Consolidated Income Statements (Unaudited) - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2016
Income Statement [Abstract]
Net revenue	$ 248,206	$ 226,958
Costs and expenses:
Instructional costs and services	102,574	94,654
Admissions advisory and related	31,972	29,544
Advertising	24,631	21,107
Marketing and promotional	2,460	2,242
General and administrative	9,941	10,720
Total costs and expenses	171,578	158,267
Operating income	76,628	68,691
Interest expense	(580)	(329)
Interest and other income	2	2,048
Income before income taxes	76,050	70,410
Income tax expense	20,138	26,745
Net income	$ 55,912	$ 43,665
Earnings per share:
Basic income per share	$ 1.20	$ 0.96
Diluted income per share	$ 1.16	$ 0.93
Basic weighted average shares outstanding	46,748	45,622
Diluted weighted average shares outstanding	48,070	46,860

Admissions advisory and related expenses.

No definition available.

Name:	lope_AdmissionsAdvisoryAndRelatedExpenses
Namespace Prefix:	lope_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Costs directly attributable to educational services, including salaries and benefits for full-time faculty, administrators and academic advisors, and costs associated with adjunct faculty. Also includes costs for educational supplies such as books, costs associated with academic records and graduation, costs associated with collections from our students such as bad debt expense, and other university services such as evaluating transcripts.

+ References

No definition available.