We have a nationwide network of 13 campuses, where we offer hands-on training in state-of-the-industry labs, complemented by our new online training, which allows us to offer quality education during the COVID-19 pandemic and will serve UTI and its students going forward.
New student starts were, up 6.6% year-over-year, excluding our Norwood campus, where we're winding down operations.
Contracts for the quarter grew 4.5% year-over-year, and our show rate improved 100 basis points.
Total revenues increased 1.2% to $82.7 million.
Net income, which included an income tax benefit of $10.8 million, was $10.1 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $3.1 million.
In February, we successfully raised $49.5 million in a primary equity offering led by B. Riley FBR, who also led the December secondary offering and brought in many new investors.
As governors and local officials began to issue orders and mandate closings of schools and businesses, we suspended all in-person classes at our 13 campuses on March 19 and transitioned all classroom learning to online.
Today, we have over 11,000 students enrolled, with more than 8,000 currently progressing their education through the online platform, including over 500 students, who have started directly into the online platform over the past several weeks.
In order to optimize our lead generation in this environment, we cut $2 million from our broadcast budget and have intensified our focus to where our target audiences are spending their time right now, which is social media.
For example, in April, in addition to telephone interview, our admission reps averaged 80 virtual interviews a day.
This required some very difficult decisions, including the furlough of approximately 280 of our employees.
As Jerome noted, we performed well for the majority of our fiscal 2020 second quarter and posted solid results, but they were impacted, starting in mid-March by the COVID-19 pandemic, which lowered our revenue approximately $2.5 million to $3 million from our pre-COVID expectations for the quarter.
We partially offset the revenue impact on profitability by taking steps to mitigate costs, such as the employee furloughs, and reduced variable and discretionary spend across the enterprise for categories like travel, contract services, and campus supplies, so that the profitability impact in the quarter was approximately $1.25 million to $1.7 million.
For student metrics, new student starts in the second quarter increased 6.6% year-over-year, and were 2,093 in the quarter.
In the first half of 2020, starts were higher by 7.1% year-over-year.
This is all same-store growth and is driven by enrollments, which were higher by 4.5% in Q2 and 5.1% year-to-date, and show rate improvement of 100 basis points in the quarter and in the first half.
Revenue increased 1.2% to $82.7 million, driven by higher revenue per student, partially offset by a decrease in the average student population, due to the student LOAs that caused the $2.5 million to $3 million impact in the quarter I mentioned previously.
First half 2020 revenue of $170 million is up 3.1% versus the first half of fiscal 2019, due primarily to higher revenue per student.
Average students for the quarter were down 3.1% year-over-year, and slightly positive for the first half of the year, when compared to the first half of 2019.
We ended the second quarter with 7,373 active students.
This has since increased to approximately 8,300 active students, with another approximately 600 students on LOA, who only need to complete their remaining hands-on labs to graduate from the program.
There are approximately 2,500 other students currently on LOA versus approximately 300 at the same time last year.
Operating expenses decreased by 4.7% to $83.2 million, for our fifth straight quarter of year-over-year expense declines, while growing revenue.
Compensation and related costs were 52% of revenue in the quarter and down 450 basis points as a percent of revenue year-over-year.
Headcount was 1,645 as of March 31st, a decrease of 70 versus the end of the prior-year quarter.
First half 2020 expenses of $166.2 million are down 6.4% year over year.
Our student-to-on-campus instructor ratio is typically 27:1, while a typical online learning ratio is much higher.
As we begin to resume hands-on labs on our campuses in the near term, we will have some inefficiencies, as the student-to-instructor ratio will be 9:1.
Net income for Q2 was $10.1 million, translating to basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.18.
We had 32.7 million basic shares outstanding as of the end of the quarter, which reflects the 6.8 million shares transferred from treasury stock for our February equity offering.
Q2 net income improved $15.4 million from the prior-year quarter and included a $10.8 million income tax benefit resulting from net operating loss carryback revisions within the CARES Act.
First half 2020 net income is $14.8 million, up $27.8 million year over year, and also includes the income tax benefit.
Operating cash flow of $10.9 million for the first half of 2020 increased $8.1 million year-over-year and reflects our improved profitability in cash management, as well as working capital timing.
Adjusted operating income for the quarter was $500,000, a $4.7 million increase year-over-year, and $7 million for the first half of 2020, a $14.2 million year-over-year improvement.
Adjusted EBITDA was $3.1 million in Q2, a $2.3 million year-over-year increase, and $13.1 million for the first half, an $11 million year-over-year improvement.
Both the Q2 and first half results include the $1.3 million per quarter negative year-over-year impact, due to the leasing standard implementation this fiscal year.
Adjusted free cash flow was $6.7 million for the first half of 2020 and increased $3.7 million versus the prior year.
Capex was $5.2 million for the first half of 2020, up slightly versus the prior year, and reflects spend associated with our welding program expansion investments, the Exton, Pennsylvania facility rightsizing, and other spending.
Our available liquidity as of March 31st was $118.1 million, which includes $76.6 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalent, and $41.5 million of short-term held-to-maturity securities.
As we announced previously, we expect to receive approximately $33 million in grant funds through the CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.
Per the Department of Education's guidelines, at least 50% of these funds will be used to grant emergency financial aid to students impacted by COVID-19.
From a cash perspective, we are electing to defer our payroll tax payments starting with April 2020 through the end of calendar 2020, and expect a quarterly cash benefit of approximately $1.5 million to $2 million.
As noted previously, this action will save approximately $1.3 million annually.
Under this scenario, we estimate that the net cash burn in Q3 could range between $25 million and $35 million, and that we could fully recover it in Q4.
As leading indicators, we are very encouraged by the fact we were able to start over 500 students directly into the online curriculum in April.

Summary:
Total revenues increased 1.2% to $82.7 million.
Net income for Q2 was $10.1 million, translating to basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.18.