Strayer Education, Inc
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
69710_For pdf_only 4/4/06 4:32 PM Page 1 S TRAYER E DUCATION,INC. 2005 Annual Report 69710_For pdf_only 4/4/06 4:32 PM Page 2 G REG B LANCHE Systems Engineer, NETCONN Solutions, Inc. Bachelor of Science in Internetworking Technology ’03 reg Blanche values leadership. As an enlisted soldier in the U.S. Army he rose G through the ranks from Technician to Supervisor. When he left the service after 11 years he aspired to a management position in information technology, but knew he needed the formal credentials to be competitive in the civilian job market. Mr. Blanche was nervous about returning to school as an adult student after so many years. It was a relief to learn that some of his Army training and real-world experience could be translated into college credit. Strayer University’s admissions officers and academic advisors helped him determine the best course of study to suit his strengths and help him meet his career goals. “The hands-on experience I gained at Strayer University gave me the opportunity for a promotion onto the management track,” Mr. Blanche says. “I am now well- positioned to be a leader at my company and in my field.” 69710_GROFF 4/3/06 4:36 PM Page 1 O UR M ISSION To make high quality post-secondary education achievable for working adults trayer Education, Inc. is a for-profit education students at 39 physical campuses in the eastern United S services corporation. Our mission is to make high States, and worldwide over the Internet through quality, post-secondary education achievable for Strayer University Online. The University’s programs working adults. We work to fulfill this mission by are designed to fit the lives of working adults who are offering a variety of academic programs through pursuing college educations to advance their careers Strayer University, an institution of higher learning and personal goals. Strayer University provides founded in 1892. The University offers undergraduate students a unique educational environment that is and graduate degrees in business administration, supportive of working adults and offers the conven- accounting, health services administration, information ience and flexibility of attending evening, weekend or technology, education and public administration. online classes. Strayer University is regionally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, one of the Since Strayer’s establishment more than 100 years ago, six regional college accrediting agencies recognized by its mission of providing the finest education to adult the U.S. Department of Education. students has remained unchanged. The introduction from Strayer’s 1912 student catalog, reprinted below, is Today, Strayer University educates more than 27,000 testimony to the continuity of our commitment. INTRODUCTION FROM THE STRAYER 1912 STUDENT CATALOG This catalog was written with a view of setting before the men and women of this community some of the advantages of a business education, and of acquainting them with the superior facilities of this school for giving high-grade business training. The courses have been designed and presented to meet the needs of the business office of today. The teachers are men and women who are specialists in their respective subjects. The school rooms have been chosen and equipped with special reference to light, comfort and sanitation, so as to make it an ideal place for study. We ask that the public, in determining which school it shall attend, to consider the facts in connection with this school, as are outlined in this catalog and supplementary literature. It is twenty years old. It has grown steadily since the beginning. It attributes its growth to correct ideals, careful management and successful, enthusiastic, and rapidly increasing alumni. While it is essential to its success that a school should give thorough instruction in the subjects that comprise its courses, yet the school that Strayer’s campus does only this, falls short of its full mission. The development of those traits of circa 1912 character which make for reliability in business and good citizenship are the peculiar province of the school as well as the home. This school, then, has nothing in common, can have nothing in common, with those so-called business schools offering cheap and superficial courses. Such courses, while inexpensive, and possibly of short duration, cannot result in anything but disappointment in the end. This school, then, stands for high ideals, it courts investigation, welcomes comparison, and stands by its promises. It is a school to which you may attend with the knowledge that you will be in pleasant surroundings, will be accorded fair treatment, and will be given thorough and painstaking instruction. Finally, in presenting this catalog, we want to thank a discerning public for its support, and assure it that we shall endeavor to continue to merit the bountiful confidence it has heretofore placed in us. 1 69710_GROFF 4/3/06 4:36 PM Page 2 S ELECTED F INANCIAL D ATA Student Enrollment Revenues Operating Income Fall Quarter 26 250 75 23 200 60 20 150 45 17 100 30 14 50 15 $52,900,000 $65,500,000 $74,900,000 $41,200,000 $33,500,000 $183,200,000 $220,500,000 $147,000,000 $116,700,000 $92,900,000 16,532 23,539 27,305 14,009 20,138 01 02 03 04 05 01 02 03 04 05 01 02 03 04 05 Net Income Earnings Per Share (diluted) 50 3.00 40 2.50 30 2.00 20 1.50 10 1.00 $1.78 $1.55 $2.27 $2.74 $3.26 $41,200,000 $48,100,000 $33,700,000 $22,800,000 $25,800,000 01 02 03 04 05 01 02 03 04 05 W ILLIAM R EHA,M.D. Surgeon, Potomac Hospital Master of Business Administration ’98 r.William Reha believes success is not enough. That’s why he returned to school Dfor a master’s degree even after establishing a thriving surgical practice. The former Hospital Chief of Staff had assumed new administrative and management responsibilities, and wanted the finance and business skills to back them up. Examining patients and spending long hours in the operating room left Dr. Reha with little free time for traditional graduate courses. Strayer University’s flexible degree program allowed him to keep up with his patients and his studies—and still have time for his two children. “Strayer University’s graduate programs were designed for working professionals like me,” Dr. Reha says. “I was able to balance work and family obligations while gaining the business education I needed to operate a successful private clinical practice.” 2 69710_GROFF 4/3/06 4:36 PM Page 3 L ETTER TO S HAREHOLDERS R OBERT S. SILBERMAN Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Dear Fellow Shareholder, n this letter I would like to update you on Strayer In 2005, we sought and IEducation, Inc.’s progress in 2005, and highlight the received authorization to opportunities and challenges we face in 2006. In addi- open campuses in the tion, as 2005 marked the fifth year of current manage- state of Delaware, making ment’s stewardship of Strayer Education, I also intend Strayer University the in this letter to revisit those assumptions about the first for-profit university business which informed our strategy five years ago, to gain such approval. In and measure those assumptions against our actual 2005, we also saw signifi- experience. Reprinted on page 8 of this annual report cant growth in the three is an excerpt from my 2001 letter to shareholders new master’s degree programs we introduced in early which describes our strategy for increasing the value of 2004: Education, Health Services Administration, Strayer Education. The excerpt also describes what and Public Administration. In June we graduated the our company actually does, and how our business first class from these programs, and by the end of the model generates both reported net income and distrib- year the programs had grown to over 1,500 students, utable cash flow for our shareholders. Factual updates or approximately 6% of our total student population. in the excerpt are italicized and reflect positive devel- opments since 2001. Shareholders who are new to During 2005, our out-of-area online unit, through Strayer, or those long term shareholders who wish to which we serve students in markets in which we do review our strategy and business model, should read not operate campuses, grew by approximately 40%, the excerpt on page 8 before reading this letter. increasing to over 3,000 students for the fall term. Of course, we make our online courses available to all our In 2005, Strayer University continued to expand its campus based students as well, and by year end over geographic footprint by successfully opening five new half of our student population had taken some, or all, of campuses. These included two campuses in Tampa, their classes online. As I have described in previous let- Florida (our first beachhead in that state) and one ters, we view Strayer University Online as an integral campus each in Greensboro, North Carolina; Columbia, and fully integrated part of Strayer University. We South Carolina; and Atlanta, Georgia. While four of encourage all our students to take classes at the location these campuses were in new markets for us, we are they find most convenient, either at any of our physical pleased that all five campuses are growing their stu- campuses or online. Our challenge as university dent and faculty populations on or ahead of our model administrators is to ensure consistently high standards for campus growth. This year we also enjoyed solid of academic quality in all of our classrooms, be they performance from those campuses we opened in physical or virtual.