One of my colleagues in culinary just sent this to me, good thing I left last quarter.
Dear Colleagues:
The last several years have brought enormous change to the higher education landscape and, specifically, to our education systems. The shifting landscape, coupled with the vast amount of debt and fixed operating costs inherited when Dream Center Education Holdings (DCEH) acquired the education systems from Education Management Corporation (EDMC) in October 2017, has brought significant challenges to our operations. As the next phase of our transformation plan for these institutions, there is an important update we are communicating today.
DCEH has negotiated a corporate restructuring with assistance from the U.S. Department of Education (DoE), our senior lenders and other strategic partners that is designed to ultimately allow South University, Art Institutes and Argosy University to thrive as independent university systems run by autonomous Boards of Trustees and not weighted down by the enormous corporate overhead left from EDMC.
The restructuring includes:
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The ownership of South University (South) was transferred to an independent non-profit foundation not affiliated with DCEH. Steve Yoho will continue to serve in his capacity as Interim Chancellor.
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Argosy University (Argosy) remains in its current state of ownership affiliated with DCEH while we negotiate a new strategic partnership for Argosy. Cynthia Baum will continue to serve in her capacity as Chancellor. Western State College of Law (WSCL) will be separately incorporated, but still affiliated with Argosy.
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The ownership of The Art Institutes (Ai’s) not being taught-out were transferred to an independent non-profit foundation not affiliated with DCEH. The respective Ai’s Institutional Presidents will continue to serve in their current capacities.
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We will continue evaluation of all campus locations across education systems to determine where students can best be served.
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A new managed service provider not affiliated with DCEH has been engaged to provide the necessary technology, services and support (enrollment, marketing, student services, and career services) that will be needed to maintain operations at Ai as well as at South and Argosy. They will be working with DCEH to align staff and services over the next few weeks.
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DCEH’s lenders have provided bridge financing to DCEH to help in this restructuring.
This restructuring is significant and, as such, the important work of partnering closely with our accreditors, state licensing bodies and the DoE will continue in order to provide favorable outcomes for our students.
Thank you for your unwavering support of our students. Make no mistake, they are the reason we all do what we do. You will continue to be informed as this restructuring plan is implemented.