<p>^ I agree Michigan is on a better financial footing. What is the Standard and Poors rating? Better than Uncle Sam? ;)</p>
<p>UCs are behind in the game because California just started the process of disinvesting in public education. Other states did the same a long time ago and schools adapted well to that reality.</p>
<p>Many publics don’t have their own credit rating because they issue bonds through the state and use their rating. The state still chips in some money for buildings too. UM now gets very little money for buildings from the state.</p>
<p>^^^Obviously Wisky isn’t one of the other six either. ;-)</p>
<p>who cares about credit ratings by rating agencies? The real “credit ratings” are the yield… call me when M-bond yield lower than 185bps (10 year t-yield)…thank you uncle ben for operation twist (my @ss)</p>
<p>No, UW has no credit rating because by law all its bonds go through the state which is AA now. The UW Hospitals & Clinics which is a non-state public organization has a AAA rating.</p>
<p>why the hell do traders use jargon like “basis points”. Just say percentage.</p>
<p>Because those in Finance use that term every day. They are use to dealing with sometimes 1 or 2 basis points and use that term rather than 1/100th of a per cent.</p>
<p>^ understand that. I use technical terms too. The difference is I don’t have a CNBC or Fox Biz channel to make it seem so obnoxious. </p>
<p>25 basis points takes same verbal energy as .25 percent. But, perhaps it’s more clear when chatting on the squak box or instant messaging.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Okay. The endowment of the medical school is a little over 1 billion. If you subtract it from the University’s endowment it is still over 6 billion. Still more than double Cal.</p>
<p>i saw you at career fair, bearcats</p>
<p>I saw you at the career fair nubswitstubs.</p>
<p>And to think people accuse the University of being too big! 
I am always amazed at how small Michigan really feels once you break it down to the individual.</p>
<p>lol I dont know who you are…</p>
<p>anyway we say bps because it is so much easier. A lot of times fees and edges are measured in 1 or 2 bps. </p>
<p>Think about this, 0.0002 (zee- ro- point-zee-ro-zee-ro-zee-ro-two) is 10 syllables, while 2bps (two-bips) is 2 syllables… much easier and less confusing. (so…how many zero’s did you say??)</p>
<p>Speaking of career fair, good lord Michigan Engineering students could do much better… a lot of awkward conversations to say the least, but what surprises me is that so many kids have bad breath and bad body odor. I can smell some kids from 3 feet away.</p>
<p>bearcats, career fairs are overrated everywhere. I manned booths at Cornell, Northwestern and Penn and theirs were no better than Michigan’s. Where Michigan hurts is their LSA career fairs. Those are indeed a notch below.</p>
<p>^ But do the students smell bad? Haha!</p>
<p>My engineer BO is about 2 bps right now.</p>
<p>^^^^^^hehe</p>
<p>Northwestern’s endowment is a bit smaller but the earnings are spent on significantly less people and smaller (10x smaller) campus.</p>
<p>^ Cool story, Sam. How many basis points is Northwestern better?</p>
<p>Sam Lee, I am not sure why acreage should be a factor here. I can see how the number of buildings can play a role, but not acreage. In most ways, Michigan is 2.5-3 times larger than NU (580 buildings vs 170 buildings and 41,000 students vs 19,000 students) and its endowment is roughly 20% larger than NU’s. Of course, one should take Michigan’s state appropriations into account when comparing the two schools, and that does level the playing field nicely. When you factor in economies of scale, Northwestern is not that much better off financially, which is saying a lot because Northwestern is very well off.</p>