Universal Technical Institute plans $50M acquisition of Concorde Career Colleges

Higher Ed Dive

Rick Seltzer

May 5, 2022

Dive Brief:

• Universal Technical Institute has agreed to buy Concorde Career Colleges in a $50 million deal, it announced Tuesday, making a move into healthcare programs as it seeks to grow revenue and diversify its postsecondary training offerings.

• Concorde, a 17-campus for-profit chain focused on healthcare education, would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Technical Institute, which is a Phoenix-based transportation and technical training company with programs including automotive and diesel servicing. Universal Technical Institute expects the deal to close in the first half of its 2023 fiscal year, which begins in October.

• Universal Technical Institute executives cast the deal as a major piece of its growth strategy, which is intended to more than double company revenue by 2025 while diversifying the fields it serves. The company will be entering the healthcare education space at a time when its leaders expect the healthcare workforce to need to add 2.4 million people by 2029.

Dive Insight:

The regulatory environment for higher education has been growing stricter under President Joe Biden’s administration, with many changes at the federal level putting pressure on for-profit institutions. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education unveiled a policy making private college owners financially liable in situations like their students requiring loan forgiveness. The department also reached consensus on changes sharpening the 90/10 rule, which prohibits for-profit colleges from receiving more than 90% of their revenue from federal student aid.

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