Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Kevin Doherty - Banc of America Securities.
Kevin Doherty - Banc of America Securities
I guess just want to follow-up, first on the comments on the outlook, kind of getting back to that double-digit margin rate and the start numbers; I mean how confident are you that you can reach some of those targets and just thinking about that double-digit level? I guess you guys really haven’t been there for about four years, just looking at the 4Q seasonal levels? So, it’s sort of a sharp ramp up there, but maybe if you can just talk about where you see some of the biggest opportunities for cost leverage and really how much of that will be contributed by the lower spend environment?
Eugene Putnam
Well I would caution you that I don’t expected to be a cost driven returned operating metrics into operating margin; it’s more getting the growth up in our students in school and that really what will drive.
Obviously, given today’s environment and we can talk about that more, there is opportunity to do things on the expense side from advertising, but it’s a nice problem to have. We have not decided whether we’re really going to scale back on advertising. Obviously, the more efficient that we get with advertising converting those into contracts and then eventually into starts that will provide us greater leverage there.
To your initial question about confidence, I’m not going to give you a confidence level, that’s our best thinking right now. It is certainly not a lay up, but I wouldn’t have said it if we didn’t believe that it was achievable. There are certainly trends out there and headwinds that we struggle against everyday and will in every economy and we have tailwinds that help us, but we think it’s achievable and it’s something that we’re shooting for.
Operator
Your next question comes from Mark Marostica - Piper Jaffray.
Mark Marostica - Piper Jaffray
Just speaking up on the question of double-digit operating margins not to beat a dead horse, but I’m curious the last time you had double-digit operating margins in that fourth quarter, do you recall what capacity utilization level you were at or maybe asked a better way, where this capacity utilization needs to be for you to hit that?
Eugene Putnam
I do not have it in front of me where it was. Obviously, it was significantly higher than they were roughly 60% that we’re at; somewhere I believe with a seven handle on it, it’s the big driver.
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