pre_text: 1998 Employee Qualified Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) Under Autodesk’s ESPP, which was approved by stockholders in 1998, eligible employees may purchase shares of Autodesk’s common stock at their discretion using up to 15% of their eligible compensation, subject to certain limitations, at 85% of the lower of Autodesk's closing price (fair market value) on the offering date or the exercise date. The offering period for ESPP awards consists of four, six-month exercise periods within a 24-month offering period. At January 31, 2019, a total of 8.1 million shares were available for future issuance. Under the ESPP, the Company issues shares on the first trading day following March 31 and September 30 of each fiscal year. The ESPP does not have an expiration date. A summary of the ESPP activity for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 is as follows: Autodesk recorded $27.2 million, $25.7 million, and $25.9 million of compensation expense associated with the ESPP in fiscal 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively.
table: Fiscal year ended January 31,
table: 2019 2018 2017
table: Issued shares 1.0 2.0 2.3
table: Average price of issued shares $90.25 $39.03 $36.99
table: Weighted average grant date fair value of awards granted under the ESPP $42.75 $32.41 $19.20
question: Analyse this data from a financial earnings document. What was the average compensation expense over the period from 2017 to 2019?