Illinois-based Career Education Corp., whose schools have included American InterContinental University, Colorado Technical University, and Sanford-Brown, was getting as much as $1.9 billion annually in federal student aid dollars during in the peak years of the for-profit college era. In recent years the company has been under investigation for deceptive practices by the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the attorneys general of 21 states and the District of Columbia.