Dear COS Team,
After several years of rapid expansion, the online education industry has entered a phase of consolidation and modest student enrollment growth. This trend affects Corinthian Online Services (COS) as well as other educational organizations. As a result, we are reducing our Admissions and Student Finance staffing by approximately 35 percent to better align the size of these departments with our current and anticipated student population. This reduction does not affect our Academics, Student Services or Career Services departments, which are staffed appropriately at this time.
Today is the final day of employment for those holding eliminated positions at our Contact Centers in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tampa, Fla., and Tempe, Ariz. I join the entire company in thanking these employees for their efforts and contributions.
Overall, I’m pleased with our recent progress. We have strengthened operations by leveraging technology and re-engineering business processes. We developed a new academic-student services model and continue to invest in full-time faculty and faculty management to improve student engagement and retention. These efforts are already showing encouraging results. In addition, we are extremely pleased that Everest College Phoenix (ECP) just received a 10-year grant of re-accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission. This is an outstanding achievement, and a tribute to the staff, faculty and Board of Trustees of ECP. It is also an endorsement of the quality of education, including online education, we provide.
While today’s announcement brings difficult news, we are taking another essential step toward creating a stronger, more resilient COS. We’re confident that these staffing reductions, coupled with the operational and academic improvements just described, will help position us for future success. Later this week, the COS leadership team will hold “team huddles” and I encourage all of you to attend. In the meantime, please direct any questions you may have to your site leadership. Thank you for your continued work on behalf of our students.