Grand Canyon Education CEO defends tuition-share agreements

大峡谷教育公司首席执行官为学费分担协议辩护

Dive Brief:

潜水简报：

The CEO of Grand Canyon Education, an educational services firm whose biggest client is Grand Canyon University, offered a defense of tuition-sharing during a call with analysts Thursday, saying the practice shields universities from financial risk.

大峡谷教育（Grand Canyon Education）是一家教育服务公司，其最大的客户是大峡谷大学（Grand Canyon University），该公司的首席执行官在周四与分析师的电话会议上为学费分摊进行了辩护，称这种做法可以保护大学免受财务风险的影响。

“Critics point to the revenue-share model as bad for universities,” GCE CEO Brian Mueller said during the call. “The past two years have proven them wrong, and we expect that in the next year, this will become even more apparent.”

GCE首席执行官布莱恩•米勒在电话会议上表示:“批评人士指出，收入分享模式对大学不利。“过去两年已经证明他们是错的，我们预计在明年，这将变得更加明显。”

GCE takes around 60% of Grand Canyon University’s tuition and fee revenue in exchange for a suite of services, such as help with financial aid and marketing. Mueller’s defense of tuition-sharing came one day after the U.S. Department of Education announced it would review 2011 guidance that allows colleges to enter these types of contracts with companies that provide recruiting services.

GCE收取大峡谷大学学杂费收入的60%左右，以换取一系列服务，例如经济援助和营销帮助。穆勒对学费共享的辩护是在美国教育部宣布将审查2011年指南的第二天，该指南允许大学与提供招聘服务的公司签订此类合同。

Dive Insight:

潜水的见解：

Democratic lawmakers and policy advocates have been criticizing tuition-share agreements for years, arguing they incentivize companies to aggressively recruit students and drive up the cost of higher education.

民主党立法者和政策倡导者多年来一直在批评学费分享协议，认为他们激励公司积极招募学生并推高高等教育成本。

They’ve also questioned whether these deals comply with federal law. The Higher Education Act bars colleges that receive federal financial aid from giving employees or companies incentive compensation for recruiting students into their programs.

他们还质疑这些交易是否符合联邦法律。《高等教育法》禁止接受联邦财政援助的大学向员工或公司提供激励性补偿，以招收学生进入他们的课程。

Although tuition-sharing falls under incentive compensation, the Education Department released guidance in 2011 carving out an exception for colleges contracting with firms that provide recruiting along with a bundle of other services.

虽然学费分摊属于激励补偿，但教育部在2011年发布了指南，为大学与提供招聘和其他服务的公司签约规定了例外。

This carve-out, often called the bundled services exception, has been credited by some with kicking off the vast online program management, or OPM, industry. At least 550 colleges contract with OPMs to help launch and run their online programs, according to one count, though the true number is likely much higher.

这种剥离，通常被称为捆绑服务例外，被一些人认为是启动了庞大的在线项目管理（OPM）行业。根据一项统计，至少有550所大学与OPM签订合同，以帮助启动和运行他们的在线课程，尽管真实数字可能要高得多。

OPM firms have been on the defensive, often arguing that colleges rely on these arrangements because they shift financial risk to private companies, which provide the upfront capital needed to get programs off the ground.

OPM公司一直处于守势，经常争辩说大学依赖这些安排，因为它们将财务风险转移到私营公司身上，这些公司提供了启动项目所需的前期资金。

Mueller sang a similar tune in his comments to analysts.

穆勒在对分析人士的评论中也表达了类似的观点。

“In inflationary periods like the one we are currently experiencing or when demand declines, as it has, GCE as a service provider absorbs the majority of the financial risk,” he said. “Our expertise, technology and processes have allowed our university partners to continue to benefit during these challenging times.”

他说:“在像我们目前所经历的通货膨胀时期，或者当需求下降时，GCE作为服务提供商吸收了大部分金融风险。”“我们的专业知识、技术和流程使我们的大学合作伙伴能够在这些充满挑战的时期继续受益。”

GCE could be heavily impacted by the Education Department’s review of the 2011 guidance.

GCE可能会受到教育部对2011年指南的审查的严重影响。

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday, the company said its business model relies on the carve-out the 2011 guidance provides. Moreover, because the bundled services exception was created through guidance — and not official agency regulation — it could be rescinded without warning, the company said.

在周四提交的美国证券交易委员会文件中，该公司表示其商业模式依赖于2011年指南提供的剥离。此外，该公司表示，由于捆绑服务例外是通过指导而不是官方机构监管创建的，因此可以在没有警告的情况下撤销。

“The revision, removal or invalidation of the bundled services rule by Congress, (the Education Department) or a court could require us to change our business model,” the SEC filing said.

“国会，（教育部）或法院对捆绑服务规则的修订，删除或无效可能要求我们改变我们的商业模式，”SEC文件称。

Despite potential storm clouds ahead, the publicly traded company’s share price opened at $119.58 on Friday, up 4.5% from the day before.

尽管未来可能出现乌云，但这家上市公司的股价周五开盘价为119.58美元，比前一天上涨4.5%。

GCE reported that revenue reached $911.3 million in 2022, rising 1.6% from the prior year. The increases were driven by an uptick in on-campus enrollment at Grand Canyon University, though these gains were partially offset by declines in the institution’s online student population.

GCE报告称，2022年收入达到9.113亿美元，比上年增长1.6%。这一增长是由大峡谷大学校园入学人数的增加推动的，尽管这些增长被该机构在线学生人数的下降部分抵消。

Net income fell to $184.7 million for 2022, down 29.1% from the year before.

2022年净利润跌至1.847亿美元，同比下降29.1%。