Significant Accounting Policies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

The VIEs in Brazil and Mexico include several not-for-profit foundations that have insignificant revenues and operating expenses. Selected Consolidated Statements of Operations information for VIEs that are included in continuing operations was as follows, net of the charges related to the above-described contractual arrangements:



For the years ended December 31,	2017			2016			2015
Selected Statements of Operations information:
Revenues, by segment:
Brazil	$	104		$	—		$	—
Mexico	—			—			9
Andean	418,019			380,111			363,369
Rest of World	—			20,206			32,993
Revenues	418,123			400,317			396,371

Depreciation and amortization	26,899			28,351			29,529

Operating (loss) income, by segment:
Brazil	(1		)	(80		)	(18		)
Mexico	(876		)	(967		)	(1,330		)
Andean	(4,858		)	(17,120		)	(12,837		)
Rest of World	—			4,201			4,316
Operating loss	(5,735		)	(13,966		)	(9,869		)

Net income attributable to Laureate Education, Inc.	13,035			3,309			4,911

Included in net income for the VIEs in the table above is non-operating investment income that was recorded by three of the Chilean institutions relating to investments that these institutions have in a for-profit, education-related real estate subsidiary of Laureate in Chile. This non-operating investment income, which eliminated in consolidation, totaled $11,696, $11,061 and $10,297 for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Income attributable to Laureate Education, Inc. related to VIEs that are included in discontinued operations totaled $30,145, $29,724 and $6,627 for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The following table reconciles the Net income (loss) attributable to Laureate Education, Inc. as presented in the table above, to the amounts in our Consolidated Statements of Operations:



For the years ended December 31,	2017			2016			2015
Net income (loss) attributable to Laureate Education, Inc.:
Variable interest entities	$	13,035		$	3,309		$	4,911
Other operations including discontinued operations	513,205			550,058			125,363
Corporate and eliminations	(434,775		)	(181,520		)	(446,522		)
Net income (loss) attributable to Laureate Education, Inc.	$	91,465		$	371,847		$	(316,248	)

The following table presents selected assets and liabilities of the consolidated VIEs. Except for Goodwill, the assets in the table below include the assets that can be used only to settle the obligations for the VIEs. The liabilities in the table are liabilities for which the creditors of the VIEs do not have recourse to the general credit of Laureate.

Selected Consolidated Balance Sheet amounts for these VIEs were as follows:



	December 31, 2017				December 31, 2016
	VIE		Consolidated		VIE		Consolidated
Balance Sheets data:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	100,971	$	320,567	$	72,540	$	295,785
Current assets held for sale	170,229		324,668		125,250		261,864
Other current assets	136,115		643,459		124,420		558,217
Total current assets	407,315		1,288,694		322,210		1,115,866

Goodwill	183,812		1,828,365		171,233		1,786,554
Tradenames	74,484		1,167,302		68,922		1,153,348
Other intangible assets, net	—		35,779		—		46,035
Long-term assets held for sale	369,375		1,224,672		361,781		1,169,634
Other long-term assets	384,593		1,846,473		384,967		1,791,097
Total assets	1,419,579		7,391,285		1,309,113		7,062,534

Current liabilities held for sale	183,166		451,569		191,489		433,529
Other current liabilities	157,981		923,020		129,433		1,006,768
Long-term liabilities held for sale	84,760		405,747		84,477		395,945
Long-term debt and other long-term liabilities	23,654		3,609,670		18,898		4,205,067
Total liabilities	449,561		5,390,006		424,297		6,041,309

Total stockholders' equity	970,018		1,587,282		884,816		664,392
Total stockholders' equity attributable to Laureate Education, Inc.	948,966		1,575,164		866,997		632,210

Schedule of balances of the allowance for doubtful accounts

The reconciliations of the beginning and ending balances of the Allowance for doubtful accounts were as follows:



For the years ended December 31,	2017			2016			2015
Balance at beginning of period	$	169,014		$	132,149		$	136,898
Additions: charges to bad debt expense	111,003			98,564			97,067
Additions: charges to other accounts ^(a)	—			6,589			—
Deductions ^(b)	(97,052		)	(68,288		)	(101,816		)
Balance at end of period	$	182,965		$	169,014		$	132,149

^(a) Charges to other accounts includes reclassifications.

^(b) Deductions includes accounts receivable written off against the allowance (net of recoveries), reclassifications, and foreign

currency translation. The beginning and ending balances of the Allowance for doubtful accounts include the current

portion, as shown on the face of Consolidated Balance Sheets, in addition to the noncurrent portion that is included in

Notes receivable, net on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Laureate’s financing receivables balances were as follows:



	December 31, 2017			December 31, 2016
Financing receivables	$	20,380		$	26,591
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(6,472		)	(7,086		)
Financing receivables, net of allowances	$	13,908		$	19,505

Schedule of depreciation and amortization periods

Depreciation and amortization periods are as follows:



Buildings	10-50 years
Furniture, equipment and software	2-10 years
Leasehold improvements	2-25 years

Schedule of components of revenue

The following table shows the components of Revenues as a percentage of total net revenue for the periods presented:



For the years ended December 31,	2017					2016					2015
Tuition and educational services	$	3,874,402		114	%	$	3,648,244		110	%	$	3,650,138		107	%
Student fees	88,108			3	%	77,860			2	%	83,805			2	%
Dormitory / residency	6,118			—	%	42,555			1	%	62,006			2	%
Other	170,344			5	%	154,699			5	%	168,230			5	%
Gross revenue	4,138,972			122	%	3,923,358			118	%	3,964,179			116	%
Less: Discounts / waivers / scholarships	(753,096		)	(22	)%	(621,494		)	(18	)%	(564,405		)	(16	)%
Total	$	3,385,876		100	%	$	3,301,864		100	%	$	3,399,774		100	%

- Definition

Tabular disclosure of the significant judgments and assumptions made in determining whether a variable interest (as defined) held by the entity requires the variable interest entity (VIE) (as defined) to be consolidated and (or) disclose information about its involvement with the VIE, individually or in aggregate (as applicable); the nature of restrictions, if any, on the consolidated VIE's assets and on the settlement of its liabilities reported by an entity in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets and liabilities; the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with involvement in the VIE; how involvement with the VIE affects the entity's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows; the lack of recourse if creditors (or beneficial interest holders) of the consolidated VIE have no recourse to the general credit of the primary beneficiary (if applicable); the terms of arrangements, giving consideration to both explicit arrangements and implicit variable interests, if any, that could require the entity to provide financial support to the VIE, including events or circumstances that could expose the entity to a loss; the methodology used by the entity for determining whether or not it is the primary beneficiary of the variable interest entity; the significant factors considered and judgments made in determining that the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the VIE's economic performance are shared (as defined); the carrying amounts and classification of assets and liabilities of the VIE included in the statement of financial position; the entity's maximum exposure to loss, if any, as a result of its involvement with the VIE, including how the maximum exposure is determined and significant sources of the entity's exposure to the VIE; a comparison of the carrying amounts of the assets and liabilities and the entity's maximum exposure to loss; information about any liquidity arrangements, guarantees, and (or) other commitments by third parties that may affect the fair value or risk of the entity's variable interest in the VIE; whether or not the entity has provided financial support or other support (explicitly or implicitly) to the VIE that it was not previously contractually required to provide or whether the entity intends to provide that support, including the type and amount of the support and the primary reasons for providing the support; and supplemental information the entity determines necessary to provide.

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