Career Education Corporation: As CEO, Todd Nelson Brings Growth in Enrollments and Drop in Quality Metrics; Closer Look at FTC Settlement – The Capital Forum
“As soon as Todd Nelson came in and brought in John Kline, everything just went to a sales environment,” says one former American InterContinental University (AIU) student advisor in Illinois who left in 2018 because of what she says was an unhealthy work environment. Kline is President of AIU.
School quality data, interviews with former employees and interviews with higher education experts suggest that since Nelson took the over as CEO of Career Education Corporation (CECO) in 2015, CEC-owned schools American InterContinental University and Colorado Technical University (CTU) have enjoyed an uptick in growth but have declined in quality metrics—spending on instruction, number of dropouts and bad debt all worsened, sometimes dramatically so.
The Todd Nelson playbook at Career Education Corporation is reminiscent of the strategies that Nelson implemented as CEO of University of Phoenix and, after that, as CEO of Education Management Corporation (EDMC). University of Phoenix was plagued by government investigations and litigation shortly after Nelson resigned as CEO in 2006.
EDMC ended up in bankruptcy following Nelson’s tenure as CEO from 2007 to 2013. EDMC, like University of Phoenix, was plagued by government investigations and litigation following Nelson’s departure as CEO