PERDOCEO EDUCATION Corp

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

Board of Directors and Stockholders

Perdoceo Education Corporation

Opinion on the financial statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Perdoceo Education Corporation (a Delaware corporation) and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2025, and the related notes and financial statement schedule included under Item 15(a) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2025, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in the 2013 Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”), and our report dated February 19, 2026 expressed an unqualified opinion.

Basis for opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical audit matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Allowance for credit losses

As described further in Notes 2(c) and 7 to the financial statements, student receivables represent funds owed to the Company in exchange for the educational services provided to the student. Student receivables are reported net of an allowance for credit losses as determined by management at the end of each reporting period. Generally, a student receivable balance is written off once a student is out of school for greater than 90 days and has not made a payment.

Management’s student receivable allowance is based on an estimate of lifetime expected credit losses for student receivables. Their estimation methodology considers a number of quantitative and qualitative factors that, based on collection experience, have an impact on repayment risk and ability to collect student receivables. Changes in the trends in any of these factors may impact the estimate of the allowance for credit losses. These factors include, but are not limited to internal repayment history, changes in the current economic, legislative or regulatory environments, internal cash collection forecasts and the ability to complete the federal financial aid process with the student. These factors are monitored and assessed on a regular basis. Overall, the allowance estimation process for student receivables is validated by trend analysis of collections and write-off experience as well as monitoring any emerging factors that impact the ability to collect student receivables.

The principal consideration for our determination that the allowance for credit loss is a critical audit matter is that there is a high degree of auditor judgment and subjectivity in performing procedures and evaluating management’s assumptions, including those relating to the internal repayment history and the ability to complete the federal financial aid process with the student.

Our audit procedures related to the allowance for credit losses included the following, among others:

•

Assessed the appropriateness of management’s methodology for calculating the allowance including the significant inputs and assumptions utilized, including repayment history and the ability to complete the federal financial aid process with the student,

•

Recalculated the estimated allowance rates applied to the respective accounts receivable allowance categories determined according to funding sources and student status,

•

Tested the completeness and accuracy of data underlying management’s assertions and calculations for a selection of students, and compared our recalculations to management’s analysis to determine whether management’s conclusions were reasonable, and

•

Tested on a sample basis the subsequent cash collections on a student account.

In addition, we tested the design and operating effectiveness of controls relating to establishing the allowance for credit losses.

/s/GRANT THORNTON LLP

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2015.

Chicago, Illinois

February 19, 2026

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

Board of Directors and Stockholders

Perdoceo Education Corporation

Opinion on internal control over financial reporting

We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Perdoceo Education Corporation (a Delaware corporation) and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in the 2013 Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in the 2013 Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by COSO.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the consolidated financial statements of the Company as of and for the year ended December 31, 2025, and our report dated February 19, 2026 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements.

Basis for opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting (“Management’s Report”). Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and limitations of internal control over financial reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/GRANT THORNTON LLP

Chicago, Illinois

February 19, 2026