Case # 6 American Public Education, Inc.+
Wesley Bryant Po
BUS 590 Business Strategy
Professor Ira Lovitch
December 7, 2014

Case # 6: American Public Education, Inc. This case discusses about the institution American Public Education, Inc. or APEI, its uniqueness and its competitive advantage. It will also compare its performance with other top known universities. This paper will also analyze their financial stability, their balance sheets and what does it tell to the investors.
Uniqueness of APEI American Public Education, Inc. or APEI is a university that offers mobility in education. It means that they are offering online classes so that people can study anywhere around the globe through the access of the internet. The school positions itself in a niche market by providing education to the military. They capitalize on the large market of online education in national security, homeland security and public safety personnel. APEI offers a unique and attractive proposition- access to high quality of education at an affordable price.
APEI’s performance with other for profit universities Currently, APEI is ranked on the 34th on the Best Online Bachelors Program. Of all the 283 school that was surveyed APEI is considered one of the top schools in USA. Some of the competitors of APEI are Apollo Educational Group, Inc. in which University of Phoenix is under this company and DeVry Educational Group. In terms of net income, APEI has a low net income compared to the big educational corporations like Apollo and DeVry. Currently, University of Phoenix doesn’t offer online degrees, but compared to the other two, in terms of quality and reputation, DeVry ranked 93rd while APEI ranked 34th.

Looking at AEPI’s financial stability and enrollment growth Looking at APEI’s financials, they are doing very good. There is continuous growth in the revenues and net income of the company, a 43% in the compound annual growth rate (CAGR). In terms of net income, they have 51% CAGR. With regards to enrollments, they have a total 44,700 program enrollments in 2008 with revenues of $107.1M. In 2009, they have revenue of $149M with 62,300 enrollments. In 2010, they have revenue of $198M with 78,700 enrollments. As the enrollment continuously increases, the revenue also increases. This means that the school is profitable.
What about APEI’s balance sheet? What does it say about their performance? APEI stood out because of its strong balance sheet because of its high assets and equity, with a low liability. It is constantly growing earnings and its apparently lower cost and higher quality compared to other for-profit education institutions.
Summary and Conclusion APEI emphasizes on its convenience, low cost with quality of education and