Nature of Operations and Liquidity |
12 Months Ended |
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Apr. 30, 2021 | |
| Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] | |
| Nature of Operations and Liquidity | Nature of Operations and Liquidity Overview
Aspen Group, Inc. ("AGI") is an education technology holding company. AGI has two subsidiaries, Aspen University Inc. ("Aspen University") organized in 1987 and United States University Inc. ("United States University" or "USU").
All references to the “Company”, “AGI”, “Aspen Group”, “we”, “our” and “us” refer to Aspen Group, Inc., unless the context otherwise indicates.
AGI leverages its education technology infrastructure and expertise to allow its two universities, Aspen University and United States University, to deliver on the vision of making college affordable again. Because we believe higher education should be a catalyst to our students’ long-term economic success, we exert financial prudence by offering affordable tuition that is one of the greatest values in higher education. AGI’s primary focus relative to future growth is to target the high growth nursing profession. As of April 30, 2021, 12,046 of 13,886 or 87% of all active students across both universities are degree-seeking nursing students. Of the 12,046 students seeking nursing degrees, 9,664 are Registered Nurses (RNs) studying to earn an advanced degree at Aspen University (7,028) and United States University (2,636), while the remaining 2,382 nursing students are enrolled in Aspen University’s BSN Pre-Licensure program in the Phoenix, Austin, Tampa and Nashville metros.
Since 1993, Aspen University has been nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Accrediting Council (“DEAC”), a national accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education (the “DOE”) and Council for Higher Education Accreditation ("CHEA"). On February 25, 2019, the DEAC informed Aspen University that it had renewed its accreditation for five years through January 2024.
Since 2009, USU has been regionally accredited by WASC Senior College and University Commission (“WSCUC”).
Both universities are qualified to participate under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) and the Federal student financial assistance programs (Title IV, HEA programs). USU has a provisional certification resulting from the ownership change of control in connection with the acquisition by AGI on December 1, 2017.
COVID-19 Update
Nursing students represented 87% or 12,046 of the Company’s total student body of 13,886 students at fiscal year-end 2021. Of the 12,046 nursing students, 2,382 are BSN Pre-Licensure students located across our four metro locations (Phoenix, Austin, Tampa and Nashville). The remaining 9,664 nursing students are licensed registered nurses (RNs) studying to earn an advanced degree (RN to BSN, MSN or DNP degree programs). These 9,664 post-licensure nursing students therefore represent 70% of the Company’s total student body and are the population of AGI students that have been primarily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that AGI has the highest student body concentration of RNs among publicly-traded higher education companies in the U.S., the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the need to track RN behaviors and attitudes carefully for the past 16 months. Below are the effects the Company has seen to date relative to class starts and enrollments.
The Company previously reported that RN course starts at both universities were approximately 4% lower than historically expected during the months of September, 2020 – January, 2021, which resulted in approximately $520,000 less revenues in the fiscal third quarter. However, beginning in late February 2021, RN course starts returned to historically normal levels throughout the remainder of the fourth fiscal quarter which resulted in revenues of $19.1 million (unaudited) for the quarter, approximately $500,000 higher than the midpoint of our previous forecast.
The Company’s fiscal first quarter has historically been our seasonally weakest quarter among our RN student body given it falls during the late-Spring/summer months, and thus far in the quarter (May and June) we are seeing lower inquiries, conversion rates and enrollments among prospective RN students than expected, which we believe is due to RNs ‘taking a deep breath’ and taking time off with their families now that vaccination rates and hospitalizations have materially improved. The Company is also seeing lower course starts in the first quarter than seasonally expected among its RN student body. We believe this will be a short-lived ‘summer break’ slowdown, with a return to normalized enrollment and course start levels in our second fiscal quarter (August – October).
Liquidity
At April 30, 2021, the Company had a cash and cash equivalents balance of $8,513,290 with an additional $5,152,789 of restricted cash.
On November 5, 2018 the Company entered into a three year, $5,000,000 senior revolving credit facility. There is currently no outstanding balance under that facility. (See Note 9)
At April 30, 2021, the Company reported cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash of $13.7 million, which includes restricted cash of $5.2 million. For the year ended April 30, 2021, the Company’s net cash provided by operating activities was $1.0 million. The Company has analyzed its liquidity position and believes its current resources are adequate to meet anticipated liquidity needs for the next 12 months
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