategy, which includes acquisitions and organic growth through start-up branch campuses, academic program transplants, campus expansions and quality online education programs."

Selected Financial Data

Certain supplemental information related to Receivables and Bad Debt Expense are summarized below:

-- Quarterly Days Sales Outstanding (DSOs) for total net

receivables were 25 days at March 31, 2004. This represents an

eight-day decrease from the quarterly DSOs at March 31, 2003

of 33 days. We calculate DSOs by dividing our "Receivables,

net" by average daily revenue. Average daily revenue is

computed by dividing quarterly "Total revenue" by the total

number of days in the quarter.

-- Bad Debt Expense was 4.9 percent of total revenue for the

quarter ended March 31, 2004, compared with 3.8 percent for

the quarter ended March 31, 2003 and 5.1 percent for the

quarter ended December 31, 2003.

Business Outlook

Please note that this is an update from previously issued guidance. While we may make further acquisitions, none are contemplated by these forward-looking statements.

-- We expect full year 2004 revenues to be approximately $1.675

billion to $1.7 billion and full year 2004 earnings per share

to be approximately $1.75. We expect the Online Education

Group's full year 2004 revenues, included in the preceding

amounts, to be approximately $325 million.

-- We expect second quarter 2004 revenues to be approximately

$405 to $410 million and second quarter 2004 earnings per

share to be approximately $0.33. We expect weighted average

shares outstanding to be approximately 105.5 million for

second quarter 2004.

-- We expect full year 2004 operating profit margin improvement

to be approximately 130 to 150 basis points with lower

improvement in the fourth quarter of 2004. The Online

Education Group's margins, implicit in the preceding amounts,

are expected to be approximately 40 percent for the full year

reflecting spending to support planned growth initiatives.

-- We continue to expect our 2004 effective income tax rate will

be approximately 40.25 percent.

-- We continue to expect that 2004 capital expenditures will be

approximately 8.5 percent of total revenue.

-- The 2004 guidance reflects expenses and capital spending

associated with nine new branch campuses, two of which will

have their first student starts in 2005.

Career Education Corporation will host a conference call on Wednesday, April 21, 2004 at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time). Interested parties can access a live Webcast of the conference call at www.careered.com. Participants can also listen to the conference call by dialing (617) 801-9711 and citing code 34895583. Please log in or dial in at least 10 minutes prior to the start time of the call to ensure a connection. After 1:30 PM (Eastern Time), an archived version of the Webcast will be accessible for 90 days at www.careered.com. A replay of the conference call will also be available after 1:30 PM (Eastern Time) for seven days by calling (617) 801-6888 and citing code 21038100.

Career Education Corporation (www.careered.com) is the world's largest on-campus provider of private, for-profit postsecondary education and has a rapidly-growing presence in online education. CEC's Colleges, Schools and Universities Group operates 79 campuses in the U.S., Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates and offers doctoral degree, master's degree, bachelor's degree, associate degree and diploma programs in the career-oriented disciplines of visual communication and design technologies, information technology, business studies, culinary arts and health education. The Online Education Group operates American InterContinental University Online and Colorado Technical University Online and offers a variety of degrees in information technology, business, visual communication and education. CEC's total student population on April 30, 2004 is expected to be approximately 85,300 students.