Hi Minnesotadad,
To answer your question whether a college’s modest decline in financial health might sway your child to to opt for a comparable but fiscally-healthier college, I can’t directly answer that as my child applied ED to Haverford. I can say that I am not concerned, however. I would urge you if you are concerned to pick up the phone and call Haverford and ask this question and see what their response is.
I am no expert, but I know bond ratings are affected by / manipulated by the same things that can alter rankings for collges. Here is a very interesting article which directly discusses how colleges knowingly and intentionally alter applications criteria in an effort to manipulate rankings. More applicants means fewer admittees, and higher selectivity gets them a stronger rating for Moody’s).
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-12/colleges-use-bag-of-tricks-to-juice-application-numbers
One thing I appreciate about Haverford is that they have not dropped essays, nor opted to be test optional in an effort to drive more applicants, yet at least. (Perhaps this is reflective of their honor code?) This article shows how this is done. Haverford, despite size, unique honor code which is certainly not for everyone, and to this point lack of marketing manipulation is perhaps more selective than other schools which have flooded students with marketing materials, dropped essays and test requirements to get more applicants. It is extremely important to not buy into the hype of college rankings and to a lesser degree the subtle shift in Moody’s rankings. What drove ‘us’ or my son in the college process was trying to find a selection of truly ‘best fit’ colleges where he could thrive academically, socially etc. Neither Moody’s slight drop in rating, nor US News ranking swayed him from other fiscally ‘healthier’ colleges nor colleges that were ranked higher.
If truly concerned, call Haverford.