Moody's Investors Service downgraded 34 higher education institutions in 2012 while upgrading only 3, the ratings agency reported Friday, an indicator of ongoing financial challenges facing colleges and universities. Analysts chalked up the downgrades to problems raising net tuition revenue, continued state budget cuts, and enrollment troubles. "Of the seven public universities whose ratings were downgraded in the fourth quarter, five had declines in total full-time equivalent student enrollment," the report notes.
Kevin Kiley
Kevin Kiley covers management and finance for Inside Higher Ed. He joined Inside Higher Ed in April 2011. A North Carolina native, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010 with a degree in political science and journalism. At UNC, Kevin covered and edited university news for four years at The Daily Tar Heel and shared the state's top award for higher-education reporting with two other writers his senior year. Before coming to Inside Higher Ed, Kevin was an intern at The (Raleigh) News & Observer, The Arizona Republic and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Kevin enjoys running, nonfiction books and his home state. He can be reached here.
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Most Recent Articles
February 1, 2013
College endowments averaged a small loss for the 2012 fiscal year -- the third year of losses since 2007 -- highlighting growing uncertainty about a once robust and predictable revenue stream.
January 31, 2013
The University of California system is changing the way it funds its 10 campuses to equalize per-student appropriations.
January 30, 2013
North Carolina governor becomes the latest Republican to question the value of liberal arts, push more vocational training and target the state's flagship.
January 29, 2013
College and university fund-raisers predict that giving to their institutions grew by an average of 5.5 percent in 2012, according to a twice-annual survey by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. If that prediction holds true, giving for 2012 would be higher than the $31.6 billion record high for the 2007-8 academic year. Fund-raisers also predict giving to grow by 5.8 percent in 2013, a rate equal to the average over the past 20 years.
January 29, 2013
Without enough state aid dollars to make college affordable, Colorado is shifting the focus of its grant program from affordability to encouraging credit completion.
January 25, 2013
Nonelite public universities are trying to tap into the MOOC excitement to direct students toward traditional credit pathways, generating revenues along the way.
January 21, 2013
State appropriations for higher education increased in 31 states last year, according to new report, though the gains were small in most, reflecting broader economic shifts.
January 17, 2013
Every university funding source is under pressure, Moody’s asserts, meaning that all institutions -- even the elites -- need to rethink their business models.
January 16, 2013
Colleges spent much more on athletics per athlete than on academics per student between 2005 and 2010, new report finds, with growth in the former outpacing the latter.
