Colleges know everything about our finances. Is there a website that we can explore how financially stable a college or university is presently? Indications that a school may be on a decline? Exploring college websites will not provide this information. There are the student reviews and USNWR but where else can we look?
You can google the financial statements and see if anything comes up.
You can google the endowment.
Forbes does a grading of some private colleges’ financial health:
You can also google the university name and the term “fiscal watch.” At least in my state (OH), the state department of education has oversight over public universities and will place them on fiscal watch if certain benchmarks aren’t met. It’s just one piece of information, but it may give you insight into the financial health of the university.
Go to Guidestar.com and search for the college’s name. Their 990 tax form should be there, assuming it is not a for-profit school. In order to see the form you will have to join Guidestar, but it is free. You will be able to look at the 990s going back several years, if you want to get a feel for trends.
Moody’s?
We used the Forbes Top Colleges list and used the Forbes Financial Grade as an important criteria for the private colleges our D considered. She wound up attending a college with a Forbes Financial Grade of A+ and is having a great experience (she’s currently a junior).
It’s too bad they aren’t able to rate public universities. She visited a public university and was shocked at the lack of funding for maintenance of their buildings, which was readily visible and evident.
Public universities’ finances can be less predictable due to changes in funding from the state, which can be significantly affected by the state economy (and therefore taxes paid to the state government) and state government politics.
This is a fantastic question and one more people should ask, especially if they are looking at smaller or less well-known schools.
Watching the news, some of these colleges are struggling. Classes being cut, programs under funded. Even closures. It makes you want to learn everything you can about the schools finances. It could and possibly should change some college choices.
The federal ipeds database keeps track of
- the amount of the college spending in various categories
- the size of enrollment
going back for years
If spending and enrollment are declining, that would be a warning sign.