Nature of Business and Significant Accounting Policies - Narrative (Details)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015 subsidiary student campus segment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of students \| student	97,500
Number of subsidiary institutions \| subsidiary	2
Number of reportable segments \| segment	2
HCON
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of campuses \| campus	4

The number of facilities (ground and buildings) utilized in the delivery of academic instruction.

No definition available.

Name:	apei_NumberOfCampuses
Namespace Prefix:	apei_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The number of students with either an academic status of Active or Program Hold and who are currently in a course or completed a course in the last 12 months; or the number of students enrolled in one or more courses after the date by which they may drop the course without financial penalty.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	apei_NumberOfStudents
Namespace Prefix:	apei_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of business components for which separate financial information is available, that management regularly evaluates in deciding how to allocate resources and assess performance.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	apei_NumberOfSubsidiaries
Namespace Prefix:	apei_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfReportableSegments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SegmentReportingInformationLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=apei_HondrosCollegeOfNursingMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: