Property and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Property Plant And Equipment [Abstract]

6. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

The cost basis and estimated useful lives of property and equipment as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 are as follows (dollars in thousands):

	December 31,
	2017			2016			Life
Leasehold improvements	$	90,486		$	228,551		Shorter of Life of Lease or Useful Life
Computer hardware and software		105,244			110,013		3 years
Furniture, fixtures and equipment		40,464			59,639		5-10 years
Culinary equipment and library materials ⁽¹⁾		1,522			14,499		10 years
Building and improvements		8,578			8,656		15-35 years
Vehicles		464			502		5 years
Construction in progress		297			67
		247,055			421,927
Less-accumulated depreciation		(213,825	)		(381,415	)
Total property and equipment, net	$	33,230		$	40,512

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(1)	As of December 31, 2017, culinary equipment cost basis was zero.

Depreciation expense for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 was $13.4 million, $21.9 million and $24.8 million, respectively.

There were no asset impairment charges for the year ended December 31, 2017. Property and equipment was affected by asset impairment charges of approximately $1.2 million and $41.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, 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.