CEC: Leader in a Private Sector Education

Since our founding in 1994, we have progressed rapidly toward our goal of becoming one of the world’s leading providers of quality educational services.

CEC is an industry leader whose brands are recognized globally. Those brands include, among others, American InterContinental University; Brooks Institute; Colorado Technical University; Harrington College of Design; INSEEC Schools; International Academy of Design & Technology; Istituto Marangoni; Le Cordon Bleu North America; and Sanford-Brown Institutes and Colleges. Through our schools, CEC is committed to providing quality education, enabling students to graduate and pursue rewarding careers.

CEC's prospects for continued growth are supported by solid industry dynamics:

• Eight of the 20 fastest growing occupational categories between 2006 and 2016 require less than a four-year degree.¹ The government forecasts that four of the fastest growing occupations require an associate’s or two-year degree, another five a four-year degree, including the top of the list occupation in network systems and communications, and three post-graduate degrees.² In the period 2006-2016, a 16.7 percent increase in the number of professional and related occupations is projected accounting for 5 million jobs, most in three occupational groups – computer and mathematical occupations, healthcare practitioners and technical occupations.³
• Nearly two and a quarter million students attended accredited career colleges in 2006-2007, which represents 9 percent of the total market of 25 million students. Enrollment at career colleges between 2003-2004 and 2006-2007 increased 12 percent in less-than-two-year programs, 18 percent in 2-4 year programs and 48 percent in 4-year or more programs.⁴
• According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, 62 percent of career college students who attended 2-year and less-than-2-year institutions graduate within six years of enrolling. At community colleges, over the same time span, 38 percent of the students graduate and 46 percent drop out.⁵
• The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2007 only 27.5 percent of Americans held college degrees. While this is a record high, the percentage is expected to climb.⁶ According to the U.S. Department of Education, between 2006 and 2017, postsecondary enrollment is expected to increase 9.6 percent for those under 25 and 18.5 percent for those 25 years of age and older.⁷

The Career College Association reports:

• Career colleges educate almost 10 percent of all college students.
• In the allied health fields last year, 54 percent of all graduates were career college students; of these, nearly 10 percent were nurses.
• The graduation rate for two-year career colleges is more than twice that for community colleges.
• The average retention and placement rates of career colleges were above 70 percent, according to a report by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
• The average annual tuition for taxpaying career colleges in 2009-2010 was $14,174.
• More than 75 percent of career college students work while pursuing their education; 76 percent are independent; 47 percent have dependents; 31 percent are single parents; half are the first in their families to go to college; nearly a quarter come from families with incomes of less than $20,000. Quality, affordable, accessible, outcome oriented education matters to these students and to our country.
• Career colleges are a key to restoring this country's global educational and economic standing. Our schools play an essential role in helping the United States lower unemployment, fill jobs in key industries, and increase the number of college graduates dramatically by 2020.

Online Distance Education: The Future Is Now

According to the Sloan Consortium, a non-profit organization examining education trends, 4.6 million college students took at least one course entirely online during the fall term in 2008. That number represents more than 25 percent of all college students, and a 17 percent year-over-year growth.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education released the results of a meta-analysis of 12 years’ worth of data from studies of online education. Their report, “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies,” concluded that students who learn online, or in a hybrid online and on-campus program, see a small but significant gain in performance over traditional classroom students.

CEC is a leading player in this growing market, offering a broad range of career-focused programs through its American InterContinental University, Colorado Technical University, and International Academy of Design and Technology - Online outlets—and an innovative, immersive Virtual Campus environment.

Footnotes:
¹ Tomorrow’s Jobs: Reprinted from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chart 7, p. 6 and Table 1, p. 10.

² Ibid., p. 6.

³ Ibid.

⁴ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Table 15, Total unduplicated headcount enrollment at Title IV institutions, by student level, sector, race/ethnicity, and gender: United States, academic years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-2006 and Table 8, academic year 2006-07.

⁵ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1995-96 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, Second Follow-up (BPS: 96:01).

⁶ U.S. Census Bureau, Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007, January 2009, P20-560, Table 1: Educational Attainment for the Population Aged 25 and Over by Age, Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin, and Nativity Status: 2007, p. 3.

⁷ U.S. Department of Education, Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Table 190. Total fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions by sex, age, and attendance status: Selected Years, 1970 through 2017. http://nces.ed.gov/pub2009/2009020.pdf.

⁸Sloan Consortium, “Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009” January 2010. http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/learning_on_demand_sr2010

http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf