Consolidated Income Statements (Unaudited) - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017
Income Statement [Abstract]
Net revenue	$ 275,681	$ 248,206
Costs and expenses:
Instructional costs and services	111,027	102,574
Admissions advisory and related	34,854	31,972
Advertising	25,715	24,631
Marketing and promotional	2,684	2,460
General and administrative	11,309	9,941
Total costs and expenses	185,589	171,578
Operating income	90,092	76,628
Interest expense	(346)	(580)
Interest and other income	981	2
Income before income taxes	90,727	76,050
Income tax expense	17,046	20,138
Net income	$ 73,681	$ 55,912
Earnings per share:
Basic income per share	$ 1.55	$ 1.20
Diluted income per share	$ 1.52	$ 1.16
Basic weighted average shares outstanding	47,432	46,748
Diluted weighted average shares outstanding	48,397	48,070

Admissions advisory and related expenses.

No definition available.

Name:	lope_AdmissionsAdvisoryAndRelatedExpenses
Namespace Prefix:	lope_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Costs directly attributable to educational services, including salaries and benefits for full-time faculty, administrators and academic advisors, and costs associated with adjunct faculty. Also includes costs for educational supplies such as books, costs associated with academic records and graduation, costs associated with collections from our students such as bad debt expense, and other university services such as evaluating transcripts.

+ References

No definition available.