Property and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Property Plant And Equipment [Abstract]

8. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

The cost basis and estimated useful lives of property and equipment for continuing operations as of December 31, 2015 and 2014 are as follows (dollars in thousands):

	December 31,
	2015			2014			Life
Leasehold improvements	$	264,282		$	331,867		Shorter of Life of Lease or Useful Life
Computer hardware and software		124,899			126,694		3 years
Furniture, fixtures and equipment		88,776			107,645		5-10 years
Culinary equipment and library materials		17,822			20,404		10 years
Building and improvements		8,657			10,966		15-35 years
Vehicles		533			791		5 years
Construction in progress		2,196			418
		507,165			598,785
Less-accumulated depreciation		(448,916	)		(483,181	)
Total property and equipment, net	$	58,249		$	115,604

Depreciation expense for continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 was $24.8 million, $52.6 million and $61.1 million, respectively. Depreciation expense for discontinued operations, included in (loss) income from discontinued operations, was zero for the year ended December 31, 2015 and $2.0 million and $10.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Property and equipment was affected by asset impairment charges of approximately $41.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 and $25.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2014, primarily as a result of the reduction in carrying values for campuses that are being taught out, decisions made to exit certain leased facilities, and for certain long-lived assets which were expected to generate negative cash flows through the respective lease end dates and as such the carrying values were not recoverable. The fair value for these assets was determined based upon management’s assumptions regarding an estimated percentage of replacement value for similar assets and estimated salvage values. Because the determination of the estimated fair value of these assets requires significant estimation and assumptions, these fair value measurements are categorized as Level 3 per ASC Topic 820.

For assets with remaining fair value existing at our teach-out campuses, depreciation expense will be recorded over the shorter of the remaining useful life or the teach-out date for the campus.