The following table sets forth the range of the company’s internal goals for the twelve months ending December 31, 2014 with respect to: · the percentage increase/(decrease) in New Student Enrollment in 2014 compared to 2013; · Revenue per Student per Quarter; · Free Cash Flow(c); · Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (“EBITDA”) (d); and · Earnings per Share (diluted). | |
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| Internal Goals for the Twelve Months Ending December 31, 2014 | | | | | |
| Low End of Range | | High End of Range | | | | | |
| (Dollars in thousands, except per share and per student data) | | | | | |
New Student Enrollment in 2014 compared to 2013 | (2.0)% | | 8.0% | | | | | |
Revenue per Student per Quarter | $4,300 | | $4,500 | | | | | |
Free Cash Flow(c) | $75,000 | | $100,000 | | | | | |
EBITDA(d) | $140,000 | | $170,000 | | | | | |
Earnings per Share (diluted) | $3.00 | | $3.65 | | | | | |
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(a) On February 20, 2009, the company entered into agreements with an unaffiliated entity (the “2009 Entity”) to create a program that made private education loans available to its students (the “2009 Loan Program”). Under the 2009 Loan Program, an unaffiliated lender originated private education loans to the company’s eligible students and, subsequently, sold those loans to the 2009 Entity. No new private education loans were or will be originated under the 2009 Loan Program after December 31, 2011, but immaterial amounts related to loans originated prior to that date were disbursed by the lender through June 2012. | |
In connection with the 2009 Loan Program, the company entered into a risk sharing agreement (the “2009 RSA”) with the 2009 Entity. Under the 2009 RSA, the company guarantees the repayment of any private education loans that are charged off above a certain percentage of the private education loans made under the 2009 Loan Program, based on the annual dollar volume. The company made payments to the 2009 Entity related to its guarantee obligations under the 2009 RSA, net of recoveries, in the amount of approximately $1.9 million in the three months ended December 31, 2013 and $2.6 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2013. The company asserted the right to offset amounts owed to it by the 2009 Entity under a revolving promissory note (the “Revolving Note”) related to the 2009 RSA, net of recoveries, of $0 in the three months ended December 31, 2013 and $8.0 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2013. Approximately $6.8 million of the amount that the company claimed as an offset against the Revolving Note in the twelve months ended December 31, 2013 related to the company’s election under the 2009 RSA to discharge its guarantee obligations with respect to certain defaulted private education loans under the 2009 Loan Program. The company recorded all amounts claimed as offsets in Other current liabilities on its Consolidated Balance Sheet. The company has also elected to accelerate the timing of certain guarantee payments to the 2009 Entity that the company would otherwise be required to make at a later date, in order to discharge its guarantee obligations under the 2009 RSA related to certain 2009 Loan Program private education loans that default (“Discharge Payments”). The amount of Discharge Payments that the company made in the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2013 was $0.9 million. | |
In addition, the company has made advances to the 2009 Entity under the Revolving Note. The Revolving Note bears interest, is subject to customary terms and conditions and may be repaid at any time without penalty prior to its 2026 maturity date. The company has no immediate plans to significantly increase the amount of advances that it makes to the 2009 Entity under the Revolving Note, but the company may decide to do so in the foreseeable future. The face value of the Revolving Note as of December 31, 2013 was approximately $8.2 million. The carrying value of the Subordinated Note (defined below in footnote (b)) and Revolving Note as of December 31, 2013 was approximately $2.5 million and is included in Prepaid expenses and other current assets on the company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet. For additional information about the 2009 RSA, see the company’s Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on October 29, 2013. | |
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(b) On January 20, 2010, the company entered into agreements with unrelated third parties to establish the PEAKS Private Student Loan Program (“PEAKS Program”). Under the PEAKS Program, an unaffiliated lender originated private education loans to the company’s eligible students and, subsequently, sold those loans to an unaffiliated trust (“PEAKS Trust"). | |
The PEAKS Trust issued senior debt in the aggregate principal amount of $300 million (“PEAKS Senior Debt”) to investors. The lender disbursed the proceeds of the private education loans to the company for application to the students’ account balances, and the company transferred a portion of each disbursement to the PEAKS Trust in exchange for a subordinated note issued by the PEAKS Trust (“Subordinated Note”). No new private education loans were or will be originated under the PEAKS Program after July 2011, but immaterial amounts related to loans originated prior to that date were disbursed by the lender through March 2012. | |
The Subordinated Note is non-interest bearing and has been recorded net of an unamortized discount based on an imputed interest rate of 9.0% in Other assets on the company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. The maturity date of the Subordinated Note is in March 2026. The face value of the Subordinated Note as of December 31, 2013 was approximately $73.0 million. | |
The PEAKS Trust utilized the proceeds from the issuance of the PEAKS Senior Debt and the Subordinated Note to purchase the private education loans made by the lender to the company’s students. The assets of the PEAKS Trust (which include, among other assets, the private education loans owned by the PEAKS Trust) serve as collateral for, and are intended to be the principal source of, the repayment of the PEAKS Senior Debt and the Subordinated Note. The PEAKS Trust is required to maintain assets having an aggregate value that exceeds the outstanding balance of the PEAKS Senior Debt. | |
The company guarantees payment of the principal and interest owed on the PEAKS Senior Debt, the administrative fees and expenses of the PEAKS Trust and the required ratio of assets of the PEAKS Trust to outstanding PEAKS Senior Debt (“PEAKS Guarantee”). The company made guarantee payments related to the PEAKS Program to the PEAKS Trust in the amount of approximately $1.0 million in the three months ended December 31, 2013 and $2.4 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2013. In addition, the company has made payments on behalf of certain student borrowers under the PEAKS Program to the organization that services the student loans on behalf of the PEAKS Trust to help those borrowers avoid defaulting on their PEAKS Program private education loans (“Payments on Behalf of Borrowers”), which defaults would have triggered contractually required payments by the company under the PEAKS Program. The company made Payments on Behalf of Borrowers in the amount of $3.9 million in the three months ended December 31, 2013 and $11.5 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2013. | |
The carrying value of the Subordinated Note and Revolving Note as of December 31, 2013 was approximately $2.5 million and is included in Prepaid expenses and other current assets on the company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet. For additional information about the PEAKS Program, see the company’s Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on October 29, 2013. | |
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(c) Projected free cash flow is an estimate of the company’s operating cash flow adjusted for restricted cash and capital expenditures, net. Projected free cash flow is not a measurement under GAAP in the United States and may not be similar to free cash flow measures used by other companies. The company’s management utilizes free cash flow as a measure of cash generated from operations, and the company believes that projected free cash flow provides useful information to investors regarding the amount of cash that the company estimates that it will generate from operations over a certain period. |
Projected free cash flow is only an estimate and contains forward-looking information. The company has made a number of assumptions in preparing the projections, including assumptions as to the components of the projected free cash flow. These assumptions may not prove to be correct. In order to provide projections with respect to free cash flow, the company must estimate amounts for the GAAP measures that are components of the reconciliation of projected free cash flow. By providing these estimates, the company is in no way indicating that it is providing projections on those GAAP components of the reconciliation. The projected free cash flow and component amounts are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and do not guarantee actual results for the period indicated. Factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected include those discussed in the documents that the company files with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of the projections, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. |
Projected free cash flow can be reconciled to the company’s projected net cash flows from operating activities, as follows: |
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