Dive Brief:

• Laureate Education will make more than 35 million shares of publicly-traded stock available for sale starting Wednesday, which experts expect will raise nearly $500 million in funding for the Baltimore-based company.
• The corporation drew headlines last year after its ties to former President Bill Clinton exposed potential conflicts with former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and questions about the business strategies of for-profit higher education companies at large.
• The company has campuses in more than 25 countries worldwide, and is working to pay off an estimated $4.3 billion in debt.

Dive Insight:

While for-profit companies have seen better days in terms of legislative support and public opinion, Laureate has remained relatively unscathed by the new view of for-profit education and has grown its profile through schools established in foreign nations. 

Campuses should look to market online degree programs in niche industries to regional stakeholders as a means of capturing the more than 600,000 students displaced by other for-profit closures, and ahead of potential deregulation efforts from the Department of Education. Working adults are looking for affordable credentialing and degree options, and would open to traditional institutions offering flexible learning options.