Note 10. Stockholders’ Equity

Stock Dividends and Reverse Split

On February 23, 2012, the Company approved a stock dividend of one new share of the Company for each share presently held. Following the stock dividend, the Company approved a one-for-two reverse stock split as of the close of business on February 24, 2012 in which each two shares of common stock shall be combined into one share of common stock. This was done in order to reduce the conversion ratio of the convertible preferred stock for all Series to 1 for 1 except for Series C, which then had a conversion ratio of 0.8473809.

Preferred Shares

On March 13, 2012, all preferred shares were automatically converted into common shares and, based on the terms of the preferred shares (See below).

Common Shares

On March 13, 2012, all of the outstanding preferred shares of the Company were automatically converted into 13,677,274 common shares of Aspen Group, Inc. (See Note 9).

Pursuant to the recapitalization discussed below, the Company is deemed to have issued 9,760,000 common shares to the original stockholders of the publicly-held entity.

On October 10, 2012, the Company entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Global Arena Capital Corp. (“GAC”), a broker-dealer, through which GAC agreed to use its best efforts to raise up to $2,030,000 from the sale of Units for $35,000 per Unit, with each Unit consisting of 100,000 shares of common stock and 50,000 five-year warrants exercisable at $0.50 per share. The Company agreed to compensate GAC from sales of Units by paying it compensation equal to 10% of the gross proceeds sold by it. The Company also agreed to issue GAC five-year warrants to purchase 10% of the same Units it sells to investors with an exercise price equal to the purchase price paid by investors ($35,000 per Unit). In addition, the Company agreed to pay GAC a 3% non-accountable expense allowance from the proceeds of Units sold by it. As of December 31, 2012, the Company raised $530,337 (net of offering costs of $184,663 and five-year warrants to purchase: (i) 100,000 common shares at $0.35 per share and (ii) 98,000 common shares at $0.50 per share.) from the sale of 20.43 Units (including 2,042,856 common shares and 1,021,432 warrants) under the offering. On December 31, 2012, the agreement with GAC was terminated. During the period from February 13, 2013 through March 1, 2013, the Company raised $519,370 (net of offering costs of $45,630) from the sale of 16.14 Units (including 1,614,286 common shares and 807,143 five-year warrants exercisable at $0.50 per share) on its own behalf without the use of a broker. The warrants have cashless exercise provisions. On March 14, 2013, and based on the Company having increased the remainder of the Offering by $20,000, the Company entered into an exclusive engagement with Laidlaw & Company (UK) Ltd. under which Laidlaw agreed to use its best effort to sell up to $770,000 of Units with the same terms as the Units the Company sold in 2012 and 2013 to date. Laidlaw will receive cash commissions of 10% based on the number of Units sold and five-year warrants equal to 10% of the securities sold exercisable at $0.50 per share. The offering shall terminate no later than April 15, 2013 (See Note 12).

Recapitalization

On March 13, 2012 (the “recapitalization date”), Aspen University was acquired by Aspen Group, Inc., an inactive publicly-held company, in a reverse merger transaction accounted for as a recapitalization of Aspen University (the “Recapitalization” or the “Reverse Merger”). The common and preferred stockholders of the Company received 25,515,204 common shares of Aspen Group, Inc. in exchange for 100% of the capital stock of Aspen University Inc. For accounting purposes, Aspen University Inc. is the acquirer and Aspen Group, Inc. is the acquired company because the stockholders of Aspen University Inc. acquired both voting and management control of the combined entity. The Company is deemed to have issued 9,760,000 common shares to the original stockholders of the publicly-held entity. Accordingly, after completion of the recapitalization, the historical operations of the Company are those of Aspen University Inc. and the operations since the recapitalization date are those of Aspen University Inc. and Aspen Group, Inc. The assets and liabilities of both companies are combined at historical cost on the recapitalization date. As a result of the recapitalization and conversion of all Company preferred shares into common shares of the public entity, all redemption and dividend rights of preferred shares were terminated. As a result of the recapitalization, the Company now has 120,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share authorized. The assets acquired and liabilities assumed from the publicly-held company were as follows:

Stock Warrants

All warrants issued by the Company during the three months ended March 31, 2013 have been related to capital raises. Accordingly, the Company has not recognized any stock-based compensation for these warrants.

A summary of the Company’s warrant activity during the three months ended March 31, 2013 is presented below:

Certain of the Company’s warrants contain price protection. The Company evaluated whether the price protection provision of the warrant would cause derivative treatment. In its assessment, the Company determined that since its shares are not readily convertible to cash due to an inactive trading market, the warrants are excluded from derivative treatment.

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 2,500,000 shares (increased to 5,600,000 shares effective September 28, 2012 and to 8,000,000 shares effective January 16, 2013) 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. On January 16, 2013, 1,291,167 options were modified to be Plan options. There was no accounting effect for such modifications. As of March 31, 2013, 646,333 shares were remaining under the Plan for future issuance.

During the three months ended March 31, 2012, the Company granted 1,895,000 stock options to employees, all of which were under the Plan, having an exercise price of $1.00 per share (repriced to $0.35 per share on December 17, 2012). The options vest pro rata over three years on each anniversary date; all options expire five years from the grant date. The total fair value of stock options granted to employees during the three months ended March 31, 2012 was $625,350, which is being recognized over the respective vesting periods. The Company recorded compensation expense of $8,354 for the three months ended March 31, 2012, in connection with employee stock options.

During the three months ended March 31, 2013, the Company granted to employees 473,200 stock options, all of which were under the Plan, having an exercise price of $0.35 per share. The options vest pro rata over three to four years on each anniversary date; all options expire five years from the grant date. The total fair value of stock options granted to employees during the three months ended March 31, 2013 was $56,784, which is being recognized over the respective vesting periods. The Company recorded compensation expense of $117,847 for the three months ended March 31, 2013, in connection with employee stock options.

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 three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012:

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 three months ended March 31, 2013 is presented below:

The weighted-average grant-date fair value of options granted to employees during the three months ended March 31, 2013 was $0.12.

As of March 31, 2013, there was $921,606 of total unrecognized compensation costs related to nonvested share-based compensation arrangements. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.4 years.

Stock Option Grants to Non-Employees

On March 15, 2012, the Company granted 175,000 stock options to non-employees, all of which were under the Plan, having an exercise price of $1.00 per share. The options vest pro rata over three years on each anniversary date; all options expire five years from the grant date. The total fair value of the stock options granted was $57,750, all of which was recognized immediately as these stock options were issued for prior services rendered. On December 17, 2012, the Company repriced the stock options issued from having an exercise price of $1.00 per share to $0.35 per share. Accordingly, the incremental increase in the fair value of $15,750 was recognized immediately.

The total fair value of stock options granted to non-employees during the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 was $0 and $57,750, all of which was recognized immediately as these stock options were issued for prior services rendered. The Company recorded compensation expense of $0 and $57,750 for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, in connection with non-employee stock options.

The following table summarizes the assumptions the Company utilized to record compensation expense for stock options granted to non-employees during the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012:

A summary of the Company’s stock option activity for non-employees during the three months ended March 31, 2013 is presented below: