AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION INC 10-Q

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds Repurchases During the three months ended March 31, 2023, we repurchased 75,000 shares of our common stock. The table and footnotes below provide details regarding our repurchase programs (unaudited): Total Number of Shares Purchased Average Price Paid per Share Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs Maximum Number of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1) Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (2)(3) January 1, 2023 — — — — 8,396,734 January 1, 2023 - January 31, 2023 — — — 7,618 8,396,734 February 1, 2023 - February 28, 2023 — — — 350,614 8,396,734 March 1, 2023 - March 31, 2023 75,000 4.96 75,000 614,120 8,024,734 Total 75,000 $ 4.96 75,000 614,120 $ 8,024,734 (1) On December 9, 2011, our Board of Directors, or Board, approved a stock repurchase program for our common stock, under which we could annually purchase up to the cumulative number of shares issued or deemed issued in each year under our equity incentive and stock purchase plans. Repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market at prevailing market prices or in privately negotiated transactions based on business and market conditions. The stock repurchase program does not obligate us to repurchase any shares, may be suspended or discontinued at any time, and is funded using our available cash. (2) On May 2, 2019, our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $35.0 million of shares of our common stock, and on December 5, 2019, our Board approved an additional authorization of up to $25.0 million of shares. We may purchase shares at management’s discretion in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions, in transactions structured through investment banking institutions, or a combination of the foregoing. We may from time to time enter into Rule 10b5-1 plans to facilitate repurchases of shares under this authorization. On March 16, 2023, our Board of Directors confirmed the availability under our existing share repurchase program to repurchase up to approximately $8.0 million of shares of the Company’s common stock. The amount and timing of share repurchases are subject to a variety of factors, including liquidity, cash flow, stock price, general business and market conditions, and applicable legal requirements. The authorization does not obligate the Company to acquire any shares, and repurchases may be commenced or suspended and the program may be discontinued at any time based on market conditions and other factors that the Company deems appropriate. The authorization under this program is in addition to our repurchase program under which we may annually purchase up to the cumulative number of shares issued or deemed issued in that year under our equity incentive and stock purchase plan. (3) During the three month period ended March 31, 2023, we were deemed to have repurchased 85,023 shares of common stock forfeited by employees to satisfy minimum tax-withholding requirements in connection with the vesting of restricted stock grants. These repurchases were not part of the stock repurchase program authorized by our Board as described in footnotes 1 and 2 of this table. Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities None. Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures None. 39 I te m 5. Other Information None. Item 6. Exhibits Exhibit No. Exhibit Description 10.1 Cooperation Agreement, dated March 20, 2023, by and among 325 Capital LLC, 325 Capital Master Fund LP, 325 Capital GP LLC, Daniel M. Friedberg, Anil K. Shrivastava, and Michael D. Braner. (1) 31.1 Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 31.2 Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 32.1 Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. EX-101.INS Inline XBRL Instance Document - the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document EX-101.SCH Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document EX-101.CAL Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document EX-101.DEF Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document EX-101.LAB Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document EX-101.PRE Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document 104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) (1) Incorporated by reference to exhibit filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-33810) filed with the SEC on March 20, 2023. 40 SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized. AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION, INC. /s/ Angela Selden May 9, 2023 Angela Selden President and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) /s/ Richard W. Sunderland, Jr. May 9, 2023 Richard W. Sunderland, Jr. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) 41