First Graduates of Online Law School Achieve 60% Pass Rate on California Bar Exam

Concord Law School Result Compares Favorably to Overall Pass Rate of 37.3% and First-Time Rate of 50.2%

LOS ANGELES, CA, May 27, 2003 -- Concord Law School, the world's first online law school, today announced that six of its ten graduates of its inaugural class passed the February 2003 California Bar Examination. The ten individuals comprised the first graduating class of Concord Law School, launched in 1998 by Kaplan, Inc. Less than five years after opening its virtual doors, Concord has become the second largest part-time law school in the country, based on the size of its first-year entering class, with nearly 1200 students currently enrolled from all 50 states and 13 countries worldwide.

"We are extremely proud of all of our graduates, as they have not only achieved another historic milestone in online legal education, but have done so with flying colors," said Jack Goetz, Dean of Concord Law School. "These results are a testament to their hard work and to the quality of education Concord delivers. While we recognize that the small number of students makes it premature to draw any long-term statistical conclusions about Concord, as a first time result, this compares very favorably to other barometers published by the California State Bar."

Pass rates for the February 2003 General Bar Examination are as follows:*

Concord Law School: 60%
Overall Pass Rate (all takers): 37.3%

  FIRST-TIME EXAM TAKERS REPEAT EXAM TAKERS
Overall: 50.2% 31.7%
California-based ABA schools 57.4% 41.3%
Out of state ABA schools 48.6% 39.4%
Correspondence schools 42.6% 15.7%
CA State Bar accredited schools 22.4% 16.4%
Unaccredited (fixed facility) schools 17.4% 5.8%

*Above statistics, except Concord Law School pass rate, from the California State Bar's Committee of Bar Examiners

Concord was the first online program within Kaplan's Higher Education division, which also offers online programs through Kaplan College in fields such as criminal justice, financial planning, healthcare, business, information technology and paralegal studies. Kaplan currently has nearly 11,000 students enrolled in online J.D., bachelor, associate, and certificate programs, up from 2,500 at the end of 2001. Regionally accredited, Kaplan College is one of the first participants in the Department of Education's Distance Education Demonstration Program, enabling students in its online degree programs to apply for Title IV funding.

"Concord's students, administrators and faculty are defining a new standard for higher education," said Jonathan Grayer, Chairman and CEO of Kaplan, Inc. "Our goal at Kaplan Higher Education has been to make a high quality education available to adults who are otherwise restricted from attending fixed-facility classes, whether by geography, work or family responsibilities. Results such as these speak volumes about the potential of distance learning in the highest reaches of education."

Concord's curriculum corresponds to that in most leading U.S. law schools, but is available to Concord students over the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any part of the globe, providing a four year, part-time program serving working professionals and family caregivers. The average age of Concord students is 42. The student body includes CEOs, physicians, Ph.Ds, bankers, real estate developers, CPAs, engineers, pilots, police officers, retired and active military officers, television correspondents, city officials, nurses, politicians, compliance analysts, dentists, consultants, sales representatives, accountants, small business owners, entrepreneurs and stay-at-home parents. Concord's faculty includes more than 60 legal academics and practitioners teaching from 21 different states. Supplementary and visiting lecturers include Harvard Law School professor Arthur Miller, president of the Colorado State Bar John E. Moye, and criminal law expert Rafael Guzman.

Concord is part of Kaplan Higher Education (www.kaplanhighereducation.com), a group of institutions that offer fixed-facility and online certificate and degree programs. Each of the individual schools is separately accredited by one of several national or regional accrediting agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Education. With 47 fixed-facility schools in 15 states, Kaplan Higher Education serves 44,000 students each year.

Concord (www.concordlawschool.com) has been authorized to award the Juris Doctor degree by the California Bureau of Private Post-Secondary and Vocational Education and has complied with the registration requirements of the State Bar of California, which permits its graduates to apply for admission to the California Bar. Additionally, Concord is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). The DETC Accrediting Commission is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency and is a recognized member of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Kaplan, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).

Press Contacts:

Melissa Mack
212-492-5849
mmack@kaplan.com

Carina Wong
212-492-5992
carina_wong@kaplan.com

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