Grand Canyon Education Q1 beats, enrollment slows
Monday May 9, 2011 4:27pm EDT
* Q1 EPS $0.25 vs est $0.23
* Revenue $101.7 mln vs est $98.8 mln (Follows alerts)
May 9 (Reuters) - Grand Canyon Education Inc posted higher-than-expected quarterly results, but student enrollment growth at the for-profit education provider substantially slowed.
Enrollment at the college grew 9.2 percent to 42,500. A year ago, the growth was 36.8 percent. It posted earnings of 25 cents a share versus analysts' estimates of 23 cents a share.
The company, a provider of online and campus-based post-secondary education services, said it expects revenue to grow 10 percent in the first half of 2011 and 13-15 percent in the second half.
Most colleges have seen a drop in new students as they change their enrollment practices to comply better with new regulations linking access to aid with students' ability to repay debt.
The for-profit education lobby and the Obama administration have been at loggerheads over rules designed to curb student loan abuses.
Enrollment at Grand Canyon has been hurt as the company moved from a borrower-based academic year (BBAY) from a term-based financial aid system.
The shift changes the way the school disburses federal aid. Though the amount of aid does not go down, students have to pass tougher criteria to get full access to aid. This cuts off federal aid to non-performing students sooner and results in a period of slowing enrollments.
Shares of the Phoenix-based company closed at $14.28, up 5 percent, on Monday on Nasdaq.
