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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2025
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
A summary of the Company’s significant accounting policies follows:

Basis of Presentation and Accounting

The accompanying unaudited, interim Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP.
Business Combinations

The Company accounts for business combinations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification 805, Business Combinations, or FASB ASC 805, which requires the acquisition method to be used for all business combinations. Under ASC 805, the assets and liabilities of an acquired company are reported at business fair value along with the fair value of acquired intangible assets at the date of acquisition.

Principles of Consolidation

The accompanying unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of APEI and its wholly owned subsidiaries. All material intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

Unaudited Interim Consolidated Financial Information

The unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements do not include all the information and notes required by GAAP for audited annual financial statement presentations. In the opinion of management, these statements include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) considered necessary to present a fair statement of the Company’s financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. Operating results for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for future periods, including the year ending December 31, 2025. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, or this Quarterly Report, should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes in its audited financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, or the Annual Report.

Use of Estimates

In preparing financial statements in conformity with GAAP, the Company is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. The Company evaluates these estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis and bases its estimates on experience, current and expected future conditions and various other assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from those estimates under different assumptions or conditions, and the impact of such differences may be material to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all short-term highly liquid investments with maturities of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents consist of demand deposits with financial institutions, money market funds, and U.S. Treasury bills. Cash and cash equivalents are Level 1 assets in the fair value reporting hierarchy.

Restricted Cash

Restricted cash includes funds held for students for unbilled educational services that were received from Title IV programs. As a trustee of these Title IV program funds, the Company is required to maintain and restrict these funds pursuant to the terms of the program participation agreement with ED. As of December 31, 2024, restricted cash included a $25.4 million restricted certificate of deposit to secure a letter of credit for the benefit of ED on behalf of RU in connection with RU’s 2020 composite score, which is used by ED for determining compliance with financial responsibility standards, being below the minimum required. In May 2025, the letter of credit was released by ED, and the cash was thereafter no longer restricted. Restricted cash on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, excluding the restricted certificate of deposit at December 31, 2024, was $1.6 million and $1.5 million, respectively. Total restricted cash as of June 30, 2025, and December 31, 2024, was $1.6 million and $27.0 million, respectively.
Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash as of June 30, 2025, and December 31, 2024, were as follows (in thousands):

As of June 30, 2025As of December 31, 2024
(Unaudited)
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash$176,579 $158,941 
Less: restricted cash(1,633)(27,015)
Total unrestricted cash$174,946 $131,926 

Assets Held for Sale
Assets held for sale at December 31, 2024 represent excess real property located in Charles Town, West Virginia for the Company’s APUS Segment. Long-lived assets are classified as held for sale when the assets are expected to be sold within the next 12 months and meet the other relevant held for sale criteria. As such, properties are recorded at the lower of the carrying value or fair value, less costs to sell, until such time the assets are sold. The Company completed the sale of its remaining assets held for sale in June 2025.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets
Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price of an acquired business over the amount assigned to the tangible and identified intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values. Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are not amortized. The Company accounts for goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets in accordance with FASB ASC 350, Intangibles Goodwill and Other, and Accounting Standards Update, or ASU, 2017-04, Intangibles Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. The Company’s goodwill and intangible assets are deductible for tax purposes.

Indefinite-lived and finite-lived intangible assets acquired in business combinations are recorded at fair value on the acquisition date. Finite-lived intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of the asset.

The Company annually assesses goodwill and intangible assets for impairment in the fourth quarter, or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate that goodwill might be impaired or the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Goodwill impairment testing consists of an optional qualitative assessment as well as a quantitative test. The quantitative test compares the fair value of a reporting unit to its carrying value. If the carrying value of the reporting unit is greater than zero and its fair value is greater than its carrying amount, there is no impairment. If the carrying value is greater than the fair value, and such assets are not recoverable, the difference between the two values is recorded as an impairment.

For additional details regarding goodwill and intangible assets, please refer to “Note 6. Goodwill and Intangible Assets” to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Investments

Prior to December 31, 2024, the Company accounted for its investments in less than majority owned companies in accordance with FASB ASC 323, Investments – Equity Method and Joint Ventures and FASB ASC 321, Investments Equity Securities. The Company applied ASC 323 to investments when it had the ability to exercise significant influence but did not control the operating and financial policies of the company, which was generally represented by equity ownership of at least 20 percent but not more than 50 percent. Investments accounted for under the equity method were initially recorded at cost and subsequently adjusted by the Company’s share of equity in income or losses after the date of acquisition. The pro rata share of the operating results of the investee was reported in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income as equity investment income or loss. Investments that did not meet the equity method requirements were accounted for using the cost method under ASC 321 with changes in the fair value of the investment reported in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income as equity investment income or loss.

During the first quarter of 2024, the Company evaluated its equity investments for indicators of impairment and concluded the fair value of a cost method investment was less than its carrying amount. As a result, the Company recorded an investment loss of $3.3 million during the first quarter of 2024 on a 2015 cost method investment. This investment loss was due to the investee entering into a new convertible debt agreement that resulted in the conversion of the Company’s preferred stock
holdings in the investee into common shares, and the dilution of the Company’s ownership percentage. The investment loss recorded reduced the book value of the cost method investment to zero.

During the second quarter of 2024, the Company sold its remaining equity method investment back to the investee, as it was no longer considered a strategic investment. As a result, the Company recorded an investment loss of $1.1 million during the second quarter of 2024 on a 2013 equity method investment. The investment loss recorded reduced the book value of the equity method investment to zero. As a result, the Company no longer has any investments accounted for under ASC 323 and ASC 321 as of June 30, 2025, and December 31, 2024.

Stock-based Compensation

The Company accounts for stock-based compensation in accordance with FASB ASC 718, Stock Compensation, which requires companies to expense share-based compensation based on fair value, and ASU 2016-09, Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting. Stock-based payments may include incentive stock options or non-qualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, dividend equivalent rights, performance shares, performance units, cash-based awards, other stock-based awards, including unrestricted shares, or any combination of the foregoing.

Stock-based compensation cost is recognized as an expense generally over a three-year vesting period using the straight-line method for employees and the graded-vesting method for members of the Company’s Board of Directors, or the Board. It is measured using the Company’s closing stock price on the date of the grant. An accelerated one-year period is used to recognize stock-based compensation cost for employees who have reached certain service and retirement eligibility criteria on the date of grant. The fair value of each option award is estimated at the date of grant using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model that uses certain assumptions. The Company makes assumptions with respect to expected stock price volatility based on the average historical volatility of the Company’s common stock. In addition, the Company determines the risk-free interest rate by selecting the U.S. Treasury constant maturity for the same maturity as the estimated life of the option quoted on an investment basis in effect at the time of grant for that business day.

Judgment is required in estimating the percentage of share-based awards that are expected to vest, and in the case of performance stock units, or PSUs, the level of performance that will be achieved and the number of shares that will be earned. The Company estimates forfeitures of share-based awards at the time of grant and revises such estimates in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from original estimates. The forfeiture assumption is ultimately adjusted to the actual forfeiture rate. If actual results differ significantly from these estimates, stock-based compensation expense could be higher or lower and have a material impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements. Estimates of fair value are subjective and are not intended to predict actual future events, and subsequent events are not indicative of the reasonableness of the original estimates of fair value made under ASC 718.

Stock-based compensation expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, and 2024 was as follows (in thousands):

Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,
 2025202420252024
(Unaudited)(Unaudited)
Instructional costs and services$173 $197 $411 $420 
Selling and promotional189 130 393 269 
General and administrative1,876 1,496 3,697 3,052 
Total stock-based compensation expense$2,238 $1,823 $4,501 $3,741 

Incentive-based Compensation

The Company provides incentive-based compensation opportunities to certain employees through cash incentive and equity awards. The expense associated with these awards is reflected within the Company’s operating expenses. For the years ending December 31, 2025, and 2024, the Management Development and Compensation Committee of the Board approved annual incentive arrangements for senior management employees. The aggregate amount of awards payable, if any, is dependent upon the achievement of certain Company financial and operational goals and the satisfaction of individual performance goals. Given that the awards are generally contingent upon achieving annual objectives, final determination of the current year incentive awards cannot be made until after the results for the year are finalized. The Company recognizes the
estimated fair value of performance-based restricted stock units by assuming the satisfaction of any performance-based objectives at the “target” level, which is the most probable outcome determined for accounting purposes at the time of grant and multiplying the corresponding number of shares earned based upon such achievement by the closing price of the Company’s stock on the date of grant. To the extent performance goals are not met, compensation cost is not ultimately recognized against the goals and, to the extent previously recognized, compensation cost is reversed. Amounts accrued are subject to change in future interim periods if actual future financial results or operational performance are better or worse than expected. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company recognized an aggregate incentive-based compensation expense of $2.9 million and $4.7 million, respectively, compared to an aggregate expense of $1.9 million and $3.8 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, respectively.

Income Taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes in accordance with FASB ASC 740, Accounting for Income Taxes. The Company determines its interim tax provision by applying the estimated income tax rate expected for the full calendar year to income before income taxes for the period adjusted for discrete items.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The Company considers the applicability and impact of all ASUs issued by the FASB. All ASUs issued subsequent to the filing of the Annual Report on March 6, 2025, were assessed and determined to be either inapplicable or not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial position and/or results of operations.