Career Education 2Q revenues down 15 percent

SCHAUMBURG - Career Education Corp. reported second quarter 2016 revenues were down 15 percent as the for-profit education company works to rebuild student enrollment following scrutiny over the industry's recruiting practices.

Second quarter revenue was $182.6 million, a decrease of 15.8 percent compared to $216.8 million for the same period in 2015. Revenue for the first six months of the year was $381.5 million, down 14 percent from $443.8 million last year.

Revenue for the company's University Group was $142.3 million, up 3 percent from the same period in 2015. For the first six months of 2016, the group's revenues were up 3.9 percent to $287.3 million.

"Strong student retention across most of our institutions, better than estimated total student enrollment at our teach-out campuses, and continued efficiency and stability at our University Group, resulted in another quarter of improvement in year-over-year operating performance," said Todd Nelson, President and Chief Executive Officer. "This improvement in our operating performance has enabled us to make incremental investments in various student-serving areas of operations, which we believe will positively impact student experiences in the future."

Student enrollments for the University Group during the quarter were 31,600, compared to 31,300 as of the prior year quarter end, primarily driven by improved student retention at CTU and new enrollment growth at AIU. New student enrollments for the University Group were 7,630 for the quarter, down from 7,950 during the same period last year.

"For the remainder of this year, we are focused on optimizing our operating processes with the goal of further enhancing student retention and outcomes," Nelson said. "As a result of the positive trends we have been experiencing, we are updating our year end cash and adjusted EBITDA outlook we provided last quarter, and are committed to continue executing against our ongoing initiatives."