Grand Canyon Education Inc (LOPE) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Grand Canyon Education Inc. Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

你好，謝謝你的支持。歡迎來到 Grand Canyon Education Inc. 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to CFO, Dan Bachus. Sir, you may begin.

我現在想將會議交給首席財務官 Dan Bachus。先生，您可以開始了。

Joining me on today's call is our Chairman and CEO, Brian Mueller. Please note that many of our comments today will contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A various factors could cause our actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such statements. These factors are discussed in our SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K.

和我一起參加今天電話會議的是我們的董事長兼首席執行官布賴恩·穆勒 (Brian Mueller)。請注意，我們今天的許多評論將包含涉及風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述。各種因素可能導致我們的實際結果與此類聲明明示或暗示的任何未來結果存在重大差異。這些因素在我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中進行了討論，包括我們的 10-K 表格年度報告、10-Q 表格季度報告和 8-K 表格當前報告。

We undertake no obligation to provide updates with regard to forward-looking statements made during this call and we recommend that all investors review these reports thoroughly before taking a financial position in GCE.

我們沒有義務就本次電話會議期間所做的前瞻性陳述提供最新信息，我們建議所有投資者在投資 GCE 之前仔細閱讀這些報告。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Brian.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給布賴恩。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Grand Canyon Education's Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2022 Conference Call. GCE had a very good quarter, exceeding enrollment expectations, exceeding revenue guidance at midpoint by $2.7 million and producing an $0.11 beat in adjusted diluted earnings per share to consensus. Given how most of higher education is coming out of the COVID years, these are excellent results. Most importantly, GCU online new enrollment growth for the second consecutive quarter in the mid-teens, over fourth quarter prior year, and that momentum is expected to continue into the first quarter of 2023.

下午好，感謝您參加 Grand Canyon Education 的 2022 財年第四季度電話會議。 GCE 有一個非常好的季度，超過入學預期，超過中點的收入指導 270 萬美元，調整後的攤薄每股收益超過共識 0.11 美元。考慮到大多數高等教育是如何從 COVID 年中走出來的，這些都是很好的結果。最重要的是，與去年第四季度相比，GCU 在線新入學人數連續第二個季度增長了 15%，預計這種勢頭將持續到 2023 年第一季度。

I want to begin by again by taking a step back and explaining why this is happening and briefly review what has happened since the GCE-GCU transaction took place 4.5 years ago. I have said often that in the past, small and elite has won a day in higher education, especially in areas like U.S. News and World Report rankings. In the future, it will be institutions who are large, scalable and flexible in how they offer higher education. We expect to impact young people and adults across the lifespan, using technology to build platforms that take into account the life situation of the student and the nature of the content and skills that need to be learned.

我想再次開始退後一步，解釋為什麼會發生這種情況，並簡要回顧自 4.5 年前 GCE-GCU 交易發生以來發生的事情。我經常說，在過去，小而精英在高等教育中贏得了一天，尤其是在《美國新聞》和《世界報導》排名等領域。未來，在提供高等教育的方式上將是規模龐大、可擴展且靈活的機構。我們希望在整個生命週期中影響年輕人和成年人，利用技術構建平台，考慮到學生的生活狀況以及需要學習的內容和技能的性質。

GCE has invested approximately $300 million, producing its own learning management and administrative system that allows it and its partners to manage over 7,000 full-time and adjunct faculty, 113,000 students and over 315 academic programs, emphases and certificates across 4 delivery platforms. This system has automated processes, including admissions, transcript collection and evaluation, schedule building, financial aid processing, faculty recruitment, fatty assignment and payroll, content acquisition, assessing learning outcomes, student-teacher placement, counseling and social work internships and the list goes on.

GCE 已投資約 3 億美元，開發了自己的學習管理和行政系統，使其及其合作夥伴能夠管理 4 個交付平台上的 7,000 多名全職和兼職教師、113,000 名學生以及超過 315 個學術項目、重點和證書。該系統具有自動化流程，包括招生、成績單收集和評估、日程安排、經濟援助處理、教師招聘、脂肪分配和工資單、內容獲取、評估學習成果、師生安置、諮詢和社會工作實習等等在。

The administrative capability of the system allows faculty and students to focus on the learning, which is still in a small group instructor-led process that is highly interpersonal, collaborative, focused on writing, critical thinking and problem-solving, and produces outstanding outcomes. GCE currently employs approximately 4,000 full-time professionals and approximately 1,500 student workers as it continues to build out its capabilities to grow faculty, students, programs and delivery platforms for its university partners.

該系統的管理能力使教師和學生能夠專注於學習，這仍然是一個小組教師主導的過程，高度人際交往、協作、專注於寫作、批判性思維和解決問題，並產生出色的成果。 GCE 目前僱傭了大約 4,000 名全職專業人員和大約 1,500 名學生工作者，因為它繼續增強其能力，為其大學合作夥伴培養教師、學生、項目和交付平台。

Leveraging this infrastructure has allowed GCE's partners to expand programs that are critical to the economy, maintain tuition levels in a period of rapid tuition increases across the country and make access to higher education affordable to all socioeconomic classes of Americans without any burden on the taxpayer.

利用這一基礎設施，GCE 的合作夥伴能夠擴大對經濟至關重要的項目，在全國學費快速增長的時期保持學費水平，並使所有社會經濟階層的美國人都能負擔得起接受高等教育的機會，而不會給納稅人帶來任何負擔。

In the 4.5 years since GCE has become a service provider, it has helped its partners accomplish the following: in that time, GCE has helped Grand Canyon University graduate 125,654 students, 34,709 in education, including 16,287 first-time teachers at a time when teacher shortages have created a national crisis. 36,292 in nursing and health care professions including 1,767 pre-licensure nurses at a time when there is a huge shortage of nurses. 28,836 in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, including thousands in counseling and social work, where there are also huge shortages.

在 GCE 成為服務商的 4.5 年裡，它幫助合作夥伴完成了以下工作：在這段時間裡，GCE 幫助大峽谷大學畢業了 125,654 名學生，34,709 名受教育者，其中包括 16,287 名初任教師短缺造成了國家危機。 36,292 名護理和保健專業人士，其中包括 1,767 名准護士，而當時護士嚴重短缺。人文社科學院28,836人，其中諮詢和社會工作專業數千人，缺口也很大。

The College of Business has become one of the largest business schools in America and has produced 21,370 graduates. The College of Science, Engineering and Technology has grown by 200% and provided 4,401 graduates. The Doctor of College, Honors College and College of Theology also continued to grow. The numbers that I have just cited have all happened in the last 4.5 years since GCU has become a nonprofit institution, and GCE has become an education service provider.

商學院已成為美國最大的商學院之一，培養了 21,370 名畢業生。科學、工程和技術學院增長了 200%，提供了 4,401 名畢業生。博士學院、榮譽學院和神學院也繼續增長。我剛才引用的這些數字，都是在GCU成為非營利機構、GCE成為教育服務機構的4.5年內發生的。

Our partnership with GCU has given us the ability to invest $544 million additional dollars in academic and residential life infrastructure for its ground traditional campus, bringing the total investment to almost $2 billion. Currently, the campus is ranked 17th in the country by niche.com. Very importantly, GCE has assisted GCU in opening 144 new academic programs, emphases and certificates during the last 4.5 years. 13.7% of the new students enrolled in the fourth quarter enrolled in those new programs.

我們與 GCU 的合作夥伴關係使我們能夠為其地面傳統校園的學術和居住生活基礎設施額外投資 5.44 億美元，使總投資達到近 20 億美元。目前，校園在niche.com的全國排名第17位。非常重要的是，在過去的 4.5 年裡，GCE 幫助 GCU 開設了 144 個新的學術項目、重點和證書。第四季度入學的新生中有 13.7% 參加了這些新課程。

During this time, GCU has not raised tuition on its ground traditional campus with only nominal increases in certain programs online. As a result, GCU students take out less debt than the average state university student. GCU students take out only 50% in parent loan amounts compared to students at our 3 state universities. GCU students have a 1.5% cohort default rate on student loans compared to the most recently released national average of 2.3% and has a 90/10 calculation of 66.2% per GCU's audited financials.

在此期間，GCU 並未提高其地面傳統校園的學費，只是名義上增加了某些在線課程。因此，GCU 學生的債務低於普通州立大學學生。與我們 3 所州立大學的學生相比，GCU 學生的父母貸款金額僅為 50%。 GCU 學生的學生貸款違約率為 1.5%，而最近公佈的全國平均水平為 2.3%，並且根據 GCU 的經審計財務數據，按 90/10 計算得出的違約率為 66.2%。

In addition, GCU has accumulated over $400 million in cash and investment reserves while going through with annual salary increases every year for all faculty and staff. Compared to the declining enrollments and negative financial trends in higher ed across the country that accelerated during COVID, this model has produced significant results for GCU, the state of Arizona and the country.

此外，GCU 還積累了超過 4 億美元的現金和投資儲備，同時所有教職員工的工資每年都在上漲。與在 COVID 期間加速的全國高等教育入學率下降和負面財務趨勢相比，這種模式為 GCU、亞利桑那州和整個國家帶來了顯著的成果。

I'm also pleased to announce that Grand Canyon University was ranked as the #3 best employer in Arizona in the 2022 Forbes America's Best Employers By State report.

我也很高興地宣布，在 2022 年福布斯美國各州最佳雇主報告中，大峽谷大學被評為亞利桑那州排名第三的最佳雇主。

During this time period, GCE has established 26 additional university partnerships. These partnerships, along with our partnership with GCU have created 35 locations to produce health care professionals, especially baccalaureate prepared nurses. This is extremely important work since the country is expected to need 1.3 million additional nurses in the next 5 years alone. The number of existing and new partners will eventually lead to 80 locations across the country. Since January 2019, 9,182 students have graduated from our university partners ABSN or OTA programs. I wanted to include this brief summary because there is currently a lot of discussion about the future of higher education.

在此期間，GCE 又建立了 26 所大學合作夥伴關係。這些合作夥伴關係以及我們與 GCU 的合作夥伴關係創建了 35 個地點來培養醫療保健專業人員，尤其是準備獲得學士學位的護士。這是一項極其重要的工作，因為預計該國僅在未來 5 年內就需要額外增加 130 萬名護士。現有和新合作夥伴的數量最終將導致全國 80 個地點。自 2019 年 1 月以來，已有 9,182 名學生從我們的大學合作夥伴 ABSN 或 OTA 項目畢業。我想包括這個簡短的總結，因為目前有很多關於高等教育未來的討論。

Regardless of political or ideological positions, the discussion should focus on where the economy is going and where the new jobs and careers are going to be. Models that can scale and offer opportunities for access to all socioeconomic classes of Americans at no expense to the taxpayers should be supported.

無論政治或意識形態立場如何，討論都應集中在經濟的發展方向以及新的工作和職業將走向何方。應該支持可以擴展並提供機會的模型，這些模型可以讓納稅人免費接觸所有社會經濟階層的美國人。

Critics point to the revenue share model is bad for universities. The past 2 years have proven them wrong, and we expect that in the next year, this will become even more apparent. 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 and our expertise, technology and processes have allowed our university partners to continue to benefit during these challenging times.

批評者指出收入分成模式對大學不利。過去 2 年證明他們是錯誤的，我們預計在明年，這將變得更加明顯。在我們目前正在經歷的通貨膨脹時期或當需求下降時，GCE 作為服務提供商承擔了大部分財務風險，我們的專業知識、技術和流程使我們的大學合作夥伴能夠在這些充滿挑戰的時期繼續受益.

Now I want to review the 4 pillars or delivery platforms of Grand Canyon Education. First, GCU's traditional campus saw an increase of 8.9% in new students in the fall of 2022 over prior year, an increase of 8% in total ground traditional enrollment and an increase of 10.5% in residential enrollment. Approximately 69.9% of ground traditional students live on campus.

現在我想回顧一下大峽谷教育的 4 個支柱或交付平台。首先，GCU 的傳統校園在 2022 年秋季的新生人數比上一年增加了 8.9%，地面傳統入學總人數增加了 8%，住宿入學人數增加了 10.5%。大約 69.9% 的地面傳統學生住在校園裡。

The average incoming GPAs of the 2022, '23 class rose to 3.6%, and the prestigious Honors College has grown 8.3% year-over-year with average incoming GPAs of 4.1. The retention of returning students this fall was better than expected with the larger percentage of those students choosing to remain on campus, resulting in the university having to turn away at least 200 new students due to lack of beds. This in spite of the fact that the university built 2 new residence halls and repurposed a residence hall that was used to house prospective students, so in essence, added 3 residence halls.

2022 年 23 屆新生的平均 GPA 上升至 3.6%，而著名的榮譽學院同比增長 8.3%，平均 GPA 為 4.1。今年秋天返校學生的留存率好於預期，選擇留在校園的學生比例較高，導致大學因床位不足而不得不拒收至少 200 名新生。儘管這所大學建造了 2 個新的宿舍樓，並重新利用了一個用於容納未來學生的宿舍樓，因此實質上增加了 3 個宿舍樓。

These are remarkable results given the fact that undergraduate enrollment declined by 4.2% nationally between the fall of 2020 and fall of 2022 where during this same period, GCU's ground traditional enrollment increased by 18.3%.

考慮到 2020 年秋季至 2022 年秋季期間全國本科招生人數下降了 4.2%，而同期 GCU 的地面傳統招生人數增加了 18.3%，這些都是顯著的結果。

In the spring semester that recently started in January, GCU started 670 new students, bringing a total ground enrollment to approximately 22,500, above what was budgeted. We expect all new enrollments to be between 10,000 and 11,000.

在最近於 1 月開始的春季學期，GCU 招收了 670 名新生，使地面入學總人數達到約 22,500 人，高於預算。我們預計所有新入學人數都在 10,000 到 11,000 之間。

The quality and relevancy of GCU's academic programs, the low-class sizes in support of its faculty that has less than a 5% turnover rate, the quality of counseling services via 20 advisory boards with over 500 companies represented who are creating internships and employment opportunities for GCU students in a very affordable tuition, which hasn't been raised in 15 years, are all important contributing factors.

GCU 學術課程的質量和相關性，支持教職工離職率低於 5% 的低班規模，通過 20 個諮詢委員會提供的諮詢服務質量，代表 500 多家公司正在創造實習和就業機會對於 GCU 學生來說，15 年來一直沒有提高的非常實惠的學費都是重要的促成因素。

I also want to mention, unlike the national trend, over 2,600 of the 9,300 fall 2022 new students this year were first-gen college students. The average incoming GPAs of these first-gen students is 3.55 are almost identical to the incoming class overall. These students are largely from the lower socioeconomic strata, but their enrollment at the university because of the very affordable tuition rate, is going directly against the national trend and is a very positive part of the GCU/GCE story.

我還想提一下，與全國趨勢不同，今年 9,300 名 2022 年秋季新生中有超過 2,600 名是第一代大學生。這些第一代學生的平均 GPA 為 3.55，幾乎與整個班級相同。這些學生主要來自較低的社會經濟階層，但由於非常實惠的學費，他們在大學的入學率直接與全國趨勢背道而馳，並且是 GCU/GCE 故事中非常積極的一部分。

As I said before, in the fall of 2023, we are anticipating between 10,000 and 11,000 new students. We are under construction on 2 new residence halls that will increase the number of beds on campus by 1,500. The number of new students will ultimately depend on the retention of continuing students and their desire to remain on campus in a very competitive environment given the trends we have discussed previously, less high school graduates, less graduates going directly to college.

正如我之前所說，在 2023 年秋季，我們預計將有 10,000 至 11,000 名新生。我們正在建設 2 個新的宿舍樓，這將使校園的床位數量增加 1,500 張。考慮到我們之前討論過的趨勢，即高中畢業生減少，直接上大學的畢業生減少，新生的數量最終將取決於留校生的留存率以及他們在競爭激烈的環境中留在校園的願望。

Pillar 2, working adult students attending GCU online. As with traditional students attending universities across the country, 2021 saw a downturn in working adult students attending online. Unlike with the traditional students attending GCU's campus, we experienced a downturn in online as well. GCE has worked with GCU on 2 main strategies to come back to downturn, and we are now seeing positive growth again. Number one, we have invested in B2B strategies that are well timed for this post-COVID period. The supply and demand, at least in the short run for educated labor has flipped.

支柱 2，在線參加 GCU 的在職成人學生。與就讀全國大學的傳統學生一樣，2021 年在線就讀的在職成人學生人數有所下降。與參加 GCU 校園的傳統學生不同，我們也經歷了在線課程的低迷。 GCE 與 GCU 合作制定了 2 項主要戰略以恢復低迷，我們現在再次看到正增長。第一，我們已經投資了適合這個後 COVID 時期的 B2B 戰略。至少在短期內，受過教育的勞動力的供需已經翻轉。

Since the country has reopened, we are working with over 25,700 industry partners in K-12 education, health care, financial services, social service agencies, technology and engineering companies, military bases, et cetera, developing custom strategic initiatives that are helping organizations grow their talent from inside. The number of new students that started through these strategies grew 27% over the prior year in the fourth quarter.

自該國重新開放以來，我們正在與 K-12 教育、醫療保健、金融服務、社會服務機構、技術和工程公司、軍事基地等領域的 25,700 多個行業合作夥伴合作，制定有助於組織發展的定制戰略計劃他們的才華來自內部。第四季度通過這些策略開始的新生人數比上一年增長了 27%。

Number two, GCE continues to work with GCU to roll out new and relevant programs. Since the transition 4.5 years ago, GCU has rolled out 144 new programs, emphases and certificates. 13.7% of new students enrolled in these programs in this latest quarter. This has resulted in fourth quarter new online enrollments growing in the mid-teens over the prior year, and we are currently projecting new enrollment growth in the first quarter of 2023 to be similar, high single digit to low teens. Based on these trends, we will return to total online growth this quarter, which is quicker than we thought.

第二，GCE 繼續與 GCU 合作推出新的相關項目。自 4.5 年前轉型以來，GCU 推出了 144 個新項目、重點和證書。 13.7% 的新生在最近一個季度註冊了這些課程。這導致第四季度新的在線入學人數比上一年增長了十幾歲，我們目前預計 2023 年第一季度的新入學人數增長相似，從高個位數到低青少年。基於這些趨勢，我們將在本季度恢復在線總增長，這比我們想像的要快。

It is important to note that this return to positive growth has been accomplished with no loss of strength in the quality of GCU's online student body and as a result, no degradation of the quality metrics, including good graduation rates, low cohort default rates and continued low student debt levels.

重要的是要注意，這種正增長的回歸是在 GCU 在線學生群體的質量沒有下降的情況下實現的，因此，質量指標沒有下降，包括良好的畢業率、低隊列違約率和持續學生債務水平低。

We anticipate new enrollment growth to again be in the high single digits, low teens in the second quarter, and then we'll begin to return to our long-term objective of mid-single-digit growth in the back half of the year as the comps get much tougher. This should allow us to grow total enrollment on a year-over-year basis in the low to mid-single digits by the end of the year.

我們預計第二季度的新入學人數增長將再次達到高個位數，低十幾歲，然後我們將在今年下半年開始恢復我們的長期目標，即中個位數增長，因為比賽變得更加艱難。這應該使我們能夠在年底前以中低個位數的速度同比增長總入學率。

Next, I would like to discuss GCE's third pillar, its health care partnerships. Short term, COVID had a negative impact. Hospitals were extremely busy and preoccupied with COVID patients and many clinical placement opportunities were canceled. Despite these very significant challenges, many instructional assignments, requiring one-on-one clinical interaction in the hospital were replaced by simulations. Some of our university partners requested that we reduced the cohort sizes due to concerns about the lack of clinical capacity and some of the new sites that we hope to open, especially in large markets have been pushed back to the fall of '23 or 2024.

接下來，我想討論 GCE 的第三個支柱，即醫療保健合作夥伴關係。短期內，COVID 產生了負面影響。醫院非常忙碌，全神貫注於 COVID 患者，許多臨床實習機會被取消。儘管面臨這些非常重大的挑戰，許多需要在醫院進行一對一臨床互動的教學任務都被模擬所取代。由於擔心缺乏臨床能力，我們的一些大學合作夥伴要求我們減少隊列規模，並且我們希望開放的一些新站點，特別是在大型市場中，已被推遲到 23 年秋季或 2024 年。

Although positive signs are emerging on this front, the tight labor market has had a significant impact on the type of student interested in recurring into nursing. When we acquired Orbis Education in 2019, their partnerships were predominantly focused on post-baccalaureate students, those that had already completed a bachelor's program. And having a completed Bachelor's degree was a requirement to start in the ABSN program.

儘管這方面出現了積極跡象，但緊張的勞動力市場對有興趣繼續從事護理工作的學生類型產生了重大影響。當我們在 2019 年收購 Orbis Education 時，他們的合作夥伴主要集中在已經完成學士學位課程的學士後學生。擁有完整的學士學位是開始 ABSN 計劃的要求。

Students that did not have a bachelor's degree returned away. Today, the majority of the students interested in recurring into nursing have not completed a bachelor's degree. Thus, we have been working with our partners and their state nursing boards to adjust these programs to allow students with 60-plus college predestinated admittance into the ABSN program.

沒有學士學位的學生又回來了。今天，大多數有興趣重新進入護理領域的學生都沒有完成學士學位。因此，我們一直在與我們的合作夥伴及其州護理委員會合作調整這些計劃，以允許 60 歲以上的大學預定錄取學生進入 ABSN 計劃。

In addition, as I will discuss in more detail below, in partnership with GCU, we have created a much less expensive and more efficient way for these students or students that do have a bachelor's degree, but don't have the science prerequisites to complete the coursework necessary to start in the ABSN program. These challenges have in the short run caused some of our mature locations that were at capacity to shrink in some of our newer locations to not grow as fast as we would have expected. While other mature locations remain at or near capacity and some newer locations are meeting our new enrollment expectations.

此外，正如我將在下面更詳細地討論的那樣，我們與 GCU 合作，為這些學生或擁有學士學位但沒有完成科學先決條件的學生創造了一種更便宜、更有效的方式開始 ABSN 計劃所需的課程作業。這些挑戰在短期內導致我們一些成熟的地點在我們一些較新的地點有能力收縮，但沒有像我們預期的那樣快速增長。雖然其他成熟的地點仍處於或接近容量，但一些較新的地點正在滿足我們新的入學預期。

We are hopeful that these strategies will reaccelerate growth beginning in the fall of 2023. As we work through this, we will be much more selective in the new locations that we open. We plan to open a new site with a new partner in Southern California and 2 new sites with GCU in the Phoenix area in the fall of 2023. We also plan to open a couple of smaller sites with new partners that we're committed to previously.

我們希望這些戰略能夠從 2023 年秋季開始重新加速增長。在我們努力解決這個問題的過程中，我們將在我們開設的新地點更具選擇性。我們計劃在 2023 年秋季與南加州的新合作夥伴一起開設一個新站點，並在鳳凰城地區與 GCU 一起開設 2 個新站點。我們還計劃與我們之前承諾的新合作夥伴一起開設幾個較小的站點.

I am very pleased to announce that GCU locations grew 19% year-over-year from 269 students to 320, and that their first 71 graduates pass the NCLEX examination with a 100% first time pass rate. This is extremely important because GCU would ultimately like 40 of our 80 sites to be GCU locations. This relationship is good financially for GCU, but it is also good for GCE given GCU's national footprint and brand recognition, the excellence of its nursing program and its proven ability to scale.

我很高興地宣布，GCU 地點從 269 名學生增加到 320 名，同比增長 19%，並且他們的前 71 名畢業生以 100% 的首次通過率通過了 NCLEX 考試。這非常重要，因為 GCU 最終希望我們 80 個站點中的 40 個成為 GCU 位置。這種關係在財務上對 GCU 有利，但對 GCE 也有好處，因為 GCU 的全國足跡和品牌知名度、卓越的護理計劃及其經過驗證的擴展能力。

As with GCU's traditional campus, the long-term environment is very positive for these GCE health care partnerships for the following reasons: number one, the country needs 1.3 million additional nurses in the next 5 years alone. Nursing programs are very expensive to operate and given the financial pressures facing many universities, they will be unable to invest the dollars it will take to scale the programs.

與 GCU 的傳統校園一樣，長期環境對這些 GCE 醫療保健合作夥伴關係非常有利，原因如下：第一，僅在未來 5 年內，該國就需要增加 130 萬名護士。護理項目的運營成本非常高，而且鑑於許多大學面臨的財政壓力，他們將無法投資擴大項目所需的資金。

Number two, GCE has the capital to invest in the continued build-out to eventually 80 locations. Number three, in addition to the runway of 80 locations, up from 35 locations currently, our enrollment budget for this coming year is only 50% of the actual spots that exist today. The 50% shortfall is partly due to the lack of efficient and highly supportive prerequisite course environments. Regulatory issues creating slowdowns in opening of planned locations and lack of clinical placements due to COVID issues.

第二，GCE 有資金投資於最終 80 個地點的持續擴建。第三，除了 80 個地點的跑道，從目前的 35 個地點增加，我們明年的招生預算僅為今天實際存在的地點的 50%。 50% 的短缺部分是由於缺乏高效和高度支持的先決條件課程環境。由於 COVID 問題，監管問題導致計劃地點的開放速度放緩，並且缺乏臨床實習。

However, there are now over 800 students in GCU's accelerated online science courses, preparing to earn spots in 1 of our 35 locations. We expect that number to grow and be a leading indicator of our ability to reestablish growth on the hybrid campuses. GCE is working hard in investing in new enrollment, simulation, virtual reality and prerequisite strategies to, in the future, fill all the spots that are available.

但是，現在有 800 多名學生參加 GCU 的在線科學加速課程，準備在我們 35 個地點中的 1 個地點獲得名額。我們預計這個數字會增長，並成為我們在混合校園重建增長能力的領先指標。 GCE 正在努力投資於新的註冊、模擬、虛擬現實和先決條件策略，以在未來填補所有可用的名額。

This is a transitional year for the health care partnerships. However, there's a 10-year runway that is very promising. It creates a winning scenario for students that want into a promising career, health care providers desperately needing professional nurses and universities who want a low-risk way to help solve the nursing shortage, while at the same time, creating additional revenue streams.

今年是醫療保健夥伴關係的過渡年。然而，有一條 10 年的跑道非常有前途。它為希望從事有前途的職業的學生、迫切需要專業護士的醫療保健提供者以及希望以低風險方式幫助解決護理短缺問題的大學創造了一個成功的場景，同時創造了額外的收入來源。

Last, as we discussed on last quarter's call, we continue to work on a new pillar. We are extremely excited because this is desperately needed in higher ed to date. In collaboration with our largest partner, GCU, we are developing accelerated certificate programs. Two of the certificate programs are for students, who want an efficient way to get into nursing school. We believe there's a big opportunity here. Getting prepared academically to apply a nursing school can be a daunting and confusing process.

最後，正如我們在上個季度的電話會議上討論的那樣，我們將繼續致力於新的支柱。我們非常興奮，因為這是迄今為止高等教育迫切需要的。通過與我們最大的合作夥伴 GCU 合作，我們正在開發加速證書計劃。其中兩個證書課程面向希望以有效方式進入護士學校的學生。我們相信這裡有很大的機會。為申請護士學校做好學業準備可能是一個令人生畏和困惑的過程。

The first, a pre-nursing certificate program allows recent high school graduates to stay home and take the first 60 credits of their bachelor's degree completely online. GCU has worked with GCE to design state-of-the-art science courses that prepare students to apply for a spot and eventually one of our GCE's 80 locations. These courses are taught mainly by full-time faculty with a tremendous amount of academic support for the students.

首先，護理前證書課程允許剛畢業的高中畢業生留在家裡，完全在線獲得學士學位的前 60 個學分。 GCU 與 GCE 合作設計了最先進的科學課程，讓學生為申請一個地點並最終申請我們 GCE 的 80 個地點之一做好準備。這些課程主要由全職教師教授，並為學生提供大量的學術支持。

The second certificate program is designed for students, who have completed a college degree in another academic area or have a partially completed degree. The students take mainly the science courses necessary to produce to apply to one of our partners in one of our 80 locations.

第二個證書課程專為已完成另一個學術領域的大學學位或部分完成學位的學生而設計。學生主要學習必要的科學課程，以申請我們 80 個地點之一的合作夥伴之一。

The first certificate has a synchronous component, while the second certificate is being taught completely asynchronously. Given that eventually GCE will have approximately 24,000 ABSN slots to our partners across 80 locations, we will need more than 24,000 students in certificate programs preparing for those opportunities. As I said earlier, over 800 students are taking these pre-nursing courses currently.

第一個證書有一個同步部分，而第二個證書是完全異步的。鑑於最終 GCE 將為我們在 80 個地點的合作夥伴提供大約 24,000 個 ABSN 名額，我們將需要超過 24,000 名證書課程學生為這些機會做準備。正如我之前所說，目前有超過 800 名學生正在修讀這些預科課程。

The third certificate program began in September and comes out of GCU's newly formed Institute of Workforce development. This certificate is preparing students for a professional electrician apprenticeship program. This is a 16 credit, 1 semester program heavily focused on the mathematical concepts necessary to prepare for a career as an electrician. This program has been designed with a major industry partner, who will offer apprenticeships to the students successfully completing the program.

第三個證書課程於 9 月開始，來自 GCU 新成立的勞動力發展研究所。該證書正在為學生準備專業電工學徒計劃。這是一個 16 學分、1 學期的課程，主要側重於為電工職業做好準備所需的數學概念。該計劃是與一個主要的行業合作夥伴一起設計的，該合作夥伴將為成功完成該計劃的學生提供學徒培訓。

This partner needs 1,000 electricians for their business in Arizona alone. This partner also indicates that the country is short of minimum 100,000 electricians necessary to complete the building projects currently underway. This fall, 300 students applied for this program, and we accepted 40 into the program. 39 of the 40 graduated in our apprenticeships making between $50,000 and $65,000 currently.

該合作夥伴僅在亞利桑那州就需要 1,000 名電工來開展業務。該合作夥伴還表示，該國至少缺少 100,000 名電工來完成目前正在進行的建築項目。今年秋天，有 300 名學生申請了該計劃，我們錄取了 40 名。 40 名學徒中有 39 人目前的收入在 50,000 美元到 65,000 美元之間。

An additional 200 submitted applications for the spring semester and we accepted another 40 in the spring. Once the concept is proven, there is a potential to scale this program in a significant way.

另外 200 份提交了春季學期的申請，我們在春季又接受了 40 份。一旦這個概念得到證實，就有可能以一種重要的方式擴展這個項目。

Service revenue was $258.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, an increase of $7.3 million or 2.9% as compared to the $251.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2021. The increase year-over-year in service revenue was primarily due to an increase in GCU's traditional campus enrollments of 8% and increases in revenue per student year-over-year partially offset by a decrease in online enrollments at GCU of 1.6% and to a lesser extent, students in our university partner's Occupational Therapy Assistance Program of 11.3%.

2022 年第四季度服務收入為 2.587 億美元，比 2021 年第四季度的 2.514 億美元增加 730 萬美元或 2.9%。服務收入同比增長主要是由於GCU 的傳統校園入學人數為 8%，每個學生的收入同比增長部分被 GCU 在線入學人數減少 1.6% 以及我們大學合作夥伴的職業治療援助計劃的學生人數減少 11.3% 所抵消。

Operating income for the 3 months ended December 31, 2022, was $90.7 million, a decrease of $11.7 million as compared to $102.4 million for the same period in 2021. The operating margin for the 3 months ended December 31, 2022, was 35.1% compared to the 40.7% for the same period in 2021. The operating margin was negatively impacted by the investments that are being made to grow our partners' enrollments and the year-over-year decline in online enrollments.

截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止三個月的營業收入為 9070 萬美元，較 2021 年同期的 1.024 億美元減少 1170 萬美元。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止三個月的營業利潤率為 35.1%，相比之下到 2021 年同期的 40.7%。營業利潤率受到為增加合作夥伴入學人數而進行的投資以及在線入學人數同比下降的負面影響。

Net income decreased 16.5% to $71 million for the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to $85.1 million for the same period in 2021. Decline in net income was partially due to a significant reduction in interest income between years due to GCU paying off the secured note in the fourth quarter of 2021.

與 2021 年同期的 8510 萬美元相比，2022 年第四季度的淨收入下降 16.5% 至 7100 萬美元。淨收入下降的部分原因是 GCU 在2021 年第四季度。

GAAP diluted income per share for the 3 months ended December 31, 2022, is $2.30. As adjusted, non-GAAP diluted income per share for the 3 months ended December 31, 2022, is $2.36 and $0.11 over consensus estimates.

截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止三個月的 GAAP 攤薄後每股收益為 2.30 美元。經調整後，截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止三個月的非 GAAP 攤薄每股收益分別為 2.36 美元和 0.11 美元，高於普遍預期。

With that, I would like to turn it over to Dan Bachus, our CFO, to give a little more color on our 2022 4th quarter, talk about changes in the income statement, balance sheet and other items as well as to discuss the updated 2022 guidance.

有了這個，我想把它交給我們的首席財務官 Dan Bachus，讓我們對 2022 年第四季度有更多的了解，談談損益表、資產負債表和其他項目的變化，以及討論更新後的 2022 年指導。

Thanks, Brian. Included in our Form 8-K filed with the SEC, we have included non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted income per share for the 3 months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021. The non-GAAP amounts exclude the tax-affected amount of the amortization of intangible assets of $2.1 million in the fourth quarters of both 2022 and 2021. The tax effective amount of the loss on fixed asset disposals of $0.1 million for the 3 months ended December 31, 2022, and both the tax effective amount of the reversal of the $5 million credit loss and the tax effective amount of the write-off of the deferred loan costs of $1.1 million upon repayment of the credit facility recorded during the fourth quarter of 2021.

謝謝，布萊恩。在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的 8-K 表格中，我們包括截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日和 2021 年 3 個月的非 GAAP 淨收入和非 GAAP 稀釋每股收益。非 GAAP 金額不包括受稅收影響的2022 年和 2021 年第四季度的無形資產攤銷金額 210 萬美元。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的三個月固定資產處置損失的稅收有效金額 10 萬美元，以及兩者的稅收有效金額在 2021 年第四季度記錄的信貸額度償還後，500 萬美元信貸損失的逆轉和 110 萬美元遞延貸款成本註銷的稅收有效金額。

We believe the non-GAAP financial information allows investors to develop a more meaningful understanding of the company's performance over time. As adjusted non-GAAP diluted income per share, as Brian just mentioned, for the 3 months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 is $2.36 and $2.11, respectively.

我們相信，非 GAAP 財務信息可以讓投資者對公司的長期業績有更有意義的了解。正如布賴恩剛才提到的那樣，調整後的非 GAAP 攤薄每股收益在截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日和 2021 年的 3 個月分別為 2.36 美元和 2.11 美元。

Service revenue was higher than our expectations in the fourth quarter of 2022 as online enrollments exceeded our projections due to the higher-than-expected new student starts and due to higher-than-expected ancillary revenues at GCE.

2022 年第四季度的服務收入高於我們的預期，原因是在線入學人數超出了我們的預期，原因是新生開學率高於預期，以及 GCE 的輔助收入高於預期。

Hybrid revenues were in line with our expectations. The hybrid enrollment growth rate is being impacted on a year-over-year basis due to the timing of site openings and 11.3% year-over-year decline in OTA enrollments, the closing of sites and a decline year-over-year in the enrollment at some of the mature sites due to the challenges previously discussed.

混合收入符合我們的預期。由於網站開放的時間和 OTA 註冊人數同比下降 11.3%、網站關閉以及由於前面討論的挑戰，一些成熟站點的註冊。

Excluding enrollments from closed sites, ABSN enrollments grew 3.6% year-over-year. Revenue per student continues to grow on a year-over-year basis, primarily due to the service revenue impact of the growth in the GCU traditional campus enrollments between years, which has a higher revenue per student due to room board and other ancillary revenues and the higher revenue per student at off-campus classroom and laboratory sites.

不包括關閉站點的註冊人數，ABSN 註冊人數同比增長 3.6%。每名學生的收入繼續同比增長，這主要是由於 GCU 傳統校區入學人數逐年增長對服務收入的影響，由於食宿和其他輔助收入，每名學生的收入更高，以及每個學生在校外教室和實驗室的收入更高。

Service revenue per student for hybrid, ABSN students generates a significantly higher revenue per student than we earn on the other students as these agreements generally provide us with a higher revenue share percentage, the partners have higher tuition rates and the majority of their students take more credits on average per semester as they are in accelerated programs.

每個學生的混合服務收入，ABSN 學生產生的每個學生收入明顯高於我們從其他學生那裡獲得的收入，因為這些協議通常為我們提供更高的收入份額百分比，合作夥伴有更高的學費，他們的大多數學生需要更多與加速課程一樣，每學期平均學分。

Our operating margin was higher than our expectations, primarily due to higher-than-expected revenue. As I discussed on prior quarter's earnings calls, we have been aggressively hiring in which headcount had mostly been flat since March of 2020 to meet our partners' expected future growth, which is driving increased compensation costs in technology and academic services and counting services and support costs.

我們的營業利潤率高於我們的預期，這主要是由於收入高於預期。正如我在上一季度的財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，我們一直在積極招聘，自 2020 年 3 月以來員工人數基本持平，以滿足我們合作夥伴的預期未來增長，這正在推動技術和學術服務以及計數服務和支持方面的薪酬成本增加費用。

At the end of the third quarter of 2022, we remain below our headcount plan but are at head count plan today. We also plan for a significant increase year-over-year in travel and employee benefits as those amounts were significantly lower than pre-COVID levels in the prior year. We also plan for increased clinical costs at off-campus classroom and laboratory sites due to the nursing shortage. The spending has generally remained in line with our expectations and the year-over-year difference in the timing of new site openings impacts year-over-year cost comparisons.

到 2022 年第三季度末，我們的人數仍低於我們的人數計劃，但今天已達到人數計劃。我們還計劃同比大幅增加差旅和員工福利，因為這些金額大大低於上一年 COVID 前的水平。由於護理人員短缺，我們還計劃增加校外教室和實驗室的臨床費用。支出總體上與我們的預期保持一致，新站點開放時間的同比差異影響了同比成本比較。

Our effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2022 was 22.8% compared to 21.8% in the fourth quarter of 2021 and our guidance of 23.0%. The increase year-over-year is due to higher state income taxes.

我們 2022 年第四季度的有效稅率為 22.8%，而 2021 年第四季度為 21.8%，我們的指導值為 23.0%。同比增長是由於更高的州所得稅。

We repurchased 318,935 shares of our common stock in the fourth quarter of 2022 at a cost of approximately $28 million and another 154,098 shares since December 31, 2022. We have 178.4 million remaining available as of today under our share repurchase authorization. The Board and the company intends to continue using a significant portion of its free cash flows from operations to repurchase its shares, but share repurchases in future years will be less than in 2021 and 2022 as we have utilized all of the proceeds from the repayment of the secured note during the past 2 years.

我們在 2022 年第四季度以約 2800 萬美元的成本回購了 318,935 股普通股，並自 2022 年 12 月 31 日起又回購了 154,098 股普通股。根據我們的股票回購授權，截至今天，我們還有 1.784 億股普通股可供使用。董事會和公司打算繼續使用其經營活動產生的自由現金流的很大一部分來回購其股份，但未來幾年的股份回購將少於 2021 年和 2022 年，因為我們已經動用了償還過去 2 年的擔保票據。

Turning to the balance sheet and cash flows. Total unrestricted cash and short-term investments on December 31, 2022, were $181.7 million. GCE CapEx in the fourth quarter of 2022, including CapEx for new off-site classroom, campus classroom and laboratory sites was approximately $8.9 million or 3.5% of service revenue. with's total CapEx for 2022 of $35 million. We expect CapEx for 2023 to be similar to 2022 at between $30 million and $35 million.

轉向資產負債表和現金流量。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，不受限制的現金和短期投資總額為 1.817 億美元。 2022 年第四季度的 GCE 資本支出（包括新的異地教室、校園教室和實驗室場地的資本支出）約為 890 萬美元，佔服務收入的 3.5%。 2022 年的資本支出總額為 3500 萬美元。我們預計 2023 年的資本支出將與 2022 年相似，在 3000 萬至 3500 萬美元之間。

Last, I'd like to provide color on the updated guidance we have provided in our 8-K filed today. As a reminder, the guidance that we have provided in the outlook section of our 8-K filed today is GAAP net income and diluted income per share with components to adjust the GAAP amounts to non-GAAP as adjusted net income and non-GAAP as adjusted diluted income per share, and we will continue to provide both GAAP net income and diluted income per share and the non-GAAP amounts with a reconciliation between the 2 when we report actual results.

最後，我想為我們今天提交的 8-K 中提供的更新指南提供顏色。提醒一下，我們在今天提交的 8-K 的展望部分提供的指導是 GAAP 淨收入和稀釋後每股收益，其中包含將 GAAP 調整為非 GAAP 調整後淨收入和非 GAAP 的組成部分調整後的每股攤薄收益，我們將在報告實際結果時繼續提供 GAAP 淨收益和每股攤薄收益以及非 GAAP 金額，並在兩者之間進行調節。

Consistent with the prior year, we have provided ranges for revenue, operating margin and earnings per share for each of the 4 quarters of 2023. We do this because our financial results are seasonal. The revenue range assumes the following: GCU ground enrollment will grow to 23,200 in the spring, 7,800 in the summer and be between 26,250 and 27,750 in the fall. The ground number continues to include GCU hybrid and professional study students, Residential students are projected to grow to 15,700 in the spring and between $17,900 and $18,900 in the fall.

與上一年一致，我們提供了 2023 年四個季度每個季度的收入、營業利潤率和每股收益的範圍。我們這樣做是因為我們的財務業績是季節性的。收入範圍假設如下：GCU 地面入學人數將在春季增至 23,200 人，夏季增至 7,800 人，秋季增至 26,250 至 27,750 人。地面人數繼續包括 GCU 混合和專業學習學生，住宅學生預計在春季增長到 15,700 人，在秋季增長到 17,900 美元至 18,900 美元。

Timing differences in the start and end of the traditional campus semester is pushing $4.5 million from Q1 2023 to Q2 2023 in comparison to 2022. And $1.3 million from Q4 2023 to Q3 2023 in comparison to 2022. We anticipate that new online enrollments will be up year-over-year in the high single digits to low teens in the first and second quarters. As a reminder, the comps get much more difficult in the second half as new enrollments were up year-over-year in the mid-teens in both the third and fourth quarters of 2022. Thus, our guidance provides a wide range of potential outcomes in the second half of between low and high single-digit growth.

與 2022 年相比，從 2023 年第一季度到 2023 年第二季度，傳統校園學期開始和結束的時間差異推動了 450 萬美元。與 2022 年相比，從 2023 年第四季度到 2023 年第三季度增加了 130 萬美元。我們預計新的在線註冊人數將會增加在第一季度和第二季度，同比從高個位數到低青少年。提醒一下，隨著 2022 年第三季度和第四季度中期的新入學人數同比增長，下半年的比賽變得更加困難。因此，我們的指導提供了廣泛的潛在結果下半年處於低位和高位之間的個位數增長。

Given that our long-term objectives are to grow new enrollments in the mid-single digits, the midpoint of this range would meet our long-term objectives. Based on this, we anticipate that total online enrollment will return to year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2023, and we'll end the year with a low to mid-single-digit year-over-year growth rate.

鑑於我們的長期目標是將新入學人數增加到個位數，這個範圍的中點將滿足我們的長期目標。基於此，我們預計在線註冊總人數將在 2023 年第一季度恢復同比增長，我們將以低至中個位數的同比增長率結束今年。

As Brian discussed earlier, hybrid growth will remain below our long-term objectives during the first half of 2023, but we are hopeful that we will see acceleration beginning in the fall semester due to new site openings, and the impact of the prerequisite initiative on the number of eligible students that could start in our partners' programs.

正如 Brian 之前討論的那樣，混合增長在 2023 年上半年仍將低於我們的長期目標，但我們希望由於新站點的開放以及先決條件計劃對可以開始參加我們合作夥伴計劃的合格學生人數。

Our guidance assumes flat to slightly down year-over-year total enrollment in the spring semester, flat to low single-digit enrollment growth in the summer and flat to mid-single-digit growth in the fall semester.

我們的指導假設春季學期總入學人數持平至略有下降，夏季入學人數持平至低個位數增長，秋季學期持平至中個位數增長。

On the expense side, as you'll recall, we made significant investments in 2022 for expected future growth, which given the timing of that spend will have a negative impact on margins in the first half of 2023. Headcount, which had been mostly flat since March of 2020 was increased over the course of 2022 with the most significant gains being made in the fourth quarter of 2022 and early 2023. This will drive year-over-year increases in compensation costs in technology and academic services and counseling services and support costs in the first 9 months of the year, but that growth will slow in the fourth quarter.

在支出方面，您會記得，我們在 2022 年為預期的未來增長進行了大量投資，考慮到支出的時機，這將對 2023 年上半年的利潤率產生負面影響。員工人數基本持平自 2020 年 3 月以來，在 2022 年期間有所增加，其中最顯著的收益是在 2022 年第四季度和 2023 年初取得的。這將推動技術和學術服務以及諮詢服務和支持方面的薪酬成本同比增長今年前 9 個月的成本，但增長將在第四季度放緩。

We are also continuing to budget for increased clinical sites at off-site locations, good clinical costs at offsite locations due to the nursing shortage and new site openings will have a negative impact on expense. We do anticipate that the hybrid pillar will continue to lose money in 2023 given that a number of mature sites are currently below pre-COVID counts. To get back to profitability, these sites need to get back to pre-COVID enrollment levels and the newer sites need to grow at rates more similar to what we experienced pre-COVID.

我們還在繼續為增加場外地點的臨床站點進行預算，由於護理短缺和新站點開放，在場外地點的良好臨床成本將對費用產生負面影響。我們確實預計混合支柱將在 2023 年繼續虧損，因為許多成熟網站目前的數量低於 COVID 之前的數量。為了恢復盈利，這些站點需要恢復到 COVID 之前的註冊水平，而較新的站點需要以更類似於我們在 COVID 之前經歷的速度增長。

We are hopeful the initiatives that Brian discussed earlier in the call will allow that to happen even if the job market remains tight. We do not plan to have any material interest income or expense. We believe the effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2023 will be 22.3%, 24.9%, 24.9% and 24.0%. The effective tax rate will be higher in 2023 than 2022 because of the impact of state taxes as revenues continue to grow at the offsite locations outside of Arizona, driving our tax rate increase. These estimates do not assume a contribution in lieu of state income taxes, but if one is made, that will increase G&A expense in the third quarter and decrease the effective tax rate in the second half of the year.

我們希望布賴恩早些時候在電話會議中討論的舉措能夠實現這一點，即使就業市場仍然緊張。我們不打算有任何重大的利息收入或支出。我們認為 2023 年第四季度的實際稅率將為 22.3%、24.9%、24.9% 和 24.0%。 2023 年的有效稅率將高於 2022 年，這是由於州稅的影響，因為亞利桑那州以外的異地收入繼續增長，推動我們的稅率上升。這些估計沒有假設代替州所得稅的貢獻，但如果做出貢獻，那將增加第三季度的 G&A 費用，並降低下半年的有效稅率。

Our weighted average shares guidance assumes that we purchased most of the remaining amount authorized by our Board evenly over the rest of the year. The Board continues to authorize the repurchase of shares as it believes the stock remains undervalued based on the metrics that it uses to evaluate, including the ratio of enterprise value to adjusted EBITDA and the free cash flow yield rather than multiples of other education companies, as although we can be viewed as being in that same sector, there are a few, if any, appropriate comps.

我們的加權平均股票指南假設我們在今年剩餘時間內平均購買了董事會授權的大部分剩餘金額。董事會繼續授權回購股票，因為它認為根據其用於評估的指標，包括企業價值與調整後 EBITDA 和自由現金流收益率的比率，而不是其他教育公司的倍數，該股票仍然被低估，因為儘管我們可以被視為在同一部門，但有一些（如果有的話）合適的公司。

On an enterprise value to adjusted EBITDA basis, the stock is currently trading at roughly 12.2%, which is less than the recent S&P average of 16.4%. The average free cash flow yield for the S&P 500 of 2.8%, whereas the company's free cash flow yield is approximately 5.5%.

根據調整後 EBITDA 的企業價值計算，該股目前的交易價格約為 12.2%，低於標準普爾近期的平均水平 16.4%。標準普爾 500 指數的平均自由現金流收益率為 2.8%，而該公司的自由現金流收益率約為 5.5%。

Last, the guidance provided does not include any reduction in revenue or expenses associated with the Dear Colleague Letter issued last year that I discussed last quarter. As a reminder, the Dear Colleague Letter does not impact our relationship with GCU as GCU provides all faculty for their courses, pays them and receives littles and no reimbursement from us or any other outside sources for the faculty costs. But we are still working with our other university partners to assess the impact of the Dear Colleague Letter, if any, of the programs we partner with them on.

最後，所提供的指導不包括與我上個季度討論的去年發布的親愛的同事信相關的任何收入或支出減少。提醒一下，這封親愛的同事信不會影響我們與 GCU 的關係，因為 GCU 為所有教師提供他們的課程，支付給他們並收到很少的費用，我們或任何其他外部來源都不會報銷教師費用。但我們仍在與其他大學合作夥伴合作，以評估我們與他們合作的項目的“親愛的同事信”（如果有的話）的影響。

We will provide updates to our outlook if contractual changes are needed, but it is important to note that any changes made would have an immaterial impact on revenue and operating profit.

如果需要更改合同，我們將更新我們的展望，但重要的是要注意，所做的任何更改都不會對收入和營業利潤產生實質性影響。

I will now turn the call over to the moderator so that we can answer questions.

我現在將把電話轉給主持人，以便我們回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Jeff Meuler with Baird.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Jeff Meuler 與 Baird 的對話。

How is demand trending lately for the hybrid programs? And you gave us the number on the 800 students, I don't know if this is too soon, but can you give us any sort of metrics on the success those students are seeing going through the accelerated online pre-reqs?

混合計劃最近的需求趨勢如何？你給了我們 800 名學生的數字，我不知道這是否太早了，但你能給我們任何關於這些學生看到通過加速在線先決條件的成功的衡量標準嗎？

Yes. The demand is changing because of the employment situation. The employment situation is so strong, there are so many jobs out there that people are -- people with bachelor's degrees in their 20s are not really willing to give up a $60,000 a year job to invest $50,000 or $60,000 to make $70,000 or $80,000. The -- at the same return isn't there currently. And so people are being more cautious about re-careering. However, the demand is still very strong and increasing for those students that are younger and have it -- already invested in higher ed and don't have any debt or have very little debt.

是的。由於就業情況，需求正在發生變化。就業形勢如此強勁，工作機會如此之多，以至於 20 多歲擁有學士學位的人並不願意放棄年薪 6 萬美元的工作，去投資 5 萬或 6 萬美元賺取 7 萬或 8 萬美元。 -- 目前不存在相同的回報。因此，人們對重新就業更加謹慎。然而，對於那些已經投資於高等教育並且沒有任何債務或債務很少的學生來說，需求仍然非常強勁並且在增加。

And so there is significant demand. And what's very interesting and very encouraging is that when we can get students to the ABSN start -- get them to the front door, we have a 90% success rate getting them through in a greater than 90% first-time pass rate on the NCLEX exam. The challenge is getting them, so that they have the course work necessary to get into the ABSN program. People were referring them to community colleges and they won't hear from them for a year 2 or 3, if at all. And in other places, the programs were not delivered online or they were extremely expensive.

因此有很大的需求。非常有趣和非常令人鼓舞的是，當我們能讓學生從 ABSN 開始——讓他們走到前門時，我們有 90% 的成功率讓他們通過 90% 以上的首次通過率NCLEX 考試。挑戰在於如何讓他們完成進入 ABSN 計劃所需的課程作業。人們將他們推薦給社區大學，他們在第二年或第三年都不會收到他們的消息，如果有的話。而在其他地方，這些項目不是在線提供的，或者是非常昂貴的。

And so we worked very hard at creating first the science courses. And those science courses -- that's what I was referring to in terms of the 800 students and growing pretty rapidly. And we have between 75% and 80% success rate, meaning the students got to see or better in those courses. And therefore, they can use them to get into an ABSN program.

因此，我們非常努力地首先創建了科學課程。還有那些科學課程——這就是我所指的 800 名學生並且增長非常迅速。我們的成功率在 75% 到 80% 之間，這意味著學生必須在這些課程中看到或更好。因此，他們可以使用它們進入 ABSN 程序。

So we're really happy with that success rate because studying science online is not easy. Our courses are rigorous. But the demand is still very strong, and we think we're going to be in a very strong position in somewhere between 6 and 12 months because we've -- I think we've figured out, it doesn't matter where in the country a student is. Our programs are delivered online. So they can be entered into the program. We've got start times every couple of weeks. And as opposed to once fall or just spring semester and what time was being offered in person, all those things were really difficult to navigate.

所以我們對這個成功率真的很滿意，因為在線學習科學並不容易。我們的課程很嚴格。但需求仍然非常強勁，我們認為我們將在 6 到 12 個月之間的某個時間段內處於非常強勁的位置，因為我們已經 - 我認為我們已經弄清楚了，無論在哪裡都沒有關係學生所在的國家。我們的課程是在線提供的。所以他們可以進入程序。我們每兩週就有一次開始時間。與秋季學期或春季學期以及親自提供的時間相比，所有這些事情都很難駕馭。

And so I think the most important challenge is that one. And between that, and we think we'll get some traction with high school graduates who want to stay home, do the first 2 years of a pre-nursing program in 18 months, do it completely online and then qualify to be in an ABSN program in one of our locations throughout the country. Between those 2 things, we're hoping to address that challenge and then reaccelerate the enrollments.

所以我認為最重要的挑戰是那個。在此期間，我們認為我們會吸引那些想呆在家裡的高中畢業生，在 18 個月內完成前 2 年的護理前課程，完全在線完成，然後有資格加入 ABSN在我們全國各地的一個地點進行計劃。在這兩件事之間，我們希望解決這一挑戰，然後重新加速註冊。

Got it. And then GCU looks like it's tough to get back to growth. On margins, I understand the annualization effect of the headcount ramp. I understand the trade-off to the benefit of the university of the current financial model in a lower demand and higher inflation environment. But to the extent to which the university may be getting back to enrollment on a sustained basis and since you're caught up on head count, just any comment on what you'd expect on a multiyear basis in terms of margins while still probably balancing not taking tuition pricing increases?

知道了。然後 GCU 看起來很難恢復增長。在利潤率方面，我了解員工人數增加的年化效應。我理解在需求較低和通脹較高的環境下，當前金融模式對大學利益的權衡。但是，就大學可能會持續恢復招生的程度而言，並且由於您已經趕上了人數，所以就您對多年利潤率的期望發表任何評論，同時仍可能保持平衡不接受學費漲價？

Yes. We believe that once we can get back to mid-teen total enrollment growth online, that, that core GCE contract margins can expand on an annual basis year-over-year, somewhere between 30 and 100 basis points where we were pre-COVID. And we believe that because, one, we've done it in the past, two mid-teens, online enrollment and the growth of the ground campus and the revenue per student from that can help drive that margin expansion.

是的。我們相信，一旦我們的在線入學總數恢復到 15% 左右，核心 GCE 合同利潤率就可以逐年擴大，大約在 COVID 之前的 30 到 100 個基點之間。我們相信，因為，一，我們過去做過，兩個青少年，在線註冊和地面校園的增長以及每個學生的收入可以幫助推動利潤率的增長。

And when you look at -- if you look at the high end of our guidance, which is -- if everything goes perfectly as we hope this year, you will see margin -- you do see margin expansion on the GCU core in the second half of the year. If we hit the midpoint of our guidance we gave today from a revenue standpoint, it would be fairly flat the second half of the year on the GCE contract from a margin standpoint. So that gives us confidence we can do it.

當你看——如果你看一下我們指導的高端，那就是——如果今年一切都像我們希望的那樣完美，你會看到利潤率——你確實會在第二年看到 GCU 核心的利潤率擴張半年。如果我們從收入的角度達到今天給出的指導的中點，那麼從利潤率的角度來看，GCE 合同下半年將相當平穩。這給了我們信心，我們可以做到。

The other thing is -- the other thing that impacts that, because you follow this thing historically, we've gotten margin gains by cost to acquire a student going down. And when we mentioned in the fourth quarter that 27% of our new enrollments or we were 20% -- 7% higher this fourth quarter than prior year's fourth quarter in new enrollments that were coming from our outside people. And those were basically working with school districts and others, and we don't pay for those leads. And so we're hoping that number continues to grow because that is where, historically, we've gotten margin expansion by reducing the cost to acquire a student. And if that work continues to go as it does, that will help.

另一件事是 - 影響這一點的另一件事，因為你從歷史上看這件事，我們已經通過成本獲得了利潤率，以吸引學生下降。當我們在第四季度提到我們的新入學人數中有 27% 或我們是 20% - 來自外部人員的新入學人數比去年第四季度高出 7%。這些基本上是與學區和其他機構合作，我們不為這些線索付費。所以我們希望這個數字繼續增長，因為從歷史上看，我們通過降低獲得學生的成本來擴大利潤。如果這項工作繼續按原樣進行，那將有所幫助。

And I may not have heard correctly. I think you said mid-teens, you mean mid-single-digit growth for online, correct?

我可能沒有聽錯。我想你說的是十幾歲，你的意思是在線的中個位數增長，對嗎？

Yes. Dan is sitting next to me and he punched me on that. So yes.

是的。丹坐在我旁邊，他打了我一拳。所以是的。

I'll take mid-teens, but just making sure.

我會帶十幾歲，但只是確定。

You're correct.

你是對的。

And then just last, I know you talked about the former Dear Colleague Letter. There was another Dear Colleague Letter last night regarding third-party services and Title IV. When you list out the services, Brian, you talk about financial aid processing being one of them. So is the GCE-GCU contract, are you already I guess, subject to these types of regulations and oversight, so no impact on you?

最後，我知道您談到了前任“親愛的同事的來信”。昨晚還有一封關於第三方服務和 Title IV 的親愛的同事信。當你列出服務時，布賴恩，你說的是經濟援助處理是其中之一。 GCE-GCU 合同也是如此，我猜你是否已經受到這些類型的法規和監督的約束，所以對你沒有影響？

And then just on the hybrid contract, is it a different setup? And just if there's any sort of like qualification of how burdensome that may or may not be for you?

然後只是在混合合同上，它是一個不同的設置嗎？只是是否有任何類似的資格來說明這對您來說可能會或可能不會造成多大的負擔？

Yes, you're right about the financial. We provide -- GCE provides that service for GCU, which is the bulk currently of the business. And so yes, we're already subject. GCE is subject to an audit as a result of doing that financial aid work, and GCE does really, really well in that audit process. So we feel very good about that. The other 26 partners...

是的，你對財務的看法是正確的。我們提供 - GCE 為 GCU 提供該服務，這是目前業務的大部分。所以是的，我們已經是主題了。由於進行了財務援助工作，GCE 需要接受審計，而 GCE 在審計過程中確實做得非常好。所以我們對此感覺很好。其他26位合夥人...

Yes. I think a couple of points to expand on what Brian just said. I mean I think it's important for people to know that as part of the audit that Brian talked about, they not only look at the financial processing and compliance, but they do testing -- payroll testing, including an in-depth review of incentive compensation plans and payments, fiscal testing, including program reconciliation, bank statements, contract testing, including division of services and responsibilities. So as it relates to GCU, I think we're already a third-party servicer and go through a full audit similar to what I think the Department of Ed is pushing for on the Dear Colleague.

是的。我認為有幾點可以擴展 Brian 剛才所說的內容。我的意思是我認為讓人們知道作為 Brian 談到的審計的一部分很重要，他們不僅會查看財務處理和合規性，還會進行測試——薪資測試，包括對激勵薪酬的深入審查計劃和付款、財務測試，包括項目對賬、銀行報表、合同測試，包括服務和責任的劃分。因此，就 GCU 而言，我認為我們已經是第三方服務商，並且會進行全面審計，這與我認為教育部正在推動的“親愛的同事”類似。

As it relates, as Brian said, to the other 26 partners, they don't do that audit currently for those. But for us to add that testing for our other 26 partners would not be a problem at all. The compensation plan is very similar and the other controls and processes are very similar to -- so for us, not a concern at all to have that expanded to our other 26 partners.

正如 Brian 所說，與其他 26 個合作夥伴相關的是，他們目前不對這些合作夥伴進行審計。但我們補充說，對我們其他 26 個合作夥伴進行測試根本不是問題。薪酬計劃非常相似，其他控制和流程也非常相似——所以對我們來說，將其擴展到我們的其他 26 個合作夥伴根本不是問題。

We've reached the end of our fourth quarter conference call. We appreciate your time and interest in Grand Canyon Education. If you still have questions, please contact myself, Dan Bachus. Thank you very much.

我們的第四季度電話會議已經結束。感謝您抽出時間關注 Grand Canyon Education。如果您仍有疑問，請聯繫我 Dan Bachus。非常感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。