Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). And your first question comes from the line of Sara Gubins of Merrill Lynch.
Sara Gubins
Hi, thank you. Good morning.
Dave Carney
Good morning Sara.
Sara Gubins
Just one quick numbers question. Cesar, do you have the ending population at the end of the second quarter of ’07?
Cesar Ribeiro
Yes, I do. It was 16,211 students.
Sara Gubins
Great, thanks. And then, a question about your guidance for the second quarter and the second half of the year, it looks like you’re not expecting much margin expansion or even potentially some operating margin contraction in the second half. And I’m trying to understand if that’s just taking a conservative approach to the guidance or if there is something more fundamental going on in terms of your costs?
Dave Carney
Well, let me take that one and Cesar can jump in. I mean I think, Sara, as you know, we guided to 6 to 7% starts overall for the year. We’re pleased with where we are in the first quarter and we’re even more pleased with the acceleration in the trends into the second quarter. And therefore, we increased the start guidance in the second quarter. And while we’re encouraged by even what we see into the third quarter, we’re going to wait and see and we'll talk more about our overall guidance and any adjustment to it in our second quarter earnings call.
Sara Gubins
Okay. But there aren’t any plans for dramatic ramp ups in spend throughout the year, are there?
Cesar Ribeiro
No, there aren't.
Dave Carney
No, not really.
Sara Gubins
Okay. Thank you. I’ll jump back in the queue.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Doherty of Banc of America Securities.
Kevin Doherty
Great, thanks. Just a follow-up on the starts, I know, can you just kind of clarify what you had said in the press release about the student lending legislation accelerating your starts in the second half of the year? I’m just trying to reconcile that with the 6 to 7% outlook for the whole year?
Dave Carney
Well, I think what we’re pleased with is with the additional unsubsidized loan. It’s going to allow us to be able to enroll students and not have them have to face the private loan that we would otherwise sign them up for, which would cause them to have to begin to make payments immediately, which is basically our approach. So, with the $2,000 unsub, which is in our case for a program such as auto that amounts to probably about $3,800 over the program length. So, students have the ability to wait six months until after they graduate to begin to make the payment. So, we feel that any affordability issue that the students are currently looking at as they go through the enrollment process with us will be eased.
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