Leases

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Leases [Abstract]

Leases

Leases

Laureate conducts a significant portion of its operations at leased facilities. These facilities include our corporate headquarters, other office locations, and many of Laureate's higher education facilities. Laureate analyzes each lease agreement to determine whether it should be classified as a finance lease or an operating lease. As a result of adopting ASC Topic 842 on January 1, 2019, we recorded on our balance sheet significant asset and liability balances associated with the operating leases, as described further below.

Finance Leases

Our finance lease agreements are for property and equipment. The lease assets are included within buildings as well as furniture, equipment and software and the related lease liability is included within debt and finance leases on the consolidated balance sheet.

Operating Leases

Our operating lease agreements are primarily for real estate space and are included within operating lease right-of-use (ROU) assets and operating lease liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The terms of our operating leases vary and generally contain renewal options. Certain of these operating leases provide for increasing rent over the term of the lease. Laureate also leases certain equipment under noncancellable operating leases, which are typically for terms of 60 months or less.

ROU assets represent our right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. ROU assets and lease liabilities are recognized at the commencement date of the lease based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. Our variable lease payments consist of non-lease services related to the lease. Variable lease payments are excluded from the ROU assets and lease liabilities and are recognized in the period in which the obligation for those payments is incurred. As most of our leases do not provide an implicit rate, we use our incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. Many of our lessee agreements include options to extend the lease, which we do not include in our minimum lease terms unless they are reasonably certain to be exercised. Rental expense for lease payments related to operating leases is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. On occasion, Laureate has entered into sublease agreements for certain leased office space; however, the sublease income from these agreements is immaterial.

Rent Concessions

The Company has taken actions with respect to certain of its existing leases, including engaging with landlords to discuss rent deferrals, as well as other rent concessions. Consistent with the updated guidance from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in April 2020, the Company has elected the practical expedient for rent concessions where the total payments required by the modified contract are substantially the same or less than the total payments required by the original contract. In those cases, the Company treated the rent concessions as if there were no modification to the lease contract and accounted for these rent concessions as variable lease payments.