Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2022

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Contingencies

CONTINGENCIES

Litigation, Legal and Other Matters.  The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to complaints and administrative proceedings and are defendants in various civil lawsuits that have arisen in the ordinary course of their businesses, including contract disputes; actions alleging negligence, libel, defamation and invasion of privacy; trademark, copyright and patent infringement; violations of employment laws and applicable wage and hour laws; and statutory or common law claims involving current and former students and employees. Although the outcomes of the legal claims and proceedings against the Company cannot be predicted with certainty, based on currently available information, management believes that there are no existing claims or proceedings that are likely to have a material effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. However, based on currently available information, management believes it is reasonably possible that future losses from existing and threatened legal, regulatory and other proceedings in excess of the amounts recorded could reach approximately $15 million.

In 2015, Kaplan sold substantially all of the assets of the KHE Campuses (KHEC) business to Education Corporation of America. In 2018, certain subsidiaries of Kaplan contributed the institutional assets and operations of KU to a new university: an Indiana nonprofit, public-benefit corporation affiliated with Purdue University, known as Purdue University Global. Kaplan could be held liable to the current owners of KU and the KHEC schools related to the pre-sale conduct of the schools, and the pre-sale conduct of the schools has been and could be the subject of future compliance reviews, regulatory proceedings or lawsuits that could result in monetary liabilities or fines or other sanctions. On May 6, 2021, Kaplan received a notice from the Department of Education (ED) that it would be conducting a fact-finding process pursuant to the borrower defense to repayment (BDTR) regulations to determine the validity of more than 800 BDTR claims and a request for documents related to several of Kaplan’s previously owned schools. Beginning in July 2021, Kaplan started receiving the claims and related information requests. In total, Kaplan received 1,449 borrower defense applications that seek discharge of approximately $35 million in loans (excluding interest). Most claims received are from former KU students. The ED’s process for adjudicating these claims is subject to the borrower defense regulations but it is not clear to what extent the ED will exclude claims based on the underlying statutes of limitations, evidence provided by Kaplan, or any prior investigation related to schools attended by the student applicants.

On June 22, 2022, the ED filed a joint motion for approval of a settlement agreement in Sweet, et al. vs. Cardona, a case pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Kaplan is not a party to this case. This case was brought in 2019 by a purported class of borrowers demanding that the ED adjudicate all pending borrower defense claims. The settlement proposes that the ED will discharge the loans for students who borrowed to attend any school on a specified list. The list includes approximately 150 schools, including Bauder College, Mount Washington College, Kaplan Career Institute and Kaplan College, as well as Purdue University Global (encompassing the former Kaplan University). This proposed settlement would cover all claims to which Kaplan has previously responded to the ED and may also include new claims for which Kaplan has not received any information or which may still be filed prior to any final approval of the settlement by the court. ED has clarified that while attendance at one of the listed schools justifies presumptive relief for the borrowers, inclusion on the list is not a finding of misconduct by the school and does not provide an evidentiary basis upon which ED could rely to take action against any of the schools. In its July 25, 2022 filing, the ED stated that the proposed settlement in Sweet “creates no independent basis for action against the schools” and “any concrete consequences on the schools – financial or otherwise—could be imposed only after the ED initiates a separate, future proceeding...” The proposed settlement agreement will not be effective unless and until it achieves final court approval; a hearing on the

preliminary settlement approval is scheduled for later in August 2022. In the event the settlement is approved, the ED will likely be required to separately fully adjudicate the borrowers’ claims under the borrower defense rules process if it wishes to ultimately apply liability to institutions and seek recoupment of discharged amounts.

In any such process Kaplan believes it has defenses that would bar any student discharge or school liability including that the claims are barred by the applicable statute of limitations, unproven, incomplete and fail to meet regulatory filing requirements. Kaplan will vigorously defend any attempt by the ED to hold Kaplan liable for any ultimate student discharges and is responding to all claims with documentary and narrative evidence to refute the allegations, demonstrate their lack of merit, and support the denial of all such claims by the ED. If the ED grants borrower claims through the BTDR process, the ED may seek reimbursement for the amount discharged from Kaplan. If the ED were to initiate a recoupment action against Kaplan, and that action successfully overcame Kaplan’s defenses, Kaplan could be subject to significant liability.

On July 6, 2022 the ED released the draft Borrower Defense to Repayment rule for comment with the intention of publishing a final rule by November 1, 2022 with an effective date of July 1, 2023. Compared to the previous rule, this new rule in part, would expand actions that can give rise to claims for discharge; provides that the borrower’s claim will be presumed true if the institution does not provide any responsive evidence; provides an easier process for group claims; and relies on current program review penalty hearing processes for discharge recoupment. Under the proposed rule, the recoupment process applies only to loans first disbursed after July 1, 2023; however, the discharge process and standards apply to any pending application regardless of loan date.

In August 2018, Purdue University Global received an updated Provisional Program Participation Agreement (PPPA) from the ED which is necessary for continued participation in the federal Title IV programs after the change in ownership from Kaplan to Purdue. The PPPA expired on June 30, 2021 but was extended to June 30, 2022. Purdue Global submitted its renewed application for recertification in March 2022 which is pending review. The PPPA remains in effect as it is automatically extended on a month to month basis until the ED takes action to approve a full Program Participation Agreement.

In June 2021, the Committee for Private Education (CPE) in Singapore instructed Kaplan Singapore to cease new enrollments for three marketing diploma programs on both a full and part-time basis due to noncompliance with minimum entry level requirements for admission and to teach out existing students in these programs. On August 23, 2021, the CPE issued the same instructions with respect to the Kaplan Foundation diploma and four information technology diploma programs on both a full and part-time basis. In November 2021, the CPE issued the same instructions with respect to a further 23 full-time or part-time diploma programs. Post regulatory action, Kaplan Singapore was still able to offer 449 programs that remained registered with the CPE, out of which there were 16 diplomas, 361 bachelors and the balance of which were certificate and postgraduate courses. In April 2022, Kaplan Singapore applied for re-registration for certain of the diploma programs and in July 2022 received approval from the CPE. In May 2022, CPE also renewed Kaplan Singapore’s registrations as a private education institution for a four year period expiring in 2026. While the regulatory actions by the CPE in 2021 will have a significant adverse impact on Kaplan Singapore’s revenues, operating results and cash flows in the future, the impact is expected to be mitigated as a result of the recently approved registrations of certain impacted programs.