"We are very pleased with the performance of both the eLearning and Enrollment businesses in the quarter and for the full year, and especially the strong student fee revenue growth in the quarter," said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege. "As we move into 2005, both businesses are already well positioned for growth in their markets, and both have strong sales pipelines."

Following are some of the operating highlights from eCollege's fourth quarter:

- For the 2004 fall academic term, which impacts both the third quarter and fourth quarter, the total number of distance learning student enrollments supported by the eLearning Division was approximately 174,300, an increase of 47 percent compared to approximately 118,500 distance student enrollments for the 2003 fall term.

- Student fee revenue grew 26 percent during the quarter as compared to the fourth quarter of 2003, and represented 88 percent of eLearning revenues for the fourth quarter of 2004.

- The Enrollment Division revenue from all products and services increased 24 percent from the pro forma fourth quarter of 2003. Enrollment marketing services other than direct mail increased 168 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004 versus the pro forma fourth quarter of 2003,and represented 41 percent of Datamark's revenue.

- As part of its overall product advancement framework, the Company released eCollege Content Manager v1.0, which helps institutions centrally manage, standardize and reuse distance learning content across multiple programs, courses and sections.

eCollege revenue for the year was $89.3 million, an increase of 142 percent from $36.9 million in 2003, and an increase of 23 percent from the Company's pro forma revenue of $72.4 million for 2003, which included $43.3 million of revenue from Datamark. The 2004 results include revenue of $34.8 million from the eLearning Division (up 19 percent from 2003) and $54.5 million from the Enrollment Division (up 26 percent from pro forma 2003). Student fees increased 25 percent year-over-year to $31.2 million and represented 90 percent of the eLearning Division's total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2004. This increase resulted from distance enrollments of approximately 499,000, up 52 percent from the full year 2003.

Net income was $19.2 million ($0.87 per share, calculated on an average of 22.0 million diluted shares) for the year ended December 31, 2004, compared to net income of $568 thousand ($0.03 per share, calculated on an average of 19.6 million diluted shares) and a pro forma net loss of $80 thousand ($0.00 per share, calculated on an average of 19.8 million diluted shares) for the year ended December 31, 2003. Excluding the interest charge associated with the debt prepayment and the tax benefit, net income for 2004 was $3.2 million ($0.14 per share, calculated on an average of 22.0 million diluted shares).

eCollege is a provider of value-added distance learning information services to the post-secondary and K-12 education industries. The Company's eLearning Division designs, builds and supports some of the most successful, fully online degree, certificate/diploma and professional distance learning development programs in the United States. For more information, visit www.eCollege.com and www.Datamark.com.