Washington Post Profit Drops as Enrollment Falls at Kaplan Education Unit

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-24/washington-post-profit-drops-22-as-kaplan-enrollment-ad-sales-decline.html

Washington Post Profit Drops as Enrollment Falls at Kaplan Education Unit
By Edmund Lee -

Washington Post Co. (WPO), publisher of the namesake newspaper, said fourth-quarter profit fell 22 percent after enrollment at its Kaplan education unit and print advertising sales declined.

Net income decreased to $61.7 million, or $8.03 a share, from $79 million, or $9.42, a year earlier, the Washington-based company said today in a statement. Revenue declined 10 percent to $1.06 billion.

The Kaplan business, the largest unit accounting for about 60 percent of revenue, has come under government scrutiny along with the rest of the for-profit education industry. Enrollment at Kaplan university and higher-education campuses fell 23 percent from a year earlier. Print ad sales at the Washington Post newspaper decreased 6 percent in the quarter.

Washington Post dropped less than 1 percent to $387.31 at 10 a.m. in New York. The shares had increased 3.2 percent this year before today, compared with an 8.4 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

[Sanity Claws]

1. Does Kaplan education unit include tutoring services?

I learned about 1.5 years ago about money available under NCLB Act that in effect funnels money to this type of tutoring enterprises. What a ripoff!

My guess is that these tutoring services will take a hit now that waivers from NCLB Act are being granted.

[mlevans]

2. I can't pretend to be sorry about this.

Six years ago when Kaplan bought out the school I was teaching at, I and other instructors were let go without notice because they said our campus had too high an instructor-to-student ratio to fit their profit picture. The wheels grind slowly sometimes, but they grind exceedingly fine.