U.S. Education Corporation

“We wanted a partner who could support us in tough times, and with whom we felt comfortable sharing our success. ClearLight is that partner.”

U.S. Education Corporation was formed in partnership with leading education industry executives to acquire, develop, and grow private post-secondary schools. ClearLight Partners provided the initial capital for U.S. Education in June 2002 to fund the acquisition of Silicon Valley College, an information technology school in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2003, ClearLight helped develop a comprehensive growth strategy to migrate away from IT training and into Allied Healthcare. As part of that strategy, ClearLight assisted U.S. Education with three acquisitions: Western Career College (February 2003), American Institute of Healthcare Technology (October 2003), and Apollo College (December 2003). George Montgomery supplemented the management team with new senior hires and functional experts and also led a number of new growth initiatives including the development of three new campuses and a number of new programs. As a result, U.S. Education grew from a four campus school in Northern California to a leading career education company with over $100 million in revenue, eighteen campuses across the Western U.S. and a dominant position in allied healthcare training.

In 2008, ClearLight sold U.S. Education to DeVry Inc. a leading publicly-traded, for-profit post-secondary school operator in a transaction valued at $290 million.