Just to be clear, Pres Weiss left because he was offered the position as head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, the world class museum on 5th Ave. He expressed his regret to the Hford community about leaving but said that it was truly a once in a lifetime job offer.
Hford’s endowment is close to $500 million which is pretty good sized, considering that it is smaller student body than most other LACs. As I recall, Bates’ endowment was under $300 million, and Kenyon’s is in the mid-$300 million range, both schools with larger student bodies.
While another data point for comparison among schools, I wouldn’t read too much into the bond rating or the new federal rating. With any kind of rating, the question is, what is being measured – and what is the relevance of that measurement to my decision.