Moody’s gives colleges a negative grade — from the NYT by Andrew Martin
Excerpt:
The credit reporting agency Moody’s said on Wednesday that it had revised its financial outlook for colleges and universities, giving a negative grade to the entire field.
For the last two years, Moody’s Investors Service gave the nation’s most elite public and private colleges a stable forecast while assigning a negative outlook to the rest of higher education. (Moody’s assigned a negative outlook for the sector in 2009, but it upgraded the most elite ones to stable in 2011-2012.)
Nowhere to turn — from insighehighered.com by Kevin Kiley
Excerpt:
If colleges and universities thought they could ride out the current revenue challenges by becoming more like some other institution, Moody’s Investors Service has a bit of bad news for them: The grass isn’t greener on anybody else’s quad. Not even Harvard University’s.
In a report released Wednesday, the ratings agency outlines how every traditional revenue stream for colleges and universities is facing some sort of pressure, a finding Moody’s uses as grounds for giving the whole sector a negative outlook. The agency has been pessimistic about much of the sector since its annual outlook in 2009 after the economic downturn began, but Wednesday’s report contains a downward shift in how analysts view even market leaders, the elite institutions with high demand and brand recognition.
Originally saw thes graphic below on the Education Stormfront blog (thanks Andrew) — also see Will Hanlon Pop the Higher Ed Bubble?
.
From DSC:
As you know if you are a regular reader of this blog, I believe the higher ed bubble has already popped — but I have it that it will pop at different times for different institutions.
Addendum on 1/22/13:
- The scary economics of higher education — from Forbes.com by William Baldwin
Excerpt:The New School and many other institutions like it face serious threats. First is the risk that students will think twice about pursuing leisurely degrees that don’t confer automatic tickets to good careers. Then comes the potential for a price war with other schools desperate to fill their classrooms. And now a technologic upheaval bears down on the industry.Coursera, Udacity and other online ventures can educate students for free, or close to free. The online course industry doesn’t yet have a good credentialing system, but in time it will no doubt get one. What does all this say about the value of a university building? If you’re not sure of the answer, read Scott H. Young’s tale of how he absorbed MIT’s entire four-year curriculum in computer science without attending a single class.
. - College enrollment expected to slip — from pewstates.org by Ben Wieder
Addendum on 1/24/13:
- College dropout crisis revealed in ‘American Dream 2.0’ Report — from huffingtonpost.com by Joy Resmovits