Legal and Regulatory Matters	6 Months Ended
Legal and Regulatory Matters	Jun. 30, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]
Legal and Regulatory Matters	Legal and Regulatory Matters Laureate is subject to legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. In management’s opinion, we have adequate legal defenses, insurance coverage, and/or accrued liabilities with respect to the eventuality of these actions. Management believes that any settlement would not have a material impact on Laureate’s financial position, results of operations, or cash flows. Our institutions are subject to uncertain and varying laws and regulations, and any changes to these laws or regulations or their application to us may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Except as set forth below, there have been no material changes to the laws and regulations affecting our higher education institutions that are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, as updated in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. Brazilian Regulation In response to the transition from face-to-face classes to online classes due to COVID-19, legislative assemblies in several Brazilian states have passed laws requiring schools to discount tuition. To date, with respect to the states in which we operate, only Rio de Janeiro and Paraiba have passed such laws. These laws, however, are being challenged in the Brazilian Supreme Court by institutional associations. Measures to restart face-to-face educational activities in Brazil will be implemented on a state-by-state and city-by-city basis. To date, with respect to the states in which we operate, only São Paulo and Pernambuco have authorized the reopening of practical classes. Chilean Regulation On June 15, 2020, the declaration of a State of Constitutional Exception of Catastrophe, which provides broad powers to the government, including the power to limit free movement (quarantine, curfew measures and social isolation), was extended for an additional 90 days. The legislature currently is considering various proposals to provide financial aid to students, including measures that would require the institutions to provide direct financial relief. The Superintendency of Higher Education has instituted an audit of over 45 higher education institutions to oversee the measures adopted in response to the health emergency caused by COVID-19. Four of our institutions—Universidad Andrés Bello, Universidad de Las Américas, Instituto Profesional AIEP and Instituto Profesional Escuela Moderna de Música—are included in this audit. Each of these institutions has provided responses to the Superintendency as part of the audit and will continue to cooperate with any further inquiry. Mexican Regulation On May 29, 2020, the Ministry of Economy, the Health Ministry, the Labor and Social Security Ministry and the Mexican Institute of Social Security issued the Specific Technical Guidelines for the Reopening of Economic Activities, wherein it has established a color-coded sanitary alert system—red, orange, yellow and green—for gradually reopening activities by region (municipality or state). While certain administrative activities have resumed in a limited manner in some regions, face-to-face educational activities will not be permitted to resume until a region is assigned a green color code. Peruvian Regulation While Peru’s national sanity emergency has been extended until September 7, 2020, effective July 1, 2020, Peru entered phase three of its economic reactivation plan, which lifted restrictions on some educational activities, i.e., research and practical classes in laboratories needed for online classes, as well as library services.