For-Profit Education Having A Bad Hair Day (STRA, APOL, CECO, COCO, DV)

For profit education stocks are falling this morning in the wake of Friday's announcement from Stayer Education STRA that enrollment has dropped by 20% for the 2011 winter term. Although continuing student enrollment increased by 10% (yahoo, finance), new enrollments have declined sharply online and at Strayer's 87 campuses across the country. For-profit universities have been criticized as of late for their misleading recruitment, including their misleading recruitment strategies. Strayer, the nation's fourth largest for-profit education company, is not the only institution to feel the pinch. Apollo Group Inc.'s APOL stock dropped by 8% this morning. The entire sector, in fact, is lower today. Most for-profit education stocks trade in similar ways due to shared business models, including CECO, COCO, DV, STRA, and APOL.