Universal Technical Institute (UTI) Risk Analysis

Under the HEA and its implementing regulations, students may file a claim with ED to discharge their federal Direct Loans (or Direct Consolidated Loans) on the basis that their institution misled them or engaged in other misconduct related to the making of their federal loans or the provision of their educational services. Such claims are known as "borrower defense to repayment" or "BDR" claims. If ED grants a BDR claim, it may seek to recoup the amount discharged from the school that engaged in the alleged misconduct. We cannot predict how many claims will be submitted, which applications ED may grant in the future, whether ED will seek recoupment of any discharged amounts, or whether our defenses to any recoupment action will succeed. If ED were to discharge a significant number of loans and thereafter successfully assert recoupment against the Company, we could be subject to significant repayment liability to ED, which may limit our ability to make investments in our business and negatively impact our financial condition and future growth. A failure to demonstrate "Financial Responsibility" as a result of loan discharge applications under the BDR Rule would have negative impacts on our operations. For additional information regarding the Company's BDR claims (and responses thereto), please see "Business - Regulatory Environment - Borrower Defense to Repayment."

Changes in Presidential administrations and control of Congress as a result of the outcome of elections or other events could result in changes in or new legislation, appropriations, regulations, standards, policies and enforcement actions that could materially affect our business, including material consequences for our institutions' accreditation, authorization to operate in various states, permissible activities, receipt of funds under student financial assistance programs, and cost of doing business. We cannot predict the extent to which the current administration and Congress, or any future administration or Congress, will act to change or eliminate or to implement new laws, regulations, standards, policies, and practices, nor can we predict the form that new laws, regulations, standards, policies, or practices may take or the extent to which those regulations, practices or policies may impact us or our institutions.

Over the last decade, Congress and state legislatures have focused significantly on for-profit education institutions, specifically regarding participation in Title IV Programs and DOD or VA oversight of tuition assistance for military service members attending for-profit colleges. Continued or increased Congressional activity could result in the enactment of more stringent legislation, further rulemakings affecting participation in Title IV Programs and other governmental actions, increasing regulation of the for-profit sector. In addition, concerns generated by this activity may adversely affect enrollment in for-profit educational institutions such as ours. Any laws that are adopted that limit our or our students' participation in Title IV Programs or in programs to provide funds for active duty service members and veterans or the amount of student financial aid for which our students are eligible, or any decreases in enrollment related to the Congressional activity concerning this sector, could have a material adverse effect on our operations, cash flows, results of operations, or financial condition.

If we acquire an institution that participates in Title IV Program funding or open an additional location, we must obtain approval from ED and applicable state education agencies and accrediting agencies in order for the institution or additional location to be able to operate and participate in Title IV Programs. An acquisition can result in the temporary suspension of the acquired institution's participation in Title IV Programs and opening an additional location can result in a delay of the campus' participation in Title IV Programs unless we submit a timely and materially complete application for approval of the acquisition or the opening of the new location. If we were unable to timely establish or re-establish the state authorization, accreditation or ED certification of the acquired institution or obtain approval for the new location, our ability to operate the acquired institution or open the additional location as planned or to realize the anticipated benefits from the acquisition of that institution or the opening of the additional location could be significantly impaired. Further, ED and applicable state education agencies and accrediting agencies could impose material conditions or restrictions on us and the acquired institution or the additional location, including, but not limited to, a material letter of credit, limitations or prohibitions on the ability to add new campuses or add or change educational programs, placement of the institution on the heightened cash monitoring or reimbursement method of payment and reporting and notification requirements. Additionally, an acquired institution may have known or unknown instances of noncompliance with federal, state or accrediting agency requirements, including, but not limited to, noncompliance with requirements included in the borrower defense to repayment regulations that could result in liabilities, sanctions, or material conditions or restrictions that we may inherit by acquiring the institution. Further, our due diligence efforts relating to institutions that we intend to acquire may fail to identify noncompliance or other facts that could result in liabilities, sanctions, or material conditions or restrictions. The imposition of liabilities, sanctions, or material conditions or restrictions by one or more regulators could impair our ability to operate the acquired institution or open the additional location as planned or to realize the anticipated benefits from the acquisition of that institution or the opening of the additional location.

A student may only use Title IV Program funds to pay the costs associated with enrollment in an eligible educational program offered by an institution participating in Title IV Programs. Our expansion plans are based, in part, on our ability to add new educational programs at our existing institutions. Generally, an institution that is eligible to participate in Title IV Programs, and is not provisionally certified, may obtain ED approval if the new program is licensed by the applicable state agency and accredited by an agency recognized by ED. However, ED, state education agencies, or our accreditors could decline to approve a new program or impose material conditions or restrictions on us. Any such denial or material limitation could have a material adverse effect on our operations, cash flows, results of operations, or financial condition.

If we or any of our schools experience a change of control under the standards of applicable federal and state agencies, our accrediting agencies or ED, we or the affected schools must seek the approval of the relevant regulatory agencies. These agencies do not have uniform criteria for what constitutes a change of control. Transactions or events that constitute a change of control include significant acquisitions or dispositions of our common stock or significant changes in the composition of our board of directors. Some of these transactions or events may be beyond our control. Our failure to obtain, or a delay in receiving, approval of any change of control from ED, our accrediting agencies or any state in which our schools are located would impair our ability to participate in Title IV Programs, which would have a material adverse effect on our academic or operational initiatives, cash flows, results of operations, or financial condition. Our failure to obtain, or a delay in obtaining, approval of any change of control from any state in which we do not have a school but in which we recruit students could require us to suspend our recruitment of students in that state until we receive the required approval. The potential adverse effects of a change of control with respect to participation in Title IV Programs could influence future decisions by us and our stockholders regarding the sale, purchase, transfer, issuance or redemption of our stock.

Because we operate in a highly regulated industry, we are subject to compliance reviews and claims of noncompliance by governmental regulatory agencies, accrediting agencies, and third parties alleging noncompliance with applicable standards. Each of our institutions' administration of Title IV Program funds must be audited annually by independent accountants and the resulting audit report must be submitted to ED for review. Moreover, we may be subject to program reviews from ED, audits by the ED Office of Inspector General, or a compliance audit as a condition of participation in the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund ("HEERF"). We are also subject to various lawsuits, investigations and claims, covering a wide range of matters, including, but not limited to, alleged violations of federal and state laws, including consumer protection laws applicable to activities of postsecondary educational institutions, false claims made to the federal government and routine employment matters. We may also face borrower defense to repayment claims or complaints from students or prospective students. While we are committed to strict compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and accrediting standards, if the results of government, regulatory or third party reviews or proceedings are unfavorable to us, or if we are unable to successfully defend against lawsuits or claims, we may be required to pay monetary damages, be held liable for a student's discharged debt, or be subject to fines, limitations, loss of regulatory approvals or Title IV Program funding or other federal and state funding, injunctions or other penalties. We could also incur substantial legal costs that are not covered or are in excess of our insurance coverage. Even if we adequately address issues raised by an agency review or successfully defend a lawsuit or claim, we may have to divert significant financial and management resources from our ongoing business operations to address issues raised by those reviews or defend those lawsuits or claims. Additionally, given the significant public scrutiny being placed on the sector we operate in, numerous state attorneys general have initiated investigations of for-profit schools operating in their state. Changes occurring at the federal or state level, as well as our financial performance in recent years, may spur further action or additional reporting requirements by state attorneys general, Congressional leadership or state licensing bodies. We cannot predict the outcome of unsettled matters, and we may incur significant defense costs and other expenses in connection with them in excess of our insurance coverage related to these matters. We may be required to pay substantial damages, settlement costs or fines or penalties. Such costs and expenses could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, results of operations and financial condition and could also result in negative publicity that could negatively affect student enrollment. An adverse outcome in any of these matters could also materially and adversely affect our licenses, accreditation and eligibility to participate in Title IV Programs.

The operations of companies in the education and training services industry, including us, are subject to intense regulatory scrutiny. In some cases, allegations of wrongdoing on the part of such companies have resulted in formal or informal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the SEC, the FTC, state governmental agencies and attorneys general, ED and other federal agencies. These allegations have attracted adverse media coverage and have been the subject of legislative hearings and regulatory actions at both the federal and state levels, focusing not only on the individual schools but in some cases on the for-profit postsecondary education sector as a whole. These investigations of, or regulatory actions against, specific companies in the education and training services industry could have a negative impact on our industry as a whole and on our stock price. Furthermore, the outcome of such investigations and any accompanying adverse publicity could negatively affect student enrollment and heighten the risk of class action lawsuits against us, which could have a material adverse effect on our academic or operational initiatives, cash flows, results of operations, or financial condition.

Due to state budget constraints and changes in the regulatory environment in some of the states in which we operate, it is possible that some states may reduce the number of employees in, or curtail the operations of, the state education agencies that authorize our schools. A delay or refusal by any state education agency in approving any changes in our operations that require state approval, such as the opening of a new campus, the introduction of new programs or the revision of existing programs, a change of control or the hiring of new admissions representatives, could prevent us from making such changes or delay our ability to make such changes, or could require substantial additional costs to accommodate such delay. State education agencies that authorize our schools continue to revise or issue new regulations requiring significant additional reporting and monitoring of student outcomes. Additionally, state education agencies may request additional information or supplemental reporting as a result of our recent financial performance. The regulations and reporting requirements may lengthen the time to obtain necessary state approvals and require us to modify our operations in order to comply with the requirements. This could impose substantial additional costs on our institutions, which could have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, results of operations and financial condition. State legislatures also continue to contemplate creating new performance metrics that would have to be satisfied to maintain eligibility. The enactment of one or more of these proposed laws or similar laws could create compliance challenges and impose substantial additional costs on our institutions, which could have a material adverse effect on our academic or operational initiatives, cash flows, results of operations, or financial condition.

Congress periodically revises the HEA and other laws, and enacts new laws, governing Title IV Programs and determining the funding level for each Title IV Program. Congress most recently reauthorized the HEA in 2008 and, despite repeated attempts, has not completed a full reauthorization since then. In addition to HEA reauthorization, policies directly related to Title IV Programs and funding for those programs may be impacted by the annual budget and appropriations process as well as by other legislation. In this regard, on July 4, 2025, Congress enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ("OBBBA"). Under the OBBBA, Congress approved amendments to the HEA that, among other things, revised certain Title IV Programs, including provisions that condition the eligibility of educational programs upon compliance with earnings benchmarks that compare former students' median earnings after completing a program to the median earnings of working adults with lesser credential, and other provisions that will limit or reduce the amount of Title IV Program funding that may be available to some higher education students. The impact of these changes and other changes to the HEA enacted as part of the OBBBA, and of related future regulatory and policy changes, is unknown at this time.

As detailed in "Business - Regulatory Environment," our institutions are subject to extensive regulatory requirements imposed by a wide range of federal and state agencies, as well as by our institutional accreditors. These requirements, which are subject to frequent change, cover virtually every aspect of our schools' operations. The approvals granted by these entities permit our schools to operate and to participate in a variety of government-sponsored financial aid programs, including Title IV Programs and veterans' programs, from which we derived approximately 78% of our revenues, on a cash basis, in fiscal year 2024. If our institutions fail to comply with any of these regulatory requirements, our regulators could take an array of actions, including, without limitation, issuing fines or penalties, requiring reimbursement for discharged loan obligations, requiring letter(s) of credit, halting certain business practices, or suspending or terminating our eligibility to participate in the Title IV Programs. Any such action could adversely affect our cash flows, results of operations and financial condition, and could include the imposition of significant operating restrictions upon us. It could also result in negative publicity that could negatively affect student enrollment. We cannot predict with certainty how each regulatory body will apply its requirements or whether each of our schools will be able to comply with all of the requirements in the future.

Title IV Program requirements, as described in "Business - Regulatory Environment-Title IV Programs," are complex, at times imprecise, and subject to changing interpretations. In the event an institution violates these requirements, ED could impose sanctions or limitations, or terminate an institution's Title IV Program eligibility. Forms of noncompliance that could result in sanctions or limitations, or cause the institution to lose its eligibility to participate in some or all Title IV Programs, include, without limitation, failures to: maintain state authorizations; maintain institutional accreditations; satisfy ED's administrative capability standards; satisfy ED's loan default rate thresholds; correctly calculate and timely return unearned Title IV Program funds received for students who withdraw before completing their educational programs; correctly determine whether students are making satisfactory academic progress in their programs and, as such, remain eligible to receive Title IV Program funds; satisfy ED's financial responsibility standards; and comply with the 90/10 rule, the substantial misrepresentation rules or the incentive compensation rule. Certain actions or reviews may also be triggered automatically based on ED's standards. Types of sanctions or limitations ED might impose upon an institution include, without limitation: requiring the repayment of Title IV Program funds; imposing a less favorable payment system for the institution's receipt of Title IV Program funds; placing an institution on provisional certification status; commencing a proceeding to impose a fine or to limit, suspend, or terminate the institution's participation in Title IV Programs; or declining to renew the institution's program participation agreement. Such sanctions or limitations, including the loss of Title IV Program eligibility by any of our current or future institutions, could have a material adverse effect on our academic or operational initiatives, cash flows, results of operations, or financial condition. Failure to maintain state authorizations or institutional accreditation could also preclude participation in Title IV Programs. For more information, see "Business - Regulatory Environment - Title IV Programs."