Inherently I wouldn’t worry about a school that has a C or better rating unless they’re also known to be on shaky ground for other reasons or if that C has been on a school that’s seen a progressive slide for not well understood reasons (like the aforementioned taking on of debt to update facilities).
Schools rated a D, that’s a different story and would definitely be looking into them closer to understand the “why”. Especially a small school where a small % drop in enrollment or some other seemingly minor thing might be enough to tip them over the edge.
It shares percentage of tenure-track faculty or the number of library circulations per student (both physical and digital), dorm capacity, etc. This is in addition to details on test scores, demographics, the states students are coming from, etc.
Below is an example from the institutional finances section. It shows the revenue from tuition and fees, revenue, expenses, and assets including trend lines from 2011 to 2022. It will also provide a comparison with the school’s athletic conference and its classification.
I believe that it was Bard’s phenomenal and charismatic president (Leon Botstein) who made the very good point some years ago that he believed the point of a college’s endowment was to use it in furthering the college’s mission. He made this claim at a moment when Bard was seen by some financial rating services as being in poor position, because they kept spending their endowment in furtherance of their mission. I remember looking at all of this in 2019 as a child was making their list.
Now, some years later, lo and behold, Bard is considered quite stable, having spent money to good effect and raised additional money off of donors who are happy to have their money put to use.
At least that’s what I gather.
All to say that each college’s financial position should be carefully considered, and financial “grades” like this one that are a snapshot in time can be misleading.
If I recall correctly, Bard was about to fail, but an urgent fundraising campaign saved the school a few years ago.
In 2021, George Soros pledged $500 million in a Bard College fundraising efforts which resulted in establishing a billion dollar endowment fund for thefinancially beleagured school.
Great link about the Soros donation! I didn’t remember the details, but this was exactly what I meant with donors who appreciated Bard’s insistence on spending in support of its mission.
But I believe that you might be thinking of Hampshire College with regards to the urgent fundraising to save it? Bard was never in danger of failing were they; they just had a smaller endowment, and kept spending it?
Bard College was among the 9 lowest rated non-profit higher education institutions; Bard’s grade assigned by Moody’s placed the school well into junk bond rating territory. Much speculation at the time as to whether or not Bard College would survive:
This is very interesting data. Looking back at the Forbes data for 2023 and 2021 it looks like most school increased from 2021 to 2023, then dropped in 2024. Most that I checked where only slightly down from the 2021 numbers, suggesting the 2023 numbers were an aberration likely based on federal Covid funding. At least spot checking the schools my kid is looking at. Of his schools, one is a D, one is a C- and one is a C+. Most are B+ or higher. Hard to not warn him away from the C and D schools.
I found this website helpful as well as it shares more data, including endowment data and some trends:
If they are counting construction bonds against the financial health of the school, as @circuitrider mentioned, that may have something to do with it. Princeton is a giant construction zone at the moment. It’s hard to wrap one’s head around the size of the investment to concurrently build a new Art Museum, entire new School of Engineering, new Residential College, new Graduate House, new facilities for several teams on a newly developed area… and the list goes on.
Not surprised my husband’s university is a D. They fired a bunch of staff and cut benefits a couple of years ago when the new president came, and discovered hidden financial mis-management. Then this year closed the dorm on his branch (that was going to be full for the first time ever. And his contract was not renewed. Been there 9 years. They gave him a one year courtesy contract when his is up this summer. I predict the closing of his branch campus is not too far away.
By category, Ivies — with Penn, Cornell, Yale and Columbia — and NESCAC LACs — with Williams, Bowdoin, Amherst and Hamilton — performed notably well, with A+ grades. The Claremonts performed proportionally well, with CMC and Pomona receiving A+ grades.
Exactly why it takes digging a little under the grades to understand the “why”. The grades SHOULD take into account the debt (construction bonds) the school is taking on. If all of a sudden enrollment drops they still have to service the debt.
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Thank you for posting this list. Do you have access to the 2025 list? I’m wondering if it’s published in a hardcopy of Forbes or only available to online subscribers.
