Career Education to rebrand as Perdoceo next year

Career Education Corp., the Schaumburg-based for-profit college group that became part of a federal investigation into recruiting and student loan practices by the industry earlier this decade, announced Wednesday the company will change its name to Perdoceo Education Corp. on Jan. 1.

Career Education CEO Todd Nelson said the name change marks "a new era for our organization" as the company reinvents itself into an online-based educational entity.

"We have entered the next phase of our journey with the responsible teach-out of our career schools complete and our shift to primarily online universities," Nelson said. "Perdoceo will continue to execute against our strategic priorities with a shared vision of innovation, sustainable and responsible growth, and enhanced student experiences."

Perdoceo in Latin means "to teach, inform, or instruct thoroughly," according to company officials, and Nelson said the name reflects the company's evolution "to providing a quality education to students."

Along with the company's name change, the corporate website will change to www.perdoceoed.com on Jan. 1. The next day, Career Education stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol PRDO,

The changes come as the company works itself out of the fallout resulting from the investigation of the for-profit college industry from federal and state authorities, which focused on recruiting and student loan practices that left students burdened in debt or unable to obtain jobs in their field of study. Last January, Career Education settled with attorneys general from 48 states - including Illinois - and the District of Columbia, paying $5 million in expenses to the attorneys general and forgiving about $493.7 million in debts owed by 179,529 students nationally. As part of the agreement, Career Education denied any allegations of wrongdoing or liability.

The company currently operates online colleges American InterContinental University and Colorado Technical University, but during its peak operated up to 10 for-profit institutions nationwide, including Le Cordon Bleu, Sanford-Brown University and International Academy of Design & Technology. The company closed or sold many of them during the past five years.