XML 25 R10.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.20.2
Revenue from Contracts with Customers
 12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
Revenue from Contract with Customer Revenue from Contracts with Customers
Nature of Goods and Services
See Note 2 “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” for a description of the nature of revenues.
Postsecondary Education
Revenues consist primarily of student tuition and fees derived from the programs we provide after reductions are made for discounts and scholarships that we sponsor and for refunds for students who withdraw from our programs prior to specified dates. We apply the five-step model outlined in ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts from Customers. Tuition and fee revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the course or program offered. The majority of our programs are designed to be completed in 36 to 90 weeks, and our advanced training programs range from 12 to 23 weeks in duration. We supplement our revenues with sales of textbooks and program supplies and other revenues, which are recognized as the transfer of goods or services occurs. Deferred revenue represents the excess of tuition and fee payments received as compared to tuition and fees earned and is reflected as a current liability in our condensed consolidated balance sheets because it is expected to be earned within the next 12 months.
Additionally, certain students participate in a proprietary loan program that extends repayment terms for their tuition.  We purchase said loans from the lender and, based on historical collection rates, believe a portion of these loans are collectible. Accordingly, we recognize tuition and loan origination fees financed by the loan and any related interest revenue under the effective interest method required under the loan based on the amount we expect to collect, and we recognize these revenues ratably over the term of the course or program offered.
Other
We provide dealer technician training or instructor staffing services to manufacturers. Revenues are recognized as transfer of the services occurs.
We provide postsecondary education and other services in the same geographical market, the United States. The impact of economic factors on the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows is consistent among our various postsecondary education programs. See Note 19 “Segment Information” for disaggregated segment revenue information.
Contract Balances
Contract assets primarily relate to our rights to consideration for a student’s progress through our training program in relation to our services performed but not billed at the reporting date. The contract assets are transferred to the receivables when the rights become unconditional. Currently, we do not have any contract assets that have not transferred to a receivable. Our deferred revenue is considered a contract liability and primarily relates to our enrollment agreements where we received payments for tuition but we have not yet delivered the related training programs to satisfy the related performance obligations. The advance consideration received from students or Title IV funding is deferred revenue until the training program has been delivered to the students.
The following table provides information about receivables and contract liabilities from contracts with customers:
September 30, 2020September 30, 2019
Receivables, which includes Tuition and Notes Receivable$53,144 $44,629 
Deferred revenue$40,694 $42,886 

During the year ended September 30, 2020, the contract liabilities balance included decreases for revenues recognized during the period and increases related to new students who started school during the period.
Transaction Price Allocated to the Remaining Performance Obligations
Tuition and fee revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the course or program offered. The majority of our programs are designed to be completed in 36 to 90 weeks, and our advanced training programs range from 12 to 23 weeks in duration.
Impacts of COVID-19
On March 19, 2020, we suspended all in person classes at all of our campuses for the safety and protection of our students and staff, to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and to comply with state and local orders and restrictions. Upon the suspension of all in person classes, we provided all students with the opportunity to take a leave of absence or to continue their education via an online curriculum. We do not recognize revenue while a student is on a leave of absence. On March 25, 2020, we began offering the classroom portion of our training online so that the more than 8,000 students who elected to remain active in the program could continue their education remotely. As our training is a combination of classroom lectures and hands-on labs, there is a portion of most classes that cannot be delivered online and needs to be completed in-person at the campus lab.

During the year ended September 30, 2020, as campuses were able to reopen, we transitioned our on-campus, in-person education model to a blended training model that combines instructor-facilitated online teaching and demonstrations with hands-on labs. In May 2020, we resumed in-person labs at eight of our campus locations. Four of our campuses resumed in-person labs in June 2020, and our final campus resumed in-person labs in Bloomfield, New Jersey on July 1, 2020. On-campus labs have been re-designed to meet the health, safety and social distancing guidelines imposed by the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) and state and local jurisdictions, while still meeting our accreditation and curriculum requirements.

Upon the initial resumption of in-person labs, once a student returned to campus for in-person labs, under the new guidelines it takes on average approximately six to nine weeks for that student to catch up on the lab work that he was unable to complete during the campus closure and prior to his return. As of September 30, 2020, approximately 5% of students had not returned to campus to complete the in-person labs and remain only in the online portion of the curriculum, essentially only completing half of each course, while approximately 28% of students were completing catch up labs, but over an extended period of time. We continue to recognize revenue ratably over the term of the course or program offered, taking into consideration those only completing the online curriculum, and the catch-up period for active students and the impact it has on expected graduation dates. As a result, as of September 30, 2020, we had deferred revenue of $6.1 million.