Note 11. Stockholders’ Equity

Common Stock

On June 4, 2014, a member of the Board of Directors invested $50,000 in exchange for 263,158 shares of common stock and 263,158 warrants at $0.19 per share. On June 24, 2014, a member of the Board of Directors and the Company’s CEO each invested $50,000 in exchange for issuing each of them 263,158 shares of common stock and 263,158 warrants at $0.19 per share.

On July 29, 2014, as part of a private placement offering, seven accredited investors, including the Company’s CFO, paid a total of $1,631,500 in exchange for 10,525,809 shares of common stock and 5,262,907 five-year warrants exercisable at $0.19 per share. Aspen incurred $75,000 of expenses relating to this offering. As a result of this private placement, on July 31, 2014, Aspen issued 3,473,259 shares of common stock to prior investors who had price protection on their investments, issued 2,662,139 warrants to a prior investor who had price protection on their investment, and reduced the exercise and conversion price on 14,451,613 outstanding warrants and its outstanding Debenture to $0.155.

On September 4, 2014, Aspen raised $3,766,326 from the sale of 24,298,871 shares of common stock and 12,149,438 five-year warrants exercisable at $0.19 per share in a private placement offering to 15 accredited investors. In connection with the offering, Aspen agreed to register the shares of common stock and the shares of common stock underlying the warrants. The net proceeds to Aspen were approximately $3.7 million. As a result of the private placement, Aspen issued 59,423 shares of common stock to a prior investor who had price protection on his investment.

On September 30, 2014, Aspen Group filed a Certificate of Amendment to its Certificate of Incorporation increasing its authorized shares from 120,000,000 shares to 250,000,000 shares.

On December 1, 2014, $100,000 of convertible debt was converted into common stock at the conversion rate of $0.19 per share, equally for two investors. Each investor received 263,158 shares of common stock. (See Note 9)

On January 14, 2015, 210,526 shares of stock were issued for services provided to Aspen. The shares were valued at the fair market value of the common stock or $0.155 and accordingly, the Company recorded an expense of $32,632.

On April 23 and 29, 2015, the Company closed on its offering to warrant holders whereby it issued 14,636,590 shares of common stock to the holders in exchange for their early exercise of warrants at the reduced exercise price of $0.155. One of the participating warrant holders is an executive officer of the Company. The Company received gross proceeds of $2,268,670. The offering closed in two tranches of 7,556,884 shares and 7,079,700 shares on April 23rd and April 29th, respectively. Additionally, on April 29th, two warrant holders cashlessly exercised a total of 600,000 warrants and were issued 110,526 shares of common stock in connection with a reduced exercise price of $0.155. The Company recorded an expense of $333,323 for the warrant modifications as described below.

On April 29, 2015, 208,333 shares of stock were issued for services provided to Aspen. The shares were valued at the fair market value of the common stock on January 1, 2015, and accordingly, the Company recorded an expense of $37,626.

On June 8, 2015, in exchange for the termination of a consulting agreement with a Director, the Company issued 300,000 restricted stock units (with the value of $50,400 based on the market value on the grant date). Two-thirds are fully vested and the remaining balance vests in six equal monthly installments commencing on June 30, 2015. At January 31, 2016, the Company has recorded consulting expense of $50,400 and it was fully vested.

On January 19, 2016, the Company paid $29,500 as part of settlement to repurchase 42,000 shares.  After adjusting for the shares, the Company recorded an expense of $23,662.

On April 22, 2016, the Company issued, 4,855,487 shares of common stock to two of its warrant holders in exchange for their early exercise of warrants at a reduced price of $0.155(originally, $0.19) per share. The Company recorded a warrant modification expense of $48,555 in accordance with ASC 718-20-35 related to the incremental increase in value. The Company received gross proceeds of $752,500 from these exercises.  As a condition of the warrant holders exercising their warrants, the CEO converted a $300,000 note and the related interest on the Note and the conversion price was reduced from $1.00 to $0.19 per share. In connection with these conversions, the CEO was issued 1,591,053 shares of common stock.  (See Note 9)

Warrants

A summary of the Company’s warrant activity during the year ended April 30, 2016 is presented below:

On June 4, 2014, a member of the Board of Directors invested $50,000 in exchange for 263,158 shares of common stock and 263,158 warrants at $0.19 per share. On June 24, 2014, a member of the Board of Directors and the Company’s CEO each invested $50,000 in exchange for issuing each of them 263,158 shares of common stock and 263,158 warrants at $0.19 per share.

On July 29, 2014, as part of a private placement offering seven accredited investors, including the Company’s CFO, paid a total of $1,631,500 from the sale of 10,525,809 shares of common stock and 5,262,907 five-year warrants exercisable at $0.19 per share. As a result of this private placement, on July 31, 2014, Aspen issued 3,473,259 shares of common stock to prior investors who had price protection on their investments, issued 2,662,139 warrants to a prior investor who had price protection on their investment and reduced the exercise and conversion price on 14,451,613 outstanding warrants and its outstanding Debenture to $0.155.

On September 4, 2014, as part of a private placement offering fifteen accredited investors paid a total of $3,766,326 from the sale of 24,298,871 shares of common stock and 12,149,438 five-year warrants exercisable at $0.19 per share. As a result of this private placement, on July 31, 2014, Aspen issued 59,423 shares of common stock to a prior investor who had price protection on his investment.

Warrants issued to an investor were modified on January 31, 2015 to reduce the exercise price to $0.19 per share. As a result of the modification, the modification expense was not material.

On April 23 and 29, 2015, the “Company closed on its offering to warrant holders whereby it issued 14,636,590 shares of common stock to the holders in exchange for their early exercise of warrants at the reduced exercise price of $0.155. One of the participating warrant holders is an executive officer of the Company. The Company received gross proceeds of $2,268,670. The offering closed in two tranches of 7,556,884 shares and 7,079,700 shares on April 23rd and April 29th, respectively. Additionally, on April 29th, two warrant holders exercised cashless a total of 600,000 warrants and were issued 110,526 shares of common stock in connection with a reduced exercise price of $0.155.  Since the exercise price was discounted from the stated prices of $0.50, $0.3325 or $0.19, a warrant modification expense of $333,323 was recorded in accordance with ASC 718-20-35. This expense was calculated by comparing the value of the warrants before and after the reduced price.

On April 22, 2016, the Company issued, 4,855,487 shares of common stock to two of its warrant holders in exchange for their early exercise of warrants at a reduced price of $0.155(originally, $0.19) per share.  The Company received gross proceeds of $752,500 from these exercises.

Stock Incentive Plan and Stock Option Grants to Employees and Directors

Immediately following the closing of the Reverse Merger, on March 13, 2012, the Company adopted the 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) that provides for the grant of 9,300,000 shares, 14,300,000 effective July 2014, 16,300,000 effective September 2014 and 20,300,000 effective November 2015, in the form of incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, restricted shares, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock units to employees, consultants, officers and directors. As of April 30, 2016, there were 2,173,898 shares remaining under the Plan for future issuance. See Note 15 as the plan was further amended.

The Company estimates the fair value of share-based compensation utilizing the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which is dependent upon several variables such as the expected option term, expected volatility of the Company’s stock price over the expected term, expected risk-free interest rate over the expected option term, expected dividend yield rate over the expected option term, and an estimate of expected forfeiture rates. The Company believes this valuation methodology is appropriate for estimating the fair value of stock options granted to employees and directors which are subject to ASC Topic 718 requirements. These amounts are estimates and thus may not be reflective of actual future results, nor amounts ultimately realized by recipients of these grants. The Company recognizes compensation on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period for each award. The following table summarizes the assumptions the Company utilized to record compensation expense for stock options granted to employees during the years ended April 30, 2016 and 2015.

The Company utilized the simplified method to estimate the expected life for stock options granted to employees. The simplified method was used as the Company does not have sufficient historical data regarding stock option exercises. The expected volatility is based on the average of the expected volatilities from the most recent audited financial statements available for comparative public companies that are deemed to be similar in nature to the Company. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yields with terms equivalent to the expected life of the related option at the time of the grant. Dividend yield is based on historical trends. While the Company believes these estimates are reasonable, the compensation expense recorded would increase if the expected life was increased, a higher expected volatility was used, or if the expected dividend yield increased.

A summary of the Company’s stock option activity for employees and directors during the year ended April 30, 2016 is presented below:

On September 4, 2014, 2,600,000 options were granted to the CEO and the Board of Directors. The fair value of these options on the date of grant is $130,000 and the exercise price is $0.155 per option. On September 16, 2014, 200,000 options were granted to two members of the Board of Directors. The fair value of these options on the date of grant is $12,000 and the exercise price is $0.20 per option.

On November 24, 2014, the CFO was granted 300,000 stock options. The fair value of these options is $21,000 and the exercise price was $0.234. On December 11, 2014, each of the 8 non-employee members of the Board of Directors was granted 100,000 stock options. The fair value of the options was $7,000 each and the exercise price was $0.2026.

On June 8, 2015, the Chief Academic Officer received a grant of 1,000,000 options which has a fair value of $60,000, the Chief Operating Officer received a grant of 700,000 options which has a fair value of $42,000 and the Chief Financial Officer received a grant of 300,000 options which has a fair value of $18,000. All of these options have an exercise price of $0.168 per share.

On August 5, 2015, 500,000 options were granted to the Senior Vice President of Compliance.  The exercise price was $0.18 and the fair value was $30,000. The options vest over 3 years.  

On September 23, 2015, 465,000 options were granted to a total of 39 employees.  The exercise prices were $0.131 and the fair value of the total grant was $48,600. The options vest over 3 years.

On November 20, 2015, three directors were each awarded 250,000 five- year options.  The options vest over three years, the exercise prices were $0.165 and the fair value of the total grant of 750,000 options is $37,500.

On December 11, 2015, the Chief Executive Officer was granted 1,500,000 options that vest over three years.  The exercise price is $0.175, the life of the options is ten years and the fair value of the grant is $105,000.

As of April 30, 2016, there was approximately $437,000 of unrecognized compensation costs related to nonvested share-based compensation arrangements. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.7 years.

The Company recorded compensation expense of $308,260 for the year ended April 30, 2016 in connection with employee stock options. The Company recorded compensation expense of $456,871 for the year ended April 30, 2015 in connection with employee stock options.

Stock Option Grants to Non-Employees

There were no stock options granted to non-employees during the year April 30, 2016 and 2015. The Company recorded no compensation expense for the year ended April 30, 2016 in connection with non-employee stock options and $748 of expense for the year ended April 30, 2015. There was no unrecognized compensation cost at April 30, 2016.

A summary of the Company's stock option activity for non-employees during the nine months ended April 30, 2016 is presented below: