Bond ratings.

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, I got sloppy in the middle there, with a few of them in the correct position but missing an important zero.

Hendrix 0.037
Gustavus: 0.039
Sarah Lawrence: 0.041

(And that’s why you always check your work, kids!)

I like you

Ugh, I got sloppy in the middle there, with a few of them in the correct position but missing an important zero.

Hendrix 0.037
Gustavus: 0.039
Sarah Lawrence: 0.041

(And that’s why you always check your work, kids!)

OP after nerding out with the tool for far too long. Been looking at LACs of various prestige, size, location, since that is where the discussion of financial distress has really been centered.

Anything in the negative is below the median. I'm surprised by some of these tbh:

Goddard (recently announced closure): -0.186
Lake Forest: -0.035
Hillsdale: -0.016
Hampshire: -0.014
Birmingham Southern (recently announced closure): -0.13
Whittier (CA): -0.012
McPherson (KS, recently got a billion-dollar gift, not sure if it's included): -0.006
MEDIAN: 0.0
Eckerd: 0.0
Agnes Scott: 0.003
Washington College: 0.015
Sweet Briar: 0.032
Clark University: 0.032
Goucher: 0.032
Earlham: 0.033
Macalester: 0.035
Hendrix: 0.37
Gustavus: 0.39
Sarah Lawrence: 0.41
Rhodes: 0.045
Ohio Wesleyan: 0.063
Allegheny: 0.066
Muhlenberg: 0.07
Wooster: 0.07
Sewanee: 0.071
Centre: 0.072
College of Atlantic: 0.078
Pitzer: 0.079
Lafayette: 0.9
Kalamazoo: 0.9
Midd: 0.09
Hobart: 0.94
F&M: 0.98
St. Olaf: 0.97
Oxy: 0.10
Dickinson: 0.104
Puget Sound: 0.105
Denison: 0.11
Trinity University TX: 0.11
Kenyon: 0.132
Grinnell: 0.14
Colby: 0.141
Reed: 0.152
Williams: 0.16
Davidson: 0.161
Carleton: 0.17
Colorado College: 0.174

Anonymous wrote:There’s no great way but endowment per student is a good start

Agree that it's a good start, but it gets skewed with the really small schools, especially as enrollment starts to decline. My DC is very interested in merit-aid LACs, the type that are a nice fit for A-/B+ kids, and what we've observed is that endowment-per-student offers a great safety net against imminent closure, but isn't quite as reassuring as we'd wish.

Anonymous wrote:Forbes isn't really that good.

Why do you say this?

There’s no great way but endowment per student is a good start

Forbes isn't really that good.

There's been a lot of discussion about institutional health/how to assess it, particularly with the looming enrollment cliff. The general consensus seems to be that Forbes is good, though one should get a long-term view (Covid funding gave an infusion of $$ to schools, which skews the 2023 financial grades toward the positive), while the Bloomberg analysis from December 2023 is largely worthless, because they don't consider endowment or balance sheets, absurdly making T10 colleges with $3 billion endowments appear more precarious than regional schools with no endowments.

Here's a tool I haven't seen mentioned that I've found unusually helpful: https://www.mapsproject.org/financial-health

I especially appreciate that one can can compare colleges to one another while simultaneously charting them against the backdrop of the sector as a whole.