Thank you for standing by. My name is Kathleen, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Perdoceo Education Corporation First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Sam Gibbons, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Kathleen. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2024 earnings call. With me on the call today is Todd Nelson, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ashish Ghia, Chief Financial Officer. This conference call is being webcast live within the Investor Relations section at perdoceoed.com. A webcast replay will also be available on our site, and you can always contact the Alpha IR Group for Investor Relations support. Let me remind you that this afternoon's earnings release and remarks made today include forward-looking statements as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to Perdoceo Education and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results, performance, business prospects and opportunities could differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors identified in Perdoceo's most recent annual report on Form 10-K in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as expressly required by the securities laws, the company undertakes no obligation to update those factors or any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, developments or changed circumstances or for any other reason. In addition, today's remarks refer to non-GAAP financial measures, which are intended to supplement, but not substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. The earnings release that accompanies today's call contains financial and other quantitative information to be discussed today as well as the reconciliation of the GAAP to non-GAAP measures and is available within the Investor Relations page of the company's website. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Todd Nelson. Todd?

Thank you, Sam. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2024 earnings call. I'll discuss some of the key highlights from the first quarter, and then Ashish will review our operating and financial performance in more detail and provide an updated outlook for the year. However, before we begin, I'd like to thank our faculty student support staff and all other employees for their ongoing commitment and hard work and serving and educating our students. We ended 2023 on a strong note as it relates to student retention and engagement, and these trends have persisted in the first quarter. As a result, first quarter operating results came in ahead of our expectations discussed on the last earnings call, primarily due to better-than-expected student engagement trends. Before we discuss first quarter results, following are some of the key observations and highlights for the quarter. We continue to experience strong levels of student retention and engagement at both CTU and AIUS, and we expect to operate at these levels through the remainder of 2024 and while our faculty and student support teams remain focused on educating and serving our students. Marketing and mission spend and commensurately prospective student inquiry generation was lower during the first quarter as compared to 2023. Aided by data analytics, we continue to adjust marketing strategies to further improve our focus on identifying prospective students who are more likely to succeed at one of our universities as well as comply with updated expectations from various federal agencies around prospective student outreach. We remain focused on investing in and improving processes that support our corporate engagement programs. These programs remain a focus and priority of both institutions and will continue to make necessary investments in staff and technology to further grow the programs…

Thank you, Todd. I will review the first quarter results and then discuss our balance sheet and 2024 outlook before handing the call back to Todd for his closing remarks. Please note all comparisons I discuss are versus the comparative prior year period unless otherwise stated. Please also note that the total enrollment numbers that I discussed or any enrollment trends that I refer to exclude learners pursuing non-degree-seeking professional development programs and degree-seeking non-title for self-paced programs at our universities. Let us begin with an overview of our operating results. First quarter operating income of $46.3 million was $2.9 million higher as compared to the first quarter of last year. This improvement in operating income was primarily driven by approximately $30 million in lower expenses across most functional areas that more than offset the decline in revenue. Please note that despite the lower student enrollments at AIU system, we have strived to maintain the faculty and student support operations relative to their enrollments at levels higher than historical norms due to AIU Systems' total enrollment growth expectations as well as our desire to continue providing quality student support services. As a result, most of the lower expenses for the quarter can be summarized in the following categories. First, lower admissions and marketing expenses due to ongoing adjustment made to prospective student inquiry generation processes as well as to comply with updated expectations from various federal agencies around prospective to an outreach. Second, rightsizing of expenses that support our portfolio of programs offering professional development, upskilling and reskilling opportunities so that we can focus on effectively and efficiently delivering academic programs that we believe will enhance the overall value proposition of our academic institutions. Third, lower debt and expenses, supported by ongoing student loan initiatives implemented by the current administration.…

Thank you, Ashish. In closing, I'm proud of the way our company executed through the first quarter of 2024, and I'm pleased with the progress we are bringing into the new year. Our academic institutions remain focused on serving and educating students and our investments will continue to prioritize student experiences and academic outcomes. I'd like to thank all of our students and staff once again for their ongoing hard work and dedication. Thank you again for joining us, and we look forward to speaking again next quarter.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call.