Oct 20, 2026 earnings call — Enrollment shortfall and platform fixes
Revenue was $639.4 million, up 3%, while total enrollment fell to 241 thousand as of September 30th.
Revenue $0.6B (est $0.6B) · EPS $1.37 (est $1.07) · Next-quarter revenue outlook $0.6B–$0.6B
Key quotes
"Student outcomes are the ultimate measure of our success. Our investments in curriculum, our technology platform, and overall support services has to translate into meaningful academic achievement for students."
"When introducing our new platform changes last year, we added friction to the user experience instead of making it more seamless."
"We also recently announced the formation of a new capital allocation committee. Which is tasked with reviewing our capital structure, our capital allocation priorities, including input from shareholders."
Analyst Q&A 2
Career learning and GenEd enrollment trends
Q (Jeff Silber · Bank of Montreal): He asked why career learning growth slowed and whether it will reaccelerate. He also asked how the loss of Lone Star and any other program changes affected GenEd and overall trends.
A: Management said early career learning growth was high because they launched programs everywhere, but recently career learning outpaced general education driven by more high school students. They said they have not yet created a separate funnel for career learning and see opportunity to accelerate it, and they must deliver job results for those students. On GenEd, they said Lone Star caused a net loss of about 3 thousand students and limited capacity held back growth in Texas.
"What we have seen overall with the decline year over year in our enrollment numbers that the career learning outpaced the general ed or the general ed enrollment." — Robert E. Knowling Jr. (CEO)
Guidance assumptions and application trends
Q (Stephen Sheldon · William Blair): He asked what enrollment trends are baked into full-year guidance (sequential Q2/Q3/Q4 patterns). He also asked why applications were down and how marketing spend will be managed.
A: They said early Q2 is encouraging and their guidance midpoint assumes in-year enrollment growth for Q2 and Q3, with the usual Q3-to-Q4 decline offsetting those gains so year-end enrollment is in line with count day. They said applications faced a tough comp from last year and that technology issues reduced application volumes; they have returned to marketing spend and noted Google search changes affected demand across industries.
"So we look at the midpoint of our guidance, it assumes in-year enrollment growth for Q2 and Q3." — Donna Blackman (CFO)