Perdoceo Education Corporation

for the Serial Education Corporation first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute all throughout the presentation to prevent any background noise. Thank you. I would like to turn the call over to Sam Gibbons, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Kathleen. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2024 earnings call. With me on the call today is Todd Nelson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Ashish Gia, Chief Financial Officer. This conference call is being webcast live within the investor relations section at ProdocioED.com. A webcast replay will also be available on our site, and you can always contact the Alpha IR Group for investor relations support. Let me remind you that this afternoon's earnings release and remarks made today include forward-looking statements as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to Prodocio Education and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results, performance, business prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors identified in Prodocio's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as expressly required by the securities laws, the company undertakes no obligation to update those factors or any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, developments, or change circumstances, or for any other reason. In addition, Today's remarks refer to non-GAAP financial measures, which are intended to supplement but not substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. The earnings released that accompanies today's call contains financial and other quantitative information to be discussed today, as well as the reconciliation of the GAAP to non-GAAP measures, and is available within the investor relations page of the company's website. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Todd Nelson. Todd?

Thank you, Sam. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2024 earnings call. I'll discuss some of the key highlights from the first quarter, and then Ashish will review our operating and financial performance in more detail and provide an updated outlook for the year. However, before we begin, I'd like to thank our faculty, student support staff, and all other employees for their ongoing commitment and hard work in serving and educating our students. We ended 2023 on a strong note as it relates to student retention and engagement, and these trends have persisted in the first quarter. As a result, first quarter operating results came in ahead of our expectations discussed on the last earnings call, primarily due to better than expected student engagement trends. Before we discuss first quarter results, following are some of the key observations and highlights for the quarter. We continue to experience strong levels of student retention and engagement at both CTU and AIUS, and we expect to operate at these levels through the remainder of 2024, while our faculty and student support teams remain focused on educating and serving our students. Marketing and admission spend and, commensurately, prospective student inquiry generation was lower during the first quarter as compared to 2023. Aided by data analytics, we continue to adjust marketing strategies to further improve our focus on identifying prospective students who are more likely to succeed at one of our universities, as well as comply with updated expectations from various federal agencies around prospective student outreach. We remain focused on investing in and improving processes that support our corporate engagement programs. These programs remain a focus and priority of both institutions and will continue to make necessary investments in staff and technology to further grow the programs in an efficient and effective manner. We continue to place an emphasis on investing in and utilizing technology to evaluate the academic experiences of our students and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our institution's academic and student support functions. We view technology as a catalyst and differentiator for us and remain committed to making selective investments that deliver a more meaningful and relevant education experience for our learners. A quick note on our operating results. First quarter results came in ahead of our expectations. We reported first quarter net income of 39.4 million, or 59 cents per diluted share, while adjusted earnings per diluted share, which excludes certain significant and non-cash items, was 60 cents. From an enrollment perspective, first quarter total student enrollments grew approximately 28.5% at CTU as compared to the prior year quarter, ending primarily driven by a positive timing impact from the academic calendar. As expected and discussed on last quarter's earnings call, AAU system experienced a decline in total student enrollments, which were lower by 22.9% as compared to the prior year quarter. As previously shared, AIUS had mostly reverted to normalized operations during the fourth quarter of 2023 and, consistent with our expectations, experienced an approximate 30% increase in total enrollments for the first quarter as compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 low point. Ashish will provide more details on enrollment trends later. In summary, we are pleased with the first quarter operating results and are proud of our team whose hard work and dedication are helping us drive stronger student engagement while enhancing academic experiences across our academic institutions. With that said, I'd like to now turn the time over to Ashish for a deeper review of our operating and financial performance. Ashish?