Aspen Group Inc 's Comment on Competition and Industry Peers
There are more than 4,600 U.S. colleges and universities serving traditional college
age students and adult students.* Any reference to universities herein also includes
colleges. Competition is highly fragmented and varies by geography, program offerings,
delivery method, ownership, quality level, and selectivity of admissions. No one
institution has a significant share of the total postsecondary market. While we
compete in a sense with traditional “brick and mortar” universities,
our primary competitors are with universities that primarily enroll online students.
Our primarily online university competitors that are publicly traded include:
American Public Education, Inc. (Nasdaq: APEI), Adtalem Global Education (NYSE:
ATGE), Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (Nasdaq: LOPE), Capella Education Company
(Nasdaq: CPLA), Strayer Education (Nasdaq: STRA) and Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
(NYSE: BPI). We also compete with the privately owned Apollo Education Group,
which includes University of Phoenix and is considered the market leader based
on total enrollments.
These competitors have degreed enrollments ranging from approximately 38,000
to 90,000 students. As of April 30, 2018, the Company had 7,057 active degree-seeking
students enrolled.
The primary mission of most traditional accredited four-year universities is
to serve full-time students and conduct research. Most online universities serve
working adults. Aspen Group acknowledges the differences in the educational
needs between working and full-time students at “brick and mortar”
schools and provides programs and services that allow our students to earn their
degrees without major disruption to their personal and professional lives.
We also compete with public and private degree-granting regionally and nationally
accredited universities. An increasing number of universities enroll working
students in addition to the traditional 18 to 24 year-old students, and we expect
that these universities will continue to modify their existing programs to serve
working learners more effectively, including by offering more distance learning
programs. We believe that the primary factors on which we compete are the following:
Active and relevant curriculum development that considers the needs of employers;
The ability to provide flexible and convenient access to programs and classes;
High-quality courses and services;
Comprehensive student support services;
Breadth of programs offered;
The time necessary to earn a degree;
Qualified and experienced faculty;
Reputation of the institution and its programs;
The variety of geographic locations of campuses;
Regulatory approvals;
Cost of the program;
Name recognition; and
Convenience.
Digest of Education Statistics, 2015, nces.ed.gov
Academics
Aspen University
School of Nursing
School of Education
School of Business and Technology
School of Professional Studies
United States University
College of Nursing
College of Business and Management
College of Education
College of Health Sciences
Extended Studies