Note 8. Stockholders’ Equity

Common Stock

Effective May 24, 2017, the Company entered into waiver agreements with all of its investors in the April 2017 common stock offering. In consideration for waiving their registration rights, the Company paid to each of the investors 1.5% of their investment amount in the offering. The total amount paid was $112,500 and was recorded in general and administrative expenses during the quarter ended July 31, 2017.

In November 2017, the company issued 5,000 restricted shares each to two consultants assisting with establishing the new campus. The shares were valued at $88,700 based on the trading price of $8.87 on the grant date and recorded as a prepaid asset being amortized over the six month term of the agreement. (See Note 11)

On December 1, 2017 certain assets were acquired and certain liabilities assumed from Educacion Significativa, LLC (dba United States University) by United States University, Inc. United States University, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aspen Group Inc. As part of the purchase price the company issued 1,203,209 shares of AGI stock were valued at the quoted closing price of $8.49 per share as of November 30, 2017. (See Note 10)

Warrants

A summary of the Company’s warrant activity during the nine months ended January 31, 2017 is presented below:

In connection with the Senior Secured Term Loan that was finalized on July 25, 2017, the Company issued 224,174 5-year warrants at an exercise price of $6.87. (See Note 5)

The Company issued 241,514 shares of Common Stock in conjunction with the cash and cashless exercise of 356,267 warrants. The Company received $143,489 in conjunction with the cash exercises.

Stock Incentive Plan and Stock Option Grants to Employees and Directors

On March 13, 2012, the Company adopted the 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) that provides for the grant of 1,691,667 shares effective November 2015, 2,108,333 shares effective June 2016 and 3,500,000 shares effective July 2017, 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 January 31, 2018, there were 622,454 shares remaining under the Plan for future issuance. 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 nine months ended January 31, 2018.

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 nine months ended January 31, 2018, is presented below:

On May 13, 2017, the Company granted its executive officers a total of 500,000 five-year options to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock under the Plan. The options vest annually over three years, subject to continued employment at each applicable vesting date, and are exercisable at $4.90 per share. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer received 200,000 options with a fair value of $282,000, the Chief Operating Officer received 200,000 options with a fair value of $282,000, the Chief Academic Officer received 70,000 options with a fair value of $98,700 and the Chief Financial Officer received 30,000 options with a fair value of $42,300.

In May 2017, the Company issued 5,500 stock options to various employees at exercise prices ranging from $4.95 to $5.10 per share.

Effective June 11, 2017, the Company granted the Chief Academic Officer 30,000 five-year options. The options vest quarterly over a three-year period in 12 equal quarterly increments with the first vesting date being September 11, 2017, subject to continued employment on each applicable vesting date. The options are exercisable at $6.28 per share and the fair value is $54,000.

On August 21, 2017, 53,000 options were issued to 26 employees with an exercise price of $5.95 per share and a fair value of $90,630.

On January 4, 2018, 180,000 options were issued to the board of directors with an exercise price of $9.07 per share and a fair value of $421,200.

On January 14, 2018, 75,500 options were issued to employees with an exercise price of $8.57 per share and a fair value of $152,510.

During the nine months ended January 31, 2018, the company issued 113,597 shares of common stock in conjunction with the exercise of 63,838 stock options. The company received $455,387 related to these exercises.

As of January 31, 2018, there was $1,474,855 of unrecognized compensation costs related to nonvested share-based compensation arrangements. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.0 years.

The Company recorded compensation expense of $466,468 and $253,833 for the nine months ended January 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, in connection with stock options.