Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE)

CIK: 0001434588. SIC: 8200 Services-Educational Services. Latest 10-K as of: 2026-02-18.

SIC breadcrumb: Services > SIC Major Group 82 > SIC 8200 Services-Educational Services

SEC company page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1434588. Latest filing source: 0001104659-26-017047.

Selected Fundamentals

Financials

Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-18. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001434588.json. Derived margins are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.

Flow metrics use full-year FY periods from 10-K/10-K/A filings; balance-sheet metrics use FY-end instants. Missing metrics are omitted rather than fabricated.

Financial Charts

Quarterly

Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-04-30. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001434588.json.

Flow metrics use discrete quarter-length periods from 10-Q/10-Q/A filings. Q4 revenue and net income are derived only when annual FY and nine-month YTD facts exist for the same fiscal year; derived Q4 values are labeled. EPS Q4 is not derived.

Quarterly Charts

Macro Cross-References

• CPIAUCSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average
• UNRATE - Unemployment Rate
• FEDFUNDS - Federal Funds Effective Rate
• CES0500000003 - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
• DFEDTARU - Federal Funds Target Range - Upper Limit
• DFEDTARL - Federal Funds Target Range - Lower Limit
• DGS3MO - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 3-Month Constant Maturity
• DGS2 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 2-Year Constant Maturity
• DGS10 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity
• DGS30 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity
• T10Y2Y - 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity
• CPILFESL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items Less Food and Energy
• CPIUFDSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food
• CPIENGSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Energy
• CUSR0000SAH1 - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Shelter
• PCEPI - Personal Consumption Expenditures: Chain-type Price Index
• PCEPILFE - Personal Consumption Expenditures Excluding Food and Energy: Chain-type Price Index
• PPIACO - Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities
• T10YIE - 10-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate
• U6RATE - Total Unemployed, Plus All Marginally Attached Workers Plus Total Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons
• PAYEMS - All Employees, Total Nonfarm
• CIVPART - Labor Force Participation Rate
• EMRATIO - Employment-Population Ratio
• UNEMPLOY - Unemployed
• CE16OV - Employment Level
• ICSA - Initial Claims
• JTSJOL - Job Openings: Total Nonfarm
• JTSQUR - Quits: Total Nonfarm
• GDPC1 - Real Gross Domestic Product
• A191RL1Q225SBEA - Real Gross Domestic Product: Percent Change from Preceding Period
• INDPRO - Industrial Production: Total Index
• TCU - Capacity Utilization: Total Index
• HOUST - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started: Total Units
• PERMIT - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units
• RSAFS - Advance Retail Sales: Retail Trade
• PCE - Personal Consumption Expenditures
• DSPIC96 - Real Disposable Personal Income
• PSAVERT - Personal Saving Rate
• M2SL - M2
• BOPGSTB - U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Balance
• MSPUS - Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States
• HSN1F - New One Family Houses Sold: United States
• RHORUSQ156N - Homeownership Rate in the United States
• TTLCONS - Total Construction Spending: Total Construction in the United States
• RRVRUSQ156N - Rental Vacancy Rate in the United States
• TOTALSL - Total Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
• REVOLSL - Revolving Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
• DRCCLACBS - Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans, All Commercial Banks
• GDP - Gross Domestic Product
• GPDI - Gross Private Domestic Investment
• GCE - Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment
• PCEC - Personal Consumption Expenditures
• NETEXP - Net Exports of Goods and Services
• GFDEBTN - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt
• GFDEGDQ188S - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product
• FYFSD - Federal Surplus or Deficit
• FGRECPT - Federal Government Current Receipts
• FGEXPND - Federal Government: Current Expenditures
• MANEMP - All Employees, Manufacturing
• USCONS - All Employees, Construction
• USTRADE - All Employees, Retail Trade
• USFIRE - All Employees, Financial Activities
• USGOVT - All Employees, Government
• AWHAETP - Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private
• DGORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Durable Goods
• NEWORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
• BUSINV - Total Business Inventories
• EXPGS - Exports of Goods and Services
• IMPGS - Imports of Goods and Services
• IR - Import Price Index (End Use): All Commodities
• PPIFIS - Producer Price Index by Commodity: Final Demand

Latest quarter (10-Q)

Latest 10-Q source: 0001104659-26-052898.

Extracted between Part I Item 2 and the next Item 3/4 or Part II heading after HTML sanitization. Confidence: high. Filing date: 2026-04-30. Report date: 2026-03-31.

Item 2.   Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes that appear elsewhere in this report.

Forward-Looking Statements

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including Item 2, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding: proposed new programs; statements as to whether regulatory developments or other matters may or may not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations, or liquidity; statements concerning projections, predictions, expectations, estimates, or forecasts as to our business, financial and operational results, and future economic performance; and statements of management’s goals and objectives and other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Words such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar expressions, the negative of these expressions, as well as statements in future tense, identify forward-looking statements. You can also identify forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions of management.

Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made or management’s good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to:

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legal and regulatory actions taken against us related to our services business, or against our university partners that impact their businesses and that directly or indirectly reduce the service revenue we can earn under our master services agreements;

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the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of any of the key university partner agreements;

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our ability to properly manage risks and challenges associated with strategic initiatives, including potential acquisitions or divestitures of, or investments in, new businesses, acquisitions of new properties and new university partners, and expansion of services provided to our existing university partners;

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our failure to comply with the extensive regulatory framework applicable to us either directly as a third-party service provider or indirectly through our university partners, including Title IV of the Higher Education Act and the regulations thereunder, state laws and regulatory requirements, and accrediting commission requirements, and the results of related legal and regulatory actions that arise from such failures;

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the harm to our business, results of operations, and financial condition, and harm to our university partners resulting from epidemics, pandemics, or public health crises;

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the harm to our business and our ability to attract and retain students resulting from capacity constraints, system disruptions, or security breaches in our online computer networks and phone systems;

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the ability of our university partners’ students to obtain federal Title IV funds, state financial aid, and private financing;

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potential damage to our reputation or other adverse effects as a result of negative publicity in the media, in the industry or in connection with governmental reports or investigations or otherwise, affecting us or other companies in the education services sector;

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risks associated with changes in applicable federal and state laws and regulations and accrediting commission standards, including pending rulemaking by the United States Department of Education applicable to us directly or indirectly through our university partners;

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competition from other education service companies in our geographic region and market sector, including competition for students, qualified executives and other personnel;

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our expected tax payments and tax rate;

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our ability to hire and train new employees, and develop and train existing employees;

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the pace of growth of our university partners’ enrollment and its effect on the pace of our own growth;

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fluctuations in our revenues due to seasonality;

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our ability, on behalf of our university partners, to convert prospective students to enrolled students and to retain active students to graduation;

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our success in updating and expanding the content of existing programs and developing new programs in a cost-effective manner or on a timely basis for our university partners;

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risks associated with the competitive environment for marketing the programs of our university partners;

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failure on our part to keep up with advances in technology that could enhance the experience for our university partners’ students;

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our ability to manage future growth effectively;

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the impact of any natural disasters or public health emergencies; and

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general adverse economic conditions or other developments that affect the job prospects of our university partners’ students.

Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those described in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and in “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “2025 Form 10-K”) for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 18, 2026, and as updated in our subsequent reports filed with the SEC, including any updates found in Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or our other reports on Form 10-Q. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions, or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. If we do update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

Executive Overview

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the “Company” or “GCE”) is a publicly traded education services company dedicated to serving colleges and universities. GCE has developed significant technological solutions, infrastructure and operational processes to provide services to these institutions on a large scale. GCE’s most significant university partner is Grand Canyon University (“GCU”), a comprehensive regionally accredited university that offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs, emphases and certificates across ten colleges both online and on ground at its campus in Phoenix, Arizona, and at 11 off-campus classroom and laboratory sites.

We also provide education services to numerous university partners across the United States. In the healthcare field, we work in partnership with a number of top universities and healthcare networks, offering healthcare-related academic programs at off-campus classroom and laboratory sites located near healthcare providers and developing high-quality, career-ready graduates who enter the workforce ready to meet the demands of the healthcare industry. In addition, we have provided certain services to a university partner to assist them in expanding their online graduate programs. As of March 31, 2026, GCE provides education services to 20 university partners across the United States.

We plan to continue to add additional university partners and to introduce additional programs with both our existing partners and with new partners. We may engage with both new and existing university partners to offer healthcare programs, online only or hybrid programs, or, as is the case for our most significant partner, GCU, both

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healthcare and other programs. We do disclose significant information for GCU, such as enrollments, due to its size in comparison to our other university partners.

Critical Accounting Policies and Use of Estimates

Our critical accounting policies are disclosed in the 2025 Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. During the three months ended March 31, 2026, there were no significant changes in our critical accounting policies.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth certain income statement data as a percentage of revenue for each of the periods indicated. Amortization of intangible assets has been excluded from the table below:

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Three Months Ended

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March 31, 

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2026

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2025

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Costs and expenses

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Technology and academic services

14.6

%  

14.4

%  

Counseling services and support

29.8

30.0

Marketing and communication

20.7

20.9

General and administrative

3.3

3.6

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Three Months Ended March 31, 2026 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2025

Service revenue. Our service revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $308.8 million, an increase of $19.5 million, or 6.7%, as compared to service revenue of $289.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025. The increase year over year in service revenue was primarily due to an increase in university partner enrollments of 7.1% to 136,884 at March 31, 2026 as compared to 127,779 at March 31, 2025. GCU enrollments increased to 132,354 at March 31, 2026, an increase of 6.9% over enrollments at March 31, 2025. University partner enrollments at our off-campus classroom and laboratory sites were 5,961, an increase of 18.6% over enrollments at March 31, 2025, which includes 1,431 and 1,021 GCU students at March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively. Excluding sites that have been closed or are in teach out, total enrollments at our off-campus classroom and laboratory sites increased 20.3% between years. Revenue per student decreased slightly between years primarily due to contract modifications with some of our university partners in which our revenue share percentage was reduced in exchange for us no longer reimbursing these partners for certain faculty costs which had the effect of reducing revenue per student and a slight decline year over year in revenue per student for online students due to the continued mix shift to students that have a slightly lower net tuition rate and a slight decline year over year in ground students which generate a higher revenue per student than online students. These decreases were partially offset by an additional day of revenue for the ground campus due to the start date shifting one day of revenue from the second quarter to the first quarter in 2026 which had a $1.0 million impact and the service revenue per student for accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (“ABSN”) students at off-campus classroom and laboratory sites generating a si

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Latest 10-K MD&A

Extracted between Item 7 and the next Item 7A/8 heading after HTML sanitization. Confidence: high. Filing date: 2026-02-18. Report date: 2025-12-31.

Item 7.      Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes that appear in Item 8, Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. In addition to historical information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, particularly in Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and in Item 1A, Risk Factors.

Executive Overview

GCE is a publicly traded education services company dedicated to serving colleges and universities. GCE has developed significant technological solutions, infrastructure and operational processes to provide services to these institutions on a large scale. GCE’s most significant university partner is GCU, a comprehensive regionally accredited university that offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs, emphases and certificates across ten colleges both online, on ground at its campus in Phoenix, Arizona and at 11 off-campus classroom and laboratory sites.

We also provide education services to numerous university partners across the United States. In the healthcare field, we work in partnership with universities and healthcare networks across the country, offering healthcare-related academic programs at off-campus classroom and laboratory sites located near healthcare providers and developing high-quality, career-ready graduates, who enter the workforce ready to meet the demands of the healthcare industry. In addition, we have provided certain services to a university partner to assist them in expanding their online graduate programs. As of December 31, 2025, GCE provides education services to 20 university partners across the United States.

We seek to add additional university partners and to introduce additional programs with both our existing partners and with new partners. We may engage with both new and existing university partners to offer healthcare programs, online only or hybrid programs, or, as is the case for our most significant partner, GCU, both healthcare and other programs. In addition, we have centralized a number of services that historically were provided separately to university partners of Orbis Education; therefore, we refer to all university partners as “GCE partners” or “our partners”. We do disclose significant information for GCU, such as enrollments, due to its size in comparison to our other university partners.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. During the preparation of these consolidated financial statements, we are required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, costs and expenses, and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions, including those discussed below. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. The results of our analysis form the basis for making assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions, and the impact of such differences may be material to our consolidated financial statements.

We believe that the following critical accounting policies involve our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements:

Revenue recognition. GCE generates all of its revenue through services agreements with its university partners (“Services Agreements”), pursuant to which GCE provides integrated technology and academic services, marketing and communication services, and as applicable, certain back office services to its university partners in return for a percentage of tuition and fee revenue.

GCE’s Services Agreements have a single performance obligation, as the promises to provide the identified services are not distinct within the context of these agreements. The single performance obligation is delivered as our partners receive and consume benefits, which occurs ratably over a series of distinct service periods (daily or semester). Service revenue is recognized over time using the output method of measuring progress towards complete satisfaction of the single performance obligation. The output method provides a faithful depiction of the performance toward complete

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satisfaction of the performance obligation and can be tied to the time elapsed which is consumed evenly over the service period and is a direct measurement of the value provided to our partners. The service fees received from our partners over the term of the agreement are variable in nature in that they are dependent upon the number of students attending the university partner’s program and revenues generated from those students during the service period. Due to the variable nature of the consideration over the life of the service arrangement, GCE considered forming an expectation of the variable consideration to be received over the service life of this one performance obligation. However, since the performance obligation represents a series of distinct services, GCE recognizes the variable consideration that becomes known and billable because these fees relate to the distinct service period in which the fees are earned. GCE meets the criteria in ASC 606 Revenue from Contracts with Customers and exercises the practical expedient to not disclose the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the single performance obligation that is unsatisfied as of the end of the reporting period. GCE does not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations because the directly allocable variable consideration is allocated entirely to a wholly unsatisfied promise to transfer a service that forms part of a single performance obligation. The service fees are calculated and settled per the terms of the Services Agreements and result in a settlement duration of less than one year for all partners. There are no refunds or return rights under the Services Agreements.

Income taxes. We recognize the amount of taxes payable or refundable for the current year and deferred tax assets and liabilities for future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our consolidated financial statements or tax returns. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the temporary differences are expected to be realized. Our deferred tax assets are subject to periodic recoverability assessments. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount that more likely than not will be realized. Realization of the deferred tax assets is principally dependent upon achievement of projected future taxable income offset by deferred tax liabilities. We evaluate the realizability of the deferred tax assets annually. Since becoming a taxable corporation in August 2005, we have not recorded any valuation allowances to date on our deferred income tax assets. We evaluate and account for uncertain tax positions using a two-step approach. Recognition occurs when we conclude that a tax position based solely on its technical merits, is more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination. Measurement determines the amount of benefit that is greater than 50% likely to be realized upon the ultimate settlement with a taxing authority that has full knowledge of the facts. Derecognition of a tax position that was previously recognized occurs when we determine that a tax position no longer meets the more-likely-than-not threshold of being sustained upon examination. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, GCE has reserved approximately $16,824 and $14,626, respectively, for uncertain tax positions, including interest and penalties.

Results of Operations

For a discussion of the results of operations for fiscal year 2024 vs 2023, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 incorporated herein by reference.

The following table sets forth certain income statement data as a percentage of revenue for each of the periods indicated. Amortization of intangible assets have been excluded from the table below:

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Year Ended December 31,

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2025

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2024

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Costs and expenses

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Technology and academic services

15.8

%  

16.0

%  

Counseling services and support

31.0

31.3

Marketing and communication

20.7

20.6

General and administrative

4.3

4.5

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Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2024

Service revenue. Our service revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $1,106.1 million, an increase of $73.1 million, or 7.1%, as compared to service revenue of $1,033.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The increase year over year in service revenue was primarily due to an increase in partner enrollments of 7.1% to 136,239 at December 31, 2025 as compared to 127,155 at December 31, 2024. GCU enrollments increased to 131,826 at December 31, 2025, an increase of 7.0% over enrollments at December 31, 2024. University partner enrollments at our off-campus

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classroom and laboratory sites were 5,738, an increase of 16.6% over enrollments at December 31, 2024, which includes 1,325 and 913 GCU students at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Excluding sites closed in 2024 to new enrollments, total enrollments at our off-campus classroom and laboratory sites increased 18.7% between years. Revenue per student was flat between years primarily due to the additional day for leap year in 2024 which added additional service revenue of $1.5 million as compared to the current year, due to contract modifications for some of our university partners in which the revenue share percentage was reduced in exchange for us no longer reimbursing these partners for certain faculty costs, a slight decline year over year in revenue per student for online students due to the continued mix shift to students that have a slightly lower net tuition rate, and due to a slight decline in residential students between years. These decreases were offset by the service revenue per student for ABSN students at off-campus classroom and laboratory sites generating a significantly higher revenue per student than we earn under our agreement with GCU, as these agreements generally provide us with a higher revenue share percentage, the partners have higher tuition rates than GCU and the majority of our partners’ students take more credits on average per semester.

We opened six sites in the year ended December 31, 2024 and opened five new sites in the year ended December 31, 2025 while closing two sites in which we stopped recruiting new students in 2024 and merged two sites that were located in the same market bringing the total number of these sites to 47 at December 31, 2025. This has also positively impacted the enrollment growth. Enrollments for GCU ground students were 24,678 at December 31, 2025 up from 24,552 at December 31, 2024. GCU online enrollments were 107,148 at December 31, 2025, up from 98,597 at December 31, 2024, an increase of 8.7% between years.

Technology and academic services. Our technology and academic services expenses for the year ended December 31, 2025 were $175.1 million, an increase of $10.0 million, or 6.0%, as compared to technology and academic services expenses of $165.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This increase was primarily due to increases in other technology and academic costs, in occupancy and depreciation costs and in employee compensation and related expenses, including share-based compensation and benefit costs of $6.2 million, $1.9 million and $1.9 million, respectively. The increases in other technology and academic costs and occupancy and depreciation were primarily due to the costs associated with the increased number of off-campus classroom and laboratory sites to support our 20 university partners and their increased enrollment growth as well as an increase in technology costs and curriculum cost reimbursements to our university partners. The increase in employee compensation and related expenses is primarily due to increased headcount to support our 20 university partners and their increased enrollment growth, tenure-based salary adjustments, a significant year over year increase in benefit costs and the increased number of off-campus classroom and laboratory sites year over year. Our technology and academic services expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased by 0.2% to 15.8% for the year ended December 31, 2025, from 16.0% for the year ended December 31, 2024. This decrease was primarily due to the contract modifications for some of our university partners in which the revenue share percentage was reduced in exchange for us no longer reimbursing these partners for certain faculty costs, partially offset by increased technology costs and curriculum cost reimbursements. We anticipate that technology and academic services expenses will increase in the future as we open more off-site classroom and laboratory sites and due to increased technology costs and curriculum cost reimbursements and that these costs as a percentage of revenue could grow as these costs grow at rates higher than revenue growth.

Counseling services and support. Our counseling services and support expenses for the year ended December 31, 2025 were $342.7 million, an increase of $19.2 million, or 5.9%, as compared to counseling services and support expenses of $323.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This increase was primarily attributable to increases in employee compensation and related expenses including share-based compensation and benefits and in occupancy and depreciation costs of $18.9 million and $1.6 million, respectively. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in other counseling services and support expenses of $1.3 million, respectively. The increases in employee compensation including share-based compensation and benefits were primarily due to increased headcount to support our university partners, and their planned increases in enrollment, tenure-based salary adjustments, a significant year over year increase in benefit costs and the increased number of off-campus classroom and laboratory sites open year over year. The increase in occupancy and depreciation is primarily related to higher depreciation expense associated with our continued enhancements to technology infrastructure and internal-use software development. The decrease in other counseling services and support expenses is primarily the result of decreased travel costs for our 20 university partners. Our counseling services and support expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased 0.3% to 31.0% for the year ended December 31, 2025, from 31.3% for the year ended December 31, 2024 primarily due to our ability to leverage our counseling services and support expenses across an increasing revenue base. We anticipate that counseling services and

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support expense will increase in the future as we continue to invest to meet our partners’ needs and these costs as a percentage of revenue could increase in the future.

Marketing and communication. Our marketing and communication expenses for the year ended December 31, 2025 were $229.2 million, an increase of $16.8 million, or 7.9%, as compared to marketing and communication expenses of $212.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This increase was primarily attributable to the increased cost to market our university partners’ programs and to the marketing of new university partners and new locations which resulted in increased advertising of $15.2 million, increased employee compensation, including share-based compensation and benefits of $1.5 million and an increase in occupancy and depreciation costs of $0.1 million. Our marketing and communication expenses as a percentage of revenue slightly increased by 0.1% to 20.7% for the year ended December 31, 2025, from 20.6% for the year ended December 31, 2024. We anticipate that marketing and communication expenses will increase in the future as we continue to invest to meet our partners’ needs and these costs as a percentage of revenue could increase in the future.

General and administrative. Our general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2025 were $47.4 million, an increase of $1.1 million, or 2.4%, as compared to general and administrative expenses of $46.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase in other general and administrative expenses of $1.7 million and an increase in professional fees including legal costs of $0.3 million. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in employee compensation, including share-based compensation of $0.9 million, which is primarily due to $1.1 million in severance costs recorded in the prior year for an executive that resigned June 30, 2024. The increase in other general and administrative expenses is due to an increase in contributions in lieu of state income taxes of $0.5 million, an increase in charitable contributions of $0.5 million and an increase in fixed asset disposals of $0.5 million from the downsizing of our Indiana office space. Our general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased by 0.2% to 4.3% for the year ended December 31, 2025, from 4.5% for the year ended December 31, 2024, primarily due to our ability to leverage our general and administrative expenses across an increasing revenue base. We anticipate that general and administrative expenses will increase in the future and these costs as a percentage of revenue could increase in the future.

Litigation settlement. A litigation settlement of $35.0 million was recorded in the year ended December 31, 2025 related to the settlement of the qui tam lawsuit.

Lease termination, impairment and other. We incurred $2.4 million in lease termination and impairment charges in the year ended December 31, 2025 related to leases. In the third quarter of 2025, we agreed to pay $1.3 million to early terminate our Indiana office space lease effective in June 2027. We also entered into a sublease of that space for the period from January 2026 to June 2027 and entered into a new lease for a much smaller space effective January 2026. Additionally, an impairment was recorded in the amount of $1.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2025 for the two off-campus classroom and laboratory sites that were closed during the year. We incurred impairment and other expenses of $1.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 due to the write-off of an internal use software project that the Company had been attempting to develop for its other university partners that has been terminated and costs relating to exiting certain off-campus classroom and laboratory sites.

Amortization of intangible assets. Amortization of intangible assets for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 were $8.4 million for both periods. As a result of the Orbis Education acquisition in 2019, certain identifiable intangible assets were created (primarily customer relationships) that will be amortized over their expected lives.

Investment interest and other. Investment interest and other for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $13.9 million, a decrease of $2.0 million, as compared to $15.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 due to slightly lower investment balances and returns on our investment balances and the recognition of a loss on an equity investment in the second quarter of 2025 of $0.5 million.

Income tax expense. Income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $63.7 million, a decrease of $1.4 million, or 2.2%, as compared to income tax expense of $65.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. Our effective tax rate was 22.8% during the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to 22.3% during the year ended December 31, 2024. The increase in the effective tax rate was primarily due to the tax treatment of the litigation settlement recorded in the year ended December 31, 2025 and changes in state income taxes. The effective tax rate increases were partially offset due to an increase in excess tax benefits of $2.7 million as compared to $1.5 million in the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The inclusion of excess tax benefits and deficiencies as a component of our income tax expense increases the volatility within our provision for income taxes as the amount of

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excess tax benefits or deficiencies from share-based compensation awards are dependent on our stock price at the date the restricted stock awards vest. Our restricted stock awards vest in March each year so any benefit or expense will primarily impact the first quarter each year. The effective tax rate was also favorably impacted by an increase in contributions made in lieu of state income taxes to $5.0 million as compared to $4.5 million in the prior year.

Net income. Our net income for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $216.2 million, a decrease of $10.0 million, or 4.4% as compared to $226.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, due primarily to the litigation settlement and the other factors discussed above.

Seasonality

Our service revenue and operating results normally fluctuate as a result of seasonal variations in our business, principally due to changes in our university partners’ enrollment. Our partners’ enrollment varies as a result of new enrollments, graduations, and student attrition. Service revenues in the summer months (May through August) are lower primarily due to the majority of GCU’s traditional ground students not attending courses during the summer months, which affects our results for our second and third fiscal quarters. Since a significant amount of our costs are fixed, the lower revenue resulting from the decreased summer enrollment has historically contributed to lower operating margins during those periods. Partially offsetting this summer effect has been the sequential quarterly increase in enrollments that has occurred as a result of the traditional fall school start. This increase in enrollments also has occurred in the first quarter, corresponding to calendar year matriculation. Thus, we experience higher net revenue in the fourth quarter due to its overlap with the semester encompassing the traditional fall school start and in the first quarter due to its overlap with the first semester of the calendar year. A portion of our expenses do not vary proportionately with these fluctuations in net revenue, resulting in higher operating income in the first and fourth quarters relative to other quarters. We expect quarterly fluctuation in operating results to continue as a result of these seasonal patterns.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

As of December 31,

(In thousands)

​

2025

​

2024

Cash, cash equivalents and investments

​

$

300,079

​

$

324,623

Overview

Our liquidity position, as measured by cash and cash equivalents and investments decreased by $24.5 million between December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2025, which was largely attributable to cash expended for share repurchases and capital expenditures exceeding our cash provided by operations during the year ended December 31, 2025. Our unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and investments were $300.1 million and $324.6 million at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Based on our current level of operations and anticipated growth, we believe that our cash flow from operations and other sources of liquidity, including cash and cash equivalents and investments, will provide adequate funds for ongoing operations, planned capital expenditures, and working capital requirements for at least the next 24 months.

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Year Ended December 31,

(In thousands)

​

2025

​

2024

Net cash provided by operating activities

​

$

273,491

​

$

289,958

The decrease in cash generated from operating activities between the year ended December 31, 2024 and the year ended December 31, 2025 was primarily due to the decline in net income between years due primarily to the litigation settlement and changes in working capital balances. Accounts payable increased by $9.7 million between December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024 compared to the decrease of $3.4 million between December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2025, a decline year over year in cash provided by operating activities of $13.1 million due to timing of vendor payments. Income tax receivable/payable amounts decreased by $0.9 million between December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024 compared to the decrease of $7.1 million between December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2025, a $6.2 million decrease year over year in cash provided by operating activities due to timing of income tax payments. Deferred tax liability amounts decreased by $0.2 million between December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024 compared to the increase of $14.7 million between December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2025, representing an increase in cash provided by operating activities of $14.9 million due to the acceleration of certain tax deductions and the passage of the

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One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 3, 2025. We define working capital as the assets and liabilities, other than cash, generated through the Company’s primary operating activities. Changes in these balances are included in the changes in assets and liabilities presented in the consolidated statement of cash flows.

Cash Flows from Investing Activities

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Year Ended December 31,

(In thousands)

​

2025

​

2024

Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities

​

$

(221,594)

​

$

61,365

Investing activities consumed $221.6 million of cash in the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to providing $61.4 million of cash in the year ended December 31, 2024.

Cash provided by or used in investing activities includes net investment activity. In the year ended December 31, 2025, the purchase of available-for-sale securities, net of proceeds from the sale of investments were $186.2 million. In the year ended December 31, 2024, proceeds from the sale of investments, net of purchases of available-for-sale securities were $99.0 million as the Company sold all its investments in the third quarter of 2024 and the proceeds were held in cash and cash equivalents until being reinvested in early 2025.

In the year ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 cash used in investing activities also included capital expenditures totaling $34.8 million and $37.2 million, respectively. Capital expenditures for both periods primarily consisted of leasehold improvements and equipment for new off-campus classroom and laboratory sites, as well as purchases of computer equipment, internal use software projects and furniture and equipment to support our increasing employee headcount. The Company incurs upfront expenses and capital expenditures prior to an off-campus classroom and laboratory site being opened. The Company intends to continue to spend approximately $30.0 million to $40.0 million per year for capital expenditures.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Year Ended December 31,

(In thousands)

​

2025

​

2024

Net cash used in financing activities

​

$

(264,758)

​

$

(173,175)

Financing activities consumed $264.8 million of cash in the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to $173.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2024.

During the year ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, $255.3 million and $165.4 million, respectively was used to purchase treasury stock in accordance with GCE’s share repurchase program. In 2025 and 2024, $9.5 million and $7.8 million, respectively, of cash was utilized to purchase common shares withheld in lieu of income taxes resulting from the vesting of restricted share awards. The Company intends to continue using a significant portion of its cash flows from operations to repurchase its shares.

Share Repurchase Program

On December 10, 2025, our Board of Directors increased the authorization under its existing stock repurchase program by $300.0 million, reflecting an aggregate authorization for share repurchases since the initiation of the program of $2,545.0 million. The current expiration date on the repurchase authorization by our Board of Directors is March 1, 2027. Repurchases occur at the Company’s discretion and the Company may modify, suspend or discontinue the repurchase authorization at any time.

Under our share repurchase authorization, we may purchase shares in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, pursuant to the applicable SEC rules. The amount and timing of future share repurchases, if any, will be made as market and business conditions warrant.

Since 2011, we have repurchased 25.4 million shares of common stock at an aggregate cost of $2,200.6 million, which includes 1,479,796 shares of common stock at an aggregate cost of $255.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2025.

Contractual Obligations

Our contractual obligations primarily consist of capital expenditures primarily for new off-campus classroom and laboratory sites opening and continued spend on computer equipment, software licenses, internal software

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development and furniture and equipment to support our increasing employee headcount. See Note 6 - Leases, in Item 8, Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. There are no other material contractual obligations or commitments for the Company.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements that have had or are reasonably likely to have a material current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures, or capital resources as of December 31, 2025.

Adjusted EBITDA (Non-GAAP Financial Measure)

In addition to our GAAP results, we use Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure of our operating performance and as part of our compensation determinations. Adjusted EBITDA is not required by or presented in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income, or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP, or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of our liquidity.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income plus interest expense, less interest income and other gain (loss) recognized on investments, plus income tax expense, plus depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), as adjusted for (i) contributions to private Arizona school tuition organizations in lieu of the payment of state income taxes; (ii) share-based compensation, and (iii) unusual charges or gains, such as litigation and regulatory reserves, impairment charges and asset write-offs, and exit or lease termination costs. We present Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, because we consider it to be an important supplemental measure of our operating performance. We also make certain compensation decisions based, in part, on our operating performance, as measured by Adjusted EBITDA. All of the adjustments made in our calculation of Adjusted EBITDA are adjustments to items that management does not consider to be reflective of our core operating performance. Management considers our core operating performance to be that which can be affected by our managers in any particular period through their management of the resources that affect our underlying revenue and profit generating operations during that period and does not consider the items for which we make adjustments (as listed above) to be reflective of our core performance.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA allows us to compare our current operating results with corresponding historical periods and with the operational performance of other companies in our industry because it does not give effect to potential differences caused by variations in capital structures (affecting relative interest expense, including the impact of write-offs of deferred financing costs when companies refinance their indebtedness), tax positions (such as the impact on periods or companies of changes in effective tax rates or net operating losses), the book amortization of intangibles (affecting relative amortization expense), and other items that we do not consider reflective of underlying operating performance. We also present Adjusted EBITDA because we believe it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors, and other interested parties as a measure of performance.

In evaluating Adjusted EBITDA, investors should be aware that in the future we may incur expenses similar to the adjustments described above. Our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by expenses that are unusual, non-routine, or non-recurring. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool in that, among other things, it does not reflect:

●

cash expenditures for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;

●

changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital requirements;

●

interest expense, or the cash required to replace assets that are being depreciated or amortized; and

●

the impact on our reported results of earnings or charges resulting from the items for which we make adjustments to our EBITDA, as described above and set forth in the table below.

In addition, other companies, including other companies in our industry, may calculate these measures differently than we do, limiting the usefulness of Adjusted EBITDA as a comparative measure. Because of these limitations, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as a substitute for net income, operating income, or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP, or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of our liquidity. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and use Adjusted EBITDA only as a supplemental performance measure. For more information, see our consolidated financial

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statements and the notes to those consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The following table reconciles net income to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods indicated:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Year Ended December 31,

​

  ​ ​ ​

2025

  ​ ​ ​

2024

  ​ ​ ​

Net income

​

$

216,170

​

$

226,234

​

Less: investment interest and other

​

(13,941)

​

(15,916)

​

Plus: income tax expense

​

63,681

​

65,081

​

Plus: amortization of intangible assets

​

​

8,419

​

​

8,419

​

Plus: depreciation and amortization

​

31,483

​

28,135

​

EBITDA

​

305,812

​

311,953

​

Plus: contributions in lieu of state income taxes(a)

​

5,000

​

4,500

​

Plus: share-based compensation(b)

​

​

13,639

​

​

14,225

​

Plus: litigation and regulatory costs(c)

​

​

40,486

​

​

6,203

​

Plus: lease termination, impairment and other(d)

​

2,411

​

1,897

​

Plus: loss on disposal of fixed assets(e)

​

​

941

​

​

102

​

Plus: severance costs(f)

​

​

299

​

​

1,133

​

Adjusted EBITDA

​

$

368,588

​

$

340,013

​

(a)

Represents contributions to various private Arizona school tuition organizations to assist with funding for education. In connection with such contributions made, we received a dollar-for-dollar state income tax credit, which resulted in a reduction in our effective income tax rate to 22.8% and 22.3% for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Had these contributions not been made, our effective tax rate would have been 24.1% and 23.5% for 2025 and 2024, respectively. Such contributions are viewed by our management to be made in lieu of payments of state income taxes and are therefore excluded from evaluation of our core operating performance.

(b)

Reflects share-based compensation expense.

(c)

Reflects regulatory litigation and includes the qui tam settlement of $35.0 million.

(d)

Reflects $2.4 million in lease termination and impairment charges in the year ended December 31, 2025, related to leases from the termination of our Indiana office space and exit from two off-campus classroom and laboratory sites in 2025. In 2024, reflects the write-off of an internal use software project that the Company had been attempting to develop for its other university partners that has been terminated and costs relating to exiting certain off-campus classroom and laboratory sites.

(e)

Represents loss on fixed asset disposals.

(f)

Represents severance costs.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in Item 8, Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.