<p>I agree Corbett, but as stated on other boards, Amherst has $500 million in private equity cash calls and just issued $100 million in taxable bonds to cover operating costs like payroll. As you point out, they now have over $300 million in debt. The valuation of endowments at this point is somewhat tricky still because, as I understand it, of illiquidity and certain investments being difficult to value (which in my book means they’re worth a helluva lot less today than they were a year ago).</p>
<p>So while we know the borrowing may have been aggressive for Midd, where are they in terms of servicing that debt. Our prep school, for example, somehow missed some of this bad news because, frankly, they have some really great fund managers who before the proverbial doo doo hit the fan, pulled a lot of money out and held it as cash. At the time there was some question whether or not the school was being too safe or merely prudent. In hindsight, of course, it was brilliant!! And while they still took a hit, it’s closer to 10-15% instead of 30. Just wondering how it’s going or looking to go based on newer data is all.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing, Midd has done a reasonably great job at avoiding a lot of guessing, but when this interview was conducted it was based on quite a few “what if’s” as posed in January. Some of those perimeters have altered a little and some may have become more sharply focused. Like… where do we find out what departments took the biggest hit in terms of losing faculty. And can I just ask… in reading about the commons system, is it just me or does anyone else see it as slightly bloated in terms of deans, contacts, RAs etc?</p>