Good school with weak financials?

[Anonymous]

One of the possibilities for my kid scores a D on this list - https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/06/09/the-strongest-and-weakest-colleges-in-america---behind-forbes-2022-financial-grades/

I am worried. Would you be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the possibilities for my kid scores a D on this list - https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/06/09/the-strongest-and-weakest-colleges-in-america---behind-forbes-2022-financial-grades/

I am worried. Would you be?

The Forbes grades tend to move too readily up and down for me to be worried by them. Something seems wonky with them. But maybe dig into the schools finances a bit more? Look at their endowment per capita, their bond rating etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the possibilities for my kid scores a D on this list - https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/06/09/the-strongest-and-weakest-colleges-in-america---behind-forbes-2022-financial-grades/

I am worried. Would you be?

Yes many good schools are struggling and will face tougher conditions in 2026 when the 18 yr old population starts declining. Covid was also expensive for them. I filtered out schools with a C or lower. Def check the bond rating. I think of it as an investment and want the place to be around in 10 years. I also noticed a lot of schools that give large merit to attract enrollment have lower Financial grades. It is not sustainable.

[Anonymous]

What’s the endowment per student? Public or private?

[Anonymous]

I’m surprised Sarah Lawrence is in so much trouble (at least according to Forbes)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised Sarah Lawrence is in so much trouble (at least according to Forbes)

Did they have to pay out a settlement due to the cult?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the possibilities for my kid scores a D on this list - https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/06/09/the-strongest-and-weakest-colleges-in-america---behind-forbes-2022-financial-grades/

I am worried. Would you be?

Yes many good schools are struggling and will face tougher conditions in 2026 when the 18 yr old population starts declining. Covid was also expensive for them. I filtered out schools with a C or lower. Def check the bond rating. I think of it as an investment and want the place to be around in 10 years. I also noticed a lot of schools that give large merit to attract enrollment have lower Financial grades. It is not sustainable.

+1. My SLAC is a B according to this list - and I can tell you I won't send my kids there. Covid and prior mismanagement hit it hard. I don't know what a D means

[Anonymous]

OP here - This list is pre-cult settlement!

The school I'm worried about has been in trouble for quite a while. How do I check the bond rating?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - This list is pre-cult settlement!

The school I'm worried about has been in trouble for quite a while. How do I check the bond rating?

If they have a Moody's rating you can do a search for "school name" and Moody's and their most recent bond rating will come up and if it's stable, positive, or negative (that just means do they expect it to stay at this rating, move up, or go down--not if the school itself is stable ).

If it's anywhere in the As I wouldn't worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the possibilities for my kid scores a D on this list - https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/06/09/the-strongest-and-weakest-colleges-in-america---behind-forbes-2022-financial-grades/

I am worried. Would you be?

Yes many good schools are struggling and will face tougher conditions in 2026 when the 18 yr old population starts declining. Covid was also expensive for them. I filtered out schools with a C or lower. Def check the bond rating. I think of it as an investment and want the place to be around in 10 years. I also noticed a lot of schools that give large merit to attract enrollment have lower Financial grades. It is not sustainable.

+1. My SLAC is a B according to this list - and I can tell you I won't send my kids there. Covid and prior mismanagement hit it hard. I don't know what a D means

B is fine. They can still turn things around. I wouldn't go below, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the possibilities for my kid scores a D on this list - https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/06/09/the-strongest-and-weakest-colleges-in-america---behind-forbes-2022-financial-grades/

I am worried. Would you be?

Yes many good schools are struggling and will face tougher conditions in 2026 when the 18 yr old population starts declining. Covid was also expensive for them. I filtered out schools with a C or lower. Def check the bond rating. I think of it as an investment and want the place to be around in 10 years. I also noticed a lot of schools that give large merit to attract enrollment have lower Financial grades. It is not sustainable.

I agree that good schools are struggling. But I wouldn't trust Forbes' methodology. For instance, because Forbes focuses so much on change, a school that is well-endowed can go down quickly on their grades. Do you really think University of Richmond should be on the list of "Dunces" because its grade went down among the most on their metrics ? That school has a 3.2BILLION endowment for only 4350 students. That is crazy rich for a small school. But they must have recently done something that Forbes thinks is a sign of financial weakness.

I don't really trust Forbes' ranking as a reliable source for this. Moody's actual bond rating, sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the possibilities for my kid scores a D on this list - https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/06/09/the-strongest-and-weakest-colleges-in-america---behind-forbes-2022-financial-grades/

I am worried. Would you be?

Yes many good schools are struggling and will face tougher conditions in 2026 when the 18 yr old population starts declining. Covid was also expensive for them. I filtered out schools with a C or lower. Def check the bond rating. I think of it as an investment and want the place to be around in 10 years. I also noticed a lot of schools that give large merit to attract enrollment have lower Financial grades. It is not sustainable.

I agree that good schools are struggling. But I wouldn't trust Forbes' methodology. For instance, because Forbes focuses so much on change, a school that is well-endowed can go down quickly on their grades. Do you really think University of Richmond should be on the list of "Dunces" because its grade went down among the most on their metrics ? That school has a 3.2BILLION endowment for only 4350 students. That is crazy rich for a small school. But they must have recently done something that Forbes thinks is a sign of financial weakness.

I don't really trust Forbes' ranking as a reliable source for this. Moody's actual bond rating, sure.

Adding: As per another thread, Forbes *just* put SVB bank as #20 in their "Best Banks of 2023 this past January. Now today the FDIC has taken it over. I'm not sure I'm going to count on Forbes for any trustworthy lists.

[Anonymous]

What’s going on at ODU such that it has a D? It stood out to me among the many small, private, and/or religious affiliated schools.

[Anonymous]

Some schools with small endowments like Bates and Kenyon seem to have good ratings. What’s going on with Conn College? I don’t know enough about these ratings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised Sarah Lawrence is in so much trouble (at least according to Forbes)

Maybe we will have a NYC campus of Northeastern soon....