2024 Forbes College Financial Grades - Major Movement

[Anonymous]

I like the methodology and think universities need more fiscal accountability. This rating or something similar should be more widely familiar.

To the poster commenting on religious schools, I think you will find many religious schools in the low grades list as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My observations/thoughts as I look though the list.

1. One or two big checks can really turn propel a school upward. For example, both McPherson in KS and Catawba in NC now have A grades after a donor changed their fates. McPherson is now ranked above Wake, Dartmouth, and Grinnell. Catawba is right between MIT and Emory.

2. Since the USNWR list is so closely aligned with $, I wonder if schools like McPherson or Catawba will start to appear on USNWR national rankings.

3. Since there's some unpredictability in where future existentially-large gifts will go (who'd have expected McPherson to get a billion dollars?), it makes predicting the future a little hard.

4. The religious schools are doing quite well. A number of the schools high on the list are *extremely* religious, and notably in a way that intersects with politics. For example, a fair number appear on the "worst" list for LGBTQ-friendliness as ranked by Campus Pride.

5. It would be interesting to compare some of these religio-political schools to previous Forbes rankings to get a sense of whether the culture wars/political polarization are infusing new levels of cash into these very religious schools.

6. Despite the gleeful hand-wringing from some DCUMers, nearly all of the top SLACs are doing great. Looks like 65 or so (at least?) of the USNWR national LACs have range from B to A+, and a bunch of regional ones are in that range too.

7. There was a recent post about hidden gems, and Trinity University in TX came up a bunch. This school, which almost never gets talked about here, is graded A, which seems to reinforce this.

8. Nice to see some HBCUs doing really well - Johnson C. Smith has an A+, Tougaloo has an A.

9. There are at least three regional women's schools that are doing very well. Stephens College in MO, Hollins in VA, and St. Mary's of Indiana. That seems potentially interesting?

10. A number on this list that are extremely niche. For example, Maharisi University in Iowa (B) is the school associated with transcendental meditation and ayurvedic medicine. I mean, okay.

11. I wish there were a way to model where schools would appear if the market had done slightly differently in those years.

Hollins received $75mm from an anonymous alumna. The largest gift ever received by a women’s college.

Oh, good for them! I guess I (PP) was wondering if there might be new interest in supporting some of these regional women's schools, especially as an increasing number of similar schools seem to face concerning financial realities. I'm hoping more people step up to support some of the very good schools who don't already have billion-dollar+ endowments. If I had a few billion, I'd slip some $$ to a lot of these lesser-known schools who do great work with good-but-not-superstar kids. An educational market with a few haves and many precarious have-nots won't serve anyone well.

I couldn’t agree more, PP. As a Hollins alum, I was thrilled to see a donor step up with a gift that could actually change the school’s trajectory. And your summary/analysis was excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern's A- rating is the highest among its Boston peers, contrary to the criticism on the lowest endowment.
Boston College B+
Tufts B+
Boston University B

Another win for Northeastern.

If you check Moody's rating, it will tell a different story. Actually, those Boston peers are very solid.

[Anonymous]

This is one of the important metrics to consider when choosing a college.

[Anonymous]

Go SMC!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My observations/thoughts as I look though the list.

1. One or two big checks can really turn propel a school upward. For example, both McPherson in KS and Catawba in NC now have A grades after a donor changed their fates. McPherson is now ranked above Wake, Dartmouth, and Grinnell. Catawba is right between MIT and Emory.

2. Since the USNWR list is so closely aligned with $, I wonder if schools like McPherson or Catawba will start to appear on USNWR national rankings.

3. Since there's some unpredictability in where future existentially-large gifts will go (who'd have expected McPherson to get a billion dollars?), it makes predicting the future a little hard.

4. The religious schools are doing quite well. A number of the schools high on the list are *extremely* religious, and notably in a way that intersects with politics. For example, a fair number appear on the "worst" list for LGBTQ-friendliness as ranked by Campus Pride.

5. It would be interesting to compare some of these religio-political schools to previous Forbes rankings to get a sense of whether the culture wars/political polarization are infusing new levels of cash into these very religious schools.

6. Despite the gleeful hand-wringing from some DCUMers, nearly all of the top SLACs are doing great. Looks like 65 or so (at least?) of the USNWR national LACs have range from B to A+, and a bunch of regional ones are in that range too.

7. There was a recent post about hidden gems, and Trinity University in TX came up a bunch. This school, which almost never gets talked about here, is graded A, which seems to reinforce this.

8. Nice to see some HBCUs doing really well - Johnson C. Smith has an A+, Tougaloo has an A.

9. There are at least three regional women's schools that are doing very well. Stephens College in MO, Hollins in VA, and St. Mary's of Indiana. That seems potentially interesting?

10. A number on this list that are extremely niche. For example, Maharisi University in Iowa (B) is the school associated with transcendental meditation and ayurvedic medicine. I mean, okay.

11. I wish there were a way to model where schools would appear if the market had done slightly differently in those years.

Hollins received $75mm from an anonymous alumna. The largest gift ever received by a women’s college.

Oh, good for them! I guess I (PP) was wondering if there might be new interest in supporting some of these regional women's schools, especially as an increasing number of similar schools seem to face concerning financial realities. I'm hoping more people step up to support some of the very good schools who don't already have billion-dollar+ endowments. If I had a few billion, I'd slip some $$ to a lot of these lesser-known schools who do great work with good-but-not-superstar kids. An educational market with a few haves and many precarious have-nots won't serve anyone well.

Re Women's schools, Wells College could have used an anonymous donor!

https://hechingerreport.org/the-story-of-how-one-college-abruptly-closed-but-kept-everyone-in-the-dark/

[Anonymous]

Speaking of women's colleges, I am surprised that Smith College isn't ranked. It has the 2nd highest endowment of all of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern's A- rating is the highest among its Boston peers, contrary to the criticism on the lowest endowment.
Boston College B+
Tufts B+
Boston University B

Another win for Northeastern.

It is much more concerning to have a low endowment that's well managed than a big endowment that is decently managed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of women's colleges, I am surprised that Smith College isn't ranked. It has the 2nd highest endowment of all of them.

Smith is listed, A-.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern's A- rating is the highest among its Boston peers, contrary to the criticism on the lowest endowment.
Boston College B+
Tufts B+
Boston University B

Another win for Northeastern.

It is much more concerning to have a low endowment that's well managed than a big endowment that is decently managed.

Northeastern's endowment is not low at all in the first place. It's ranked #51 among all private schools (national + LAC).
That's without medical facilities unlike schools like BU, Tufts.

[Anonymous]

Princeton has a $4.5 million per student endowment and an A-, Bryn Mawr is less than 700k and an A+? This list was created for clickbait

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Princeton has a $4.5 million per student endowment and an A-, Bryn Mawr is less than 700k and an A+? This list was created for clickbait

no, endowment is only part of the story. if operating expenses are out of control or too much debt taken in the endowment might not matter. just like a rich person can still be irresponsible and have a bad credit rating.

[Anonymous]

Remember things can change rapidly. Drexel’s problems were not known when this list was published. They’d probably get a D now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember things can change rapidly. Drexel’s problems were not known when this list was published. They’d probably get a D now.

https://www.inquirer.com/education/drexel-student-enrollment-down-cuts-20240930.html
"Drexel is cutting staff and benefits as it faces a $63 million operating loss and 15% fewer first-year students"

I thought people were saying this school was doing great?