Universal Technical Institute (UTI) provided an update on its transformation plan and commentary on 2018 new student starts.
UTI’s transformation plan, which is focused on strategic investments in marketing and admissions, retention and student services, is progressing and serving as a foundation for new student-start growth and improved graduation rates. The transformation plan initiatives, combined with continued execution on the metro campus strategy, have already had a positive impact on student starts:
- The total number of students who started school in the fourth quarter increased 8.5% to 6,022 compared to the prior year fourth quarter, with 48.1% of the start growth coming from UTI’s new Bloomfield, N.J., campus, which opened in August.
- High school student starts grew 13.6% percent, reflecting a 390-basis point improvement in the show rate, compared to the prior year fourth quarter.
- Adult show rate improved by 50 basis points, but student starts were even with the prior year fourth quarter. The strong labor market and historically low unemployment rates continue to pressure this segment.
- Overall, new student starts for fiscal 2018 were up 1.2% compared to 2017, marking the first student-start growth in eight years.
“The successes to date demonstrate the focused work and passion of our team in partnership with our educational consultant,” said Kim McWaters, president and CEO of UTI. “We appreciate our partner’s efforts to help UTI improve business processes and strategies to better meet the needs of students and our industry partners. We have now successfully developed the internal capability and expertise to execute our transformation plan without the ongoing support of our consultant. As a result, we have exited the contractual relationship, and expect significant financial savings associated with this decision.”
UTI will file an 8-K today regarding the updated status of its consulting agreement with the aforementioned educational consultant.
Management plans to report full operational results on its fourth quarter and full year 2018 in a conference call on Nov. 29, 2018.
