Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements - Effect of Restatement on Affected Line Items on Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income (Detail) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income Data:
Revenue	$ 238,096	$ 260,459	$ 476,019		$ 545,521
Costs and expenses:
Cost of educational services	116,276	123,541	236,391		247,717
Student services and administrative expenses	97,547	98,335	196,785		200,056
Legal and professional fees related to certain lawsuits, investigations and accounting matters	8,380	213	13,927		1,713
Provision for PEAKS Trust student loan losses	9,071	4,319	9,071		4,319
Total costs and expenses	231,274	226,408	456,174		457,608
Operating income	6,822	34,051	19,845		87,913
(Loss) on consolidation of PEAKS Trust	0	0	0		(73,248)
Interest income	15	25	34		59
Interest (expense)	(7,211)	(7,369)	(19,023)		(10,943)
Income (loss) before provision for income taxes	(374)	26,707	856		3,781
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	(222)	6,503	249		849
Net income (loss)	$ (152)	$ 20,204	$ 607	$ (29,956)	$ 2,932
Earnings (loss) per share:
Basic	$ (0.01)	$ 0.86	$ 0.03		$ 0.13
Diluted	$ (0.01)	$ 0.86	$ 0.03		$ 0.12
Weighted average shares outstanding:
Basic	23,459	23,414	23,453		23,406
Diluted	23,459	23,550	23,651		23,516
As Previously Reported [Member]
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income Data:
Revenue	$ 238,096		$ 476,019
Costs and expenses:
Cost of educational services	116,276		236,391
Student services and administrative expenses	97,547		196,785
Legal and professional fees related to certain lawsuits, investigations and accounting matters	8,380		13,927
Provision for PEAKS Trust student loan losses	9,071		9,071
Total costs and expenses	231,274		456,174
Operating income	6,822		19,845
(Loss) on consolidation of PEAKS Trust	0		0
Interest income	15		34
Interest (expense)	(6,263)		(13,164)
Income (loss) before provision for income taxes	574		6,715
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	182		2,701
Net income (loss)	$ 392		$ 4,014
Earnings (loss) per share:
Basic	$ 0.02		$ 0.17
Diluted	$ 0.02		$ 0.17
Weighted average shares outstanding:
Basic	23,459		23,453
Diluted	23,785		23,815
Interest Method Adjustment [Member]
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income Data:
Revenue	$ 0		$ 0
Costs and expenses:
Cost of educational services	0		0
Student services and administrative expenses	0		0
Legal and professional fees related to certain lawsuits, investigations and accounting matters	0		0
Provision for PEAKS Trust student loan losses	0		0
Total costs and expenses	0		0
Operating income	0		0
(Loss) on consolidation of PEAKS Trust	0		0
Interest income	0		0
Interest (expense)	(948)		(5,859)
Income (loss) before provision for income taxes	(948)		(5,859)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	(404)		(2,452)
Net income (loss)	$ (544)		$ (3,407)
Earnings (loss) per share:
Basic	$ (0.03)		$ (0.04)
Diluted	$ (0.03)		$ (0.04)
Weighted average shares outstanding:
Basic	0		0
Diluted	(326)		(164)