Have read in the past news about Willamette being in financially difficult standing, with significant drop in enrollment. Had read that when the UC system started admitting more in-state students, it caused a significant drop in Willamette enrollment.
Does anyone know the current situation? Is Willamette a viable choice for students entering in Fall 2022?
Forbes’ College Financial Grades 2021 gives Willamette a financial GPA of 2.75 and a financial grade of B-.
You can google the article to find their methodology & weighting system. It’s an interesting read.
My daughter is there and it all seems fine
I guess I would add from having worked at a different small school that any little thing can have an affect and then rumors start X then people don’t go and then it gets worse, etc in self fulfilling loop. My daughter is first year now and have not seen cuts. They just added art school relationship. Everything seems stable and they are still hiring new faculty. No worries on her end or mine about finances. Not cutting programs, etc
I am new to CC and am looking at a few PNW schools. I found this article posted on 2/28. It’s an interview of the current President of Willamette. It sounds like the outlook is positive. Their endowment grew by $100 million and 24% growth in total enrollment.
I know Willamette was placed in the “challenged” category under one methodology: What Colleges and Universities Will Thrive, Survive, Struggle, or Perish?
That characterization and the relatively small size of its endowment raised some questions for me when we were researching schools.
Here’s more information I’ve found.
Moody’s Investor’s Place bond rating for Willamette University for May 2021. Take it for what it’s worth. One factor to take into account to determine the health of a university.
“New York, May 05, 2021 – Moody’s Investors Service has assigned an initial Baa2 rating to Willamette University’s proposed approximately $73 million Revenue and Refunding Bonds (Willamette University Projects), 2021 Series A (Tax-Exempt) and $16 million 2021 Series B (Federally Taxable). The bonds will be issued by the Oregon Facilities Authority and are fixed rate, maturing in 2052 and 2042, respectively. The outlook is stable.”
My daughter attends there and I see no immediate scary issues like I did at another campus where I worked that struggled. (That one has even rebounded by the way after 5-8 years of struggle).
But W seems fine. Hiring new faculty, starting new programs, etc. Not seeing cuts everywhere etc. I think it will be fine for at least 5-10 years. One never knows with any school after that but so far so good. I think sometimes rumors compound the problem by scaring people off.
Willamette has a long history, great reputation, and good location. I even applied there myself back in the dark ages.
I personally don’t know enough about college financing to understand what size endowment is inadequate or to find flaws in the Professor Galloway model I referred to above. I do know the model has received criticism, but it was a published methodology and analysis and that went beyond mere rumor to me. 
Someone smarter than I may well be able to debunk it.
In any case, I personally like Willamette a lot and hope it enjoys success for decades and decades to come.