How much consideration do you give the Forbes financial grades for a colleges?

[Bristayl]

If a potential college had received a financial grade of "C" from Forbes, would that give you pause, or would you not worry about it?

[DawnM]

My son's school is rated a C.  Whatever.  It is a good fit, he has scholarships, we are paying, he is paying......we are fine with it.

 

My own undergraduate Univ. got a B-

Dh's grad school has a grade of A

 

We seem to be all over the place.

 

I take little stock in a lot of rankings these days.....just find the right fit based on interest, what you can afford, location, size, program, etc.....and do it!

Edited November 28, 2017 by DawnM

[teachermom2834]

Hmmm....I didn't invest time in figuring out what it meant but my ds School got an F.

 

I have no concerns with his school being in financial crisis. While they have been around since 1835, they are on an upswing. They have the biggest freshman class in years, so much that housing is getting tight. They are raising academic admissions standards and have recently gotten several big donations. They just got a 50 million dollar donation for a business school which is up there with the Ivies as one of the biggest single business school donations ever.

 

Another school my ds visited had bounced back from financial crisis. It seems like sometimes those schools that have been in trouble bring in great leadership to really turn things around and are on the upswing a few years later.

 

My ds got a generous scholarship and aid package and is getting a big experience for what he is paying. Now, there are some places it is evident. There are some dorms that are very old and run down. I would say the campus never seems as clean or impeccably mainatained as some of the more expensive schools we toured. But those are acceptable tradeoffs for us. In fact, my ds appreciates having an older, cheaper dorm to choose as an alternative to the newer more expensive ones.

Edited November 28, 2017 by teachermom2834

[teachermom2834]

I also just checking on our local private university that my students use for de and I drive through for other activities several times a week. It has a C+. I would have zero concerns about the viability of the school. In just the past three years or so they have built nice new communications and business buildings and a nursing school building for a new nursing program. They are a vibrant active campus community. They give good scholarships and administrative support. My kids have had fantastic professors and manageable class sizes. It is not a good fit for undergrad for my dc but I have nothing bad to say about the school and would have no worries about sending mine there.

[Gwen in VA]

1) I would be concerned if there were rumors about it closing. A school closing while a student is there can cause major turmoil to the degree-getting process.  Schools do close. A once-upon-a-time major music school is in the process of closing right now.

 

2) I would also be concerned about a school if its finances were tight. That would mean less funding for everything from summer internships to on-campus jobs to on-campus activities.

 

If you are concerned about a school's finances, do check it out carefully!

[RegGuheert]

For reference, here is a link to Forbes' 2016 College Financial Grades.

 

While we have never used the Forbes ratings, we did back out of one school which was DD25's first pick because the school reneged on the scholarship offer which they had listed on their website.  We assume the change was because of financial considerations.

[MarkT]

For reference, here is a link to Forbes' 2016 College Financial Grades.

 

While we have never used the Forbes ratings, we did back out of one school which was DD25's first pick because the school reneged on the scholarship offer which they had listed on their website.  We assume the change was because of financial considerations.

for me Forbes never takes me to a direct link

 

Search 

College Financial Grades 

from the main page

[Hoggirl]

Wasn't it Sweetbriar that almost closed two or three years ago? I'd be curious to know what their grade was prior to that situation. They wound up not closing, but that would be one data point as to the validity of those grades.

[Bootsie]

We haven't used the Forbes ratings, but DH and I have considered the financial viability of a school when we were looking for our children.  We are both finance professors, so it may just be that looking at the financials come to us naturally.  We weren't so concerned about short-term funding but what the value of a degree would be long term if a school closes.  (That said DD was considering Sweetbriar right before they announced they were closing.)

[Bootsie]

Wasn't it Sweetbriar that almost closed two or three years ago? I'd be curious to know what their grade was prior to that situation. They wound up not closing, but that would be one data point as to the validity of those grades.

I just check and it has an "A" in the 2016 rankings.  It was in the summer of 2014 that they announced they were closing (DD had been heavily recruited by them that spring as she was a senior in high school).  I am not sure what their grade was leading up to before that.  It is my understanding that some of the problem was the university endowment had a lot of money that was tied up to be used for certain items.  The announcement that they were closing was a way to get some of that money legally released to be spent for other things.  

[Bristayl]

I got curious and checked the 2014 and 2013 rankings. Sweet Briar had an "A" in both. Hmmm.

 

I was just wondering in general about this because I went to Homecoming at my old college and the leadership was talking about their concerns about finances, lower enrollments, etc.--and they have a "B" grade in Forbes. Some of the colleges I am thinking of for DS have a "C", so I was wondering whether that would be reason to stay away from them. But perhaps not.

 

I also found a 2013 Chronicle of Higher Education article critical of Forbes' methodology, for whatever that's worth: https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/new-gauge-of-colleges-financial-health-comes-up-short

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I just check and it has an "A" in the 2016 rankings. It was in the summer of 2014 that they announced they were closing (DD had been heavily recruited by them that spring as she was a senior in high school). I am not sure what their grade was leading up to before that. It is my understanding that some of the problem was the university endowment had a lot of money that was tied up to be used for certain items. The announcement that they were closing was a way to get some of that money legally released to be spent for other things.

I haven't followed every detail but Sweet Briar Brian is probably a bad example to go by. There were strong indications that some members of the board might have personal gain if of the school closed and liquidated property. They had not done a capital campaign before announcing the closure and it was just did on many levels.

 

On the other hand I was very turned off by a situation at U of MD. They built an amazing and expensive swim facility and then eliminated their swimming and diving teams. This in an area with high level high school swimming (high calibre swim clubs and many Olympians and olympic hopefuls locally). This struck me as an example of administration mismanagement and it made me wary of what other decisions they were

making.

[Tiramisu]

Yes, schools close, including ones that have been around since the 1800s.

 

One of my children graduated from a school with a C rating. My next one is considering one and I am more worried this time since I have heard of closures.

 

ETA: I just checked the 2017 ratings and the school being considered got a D. Ouch.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Tiramisu

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I do wish that they included public universities in their calculations.  I realize some of the methodology would need to be different, but I'd be curious to see how financially healthy those schools are too.

 

In some ways it is the public schools I worry about more.

[regentrude]

I do wish that they included public universities in their calculations.  I realize some of the methodology would need to be different, but I'd be curious to see how financially healthy those schools are too.

In some ways it is the public schools I worry about more.

 

That is almost impossible to do when the financial health of a public college can turn from one moment to the other by a decision by the legislators. Finances for publics are not very predictable when public funding is so fickle.

[creekland]

I'm not really sure what we'd have done.  We didn't really consider it.

 

I looked (link worked well for me).  The schools my guys chose got a B, A, and C+ respectively.  Interestingly enough, that more or less matches many of their grades.   :lol:  (Though youngest had many grades above a C+ and oldest had As too, so this is a more or less correlation.)

[MarkT]

I haven't followed every detail but Sweet Briar Brian is probably a bad example to go by. There were strong indications that some members of the board might have personal gain if of the school closed and liquidated property. They had not done a capital campaign before announcing the closure and it was just did on many levels.

 

On the other hand I was very turned off by a situation at U of MD. They built an amazing and expensive swim facility and then eliminated their swimming and diving teams. This in an area with high level high school swimming (high calibre swim clubs and many Olympians and olympic hopefuls locally). This struck me as an example of administration mismanagement and it made me wary of what other decisions they were

making.

wow

https://recwell.umd.edu/facilities/natatorium

 

Had to pay for over-paid football and basketball coaches I guess.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/maryland-cuts-seven-sports-on-sad-day-in-college-park/2012/07/02/gJQAqJFBJW_story.html?utm_term=.c97646dd1821

 

read this you may have to search by title:

Maryland Debacle Shows Why We Must Get Football Out Of Our Universities

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2015/10/11/get-football-out-of-our-universities-take-it-private/#20666112edb3>

[Lanny]

I do wish that they included public universities in their calculations.  I realize some of the methodology would need to be different, but I'd be curious to see how financially healthy those schools are too.

 

In some ways it is the public schools I worry about more.

 

I was not familiar with the Forbes Financial ratings, until I read this thread. Like you, I was thinking it would be nice if they included Public universities too.  If they did, I would be curious as to the ratings for Texas Tech University and LSU (Louisiana State University). It was common knowledge, a couple of years ago, that LSU was having severe financial problems. As regentrude pointed out, with Public universities, their state funding can vary, wildly, depending on the finances of the state and the whims of the legislature.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I was not familiar with the Forbes Financial ratings, until I read this thread. Like you, I was thinking it would be nice if they included Public universities too.  If they did, I would be curious as to the ratings for Texas Tech University and LSU (Louisiana State University). It was common knowledge, a couple of years ago, that LSU was having severe financial problems. As regentrude pointed out, with Public universities, their state funding can vary, wildly, depending on the finances of the state and the whims of the legislature.

 

It would have to use different methodology than what is used for the private universities.  But I think you could still come up with something useful.  

 

The bond ratings for specific universities could be one measurement.  In particular looking at the bond rating of the school over time, and in comparison to the state bond rating.