Outlook Not Good for Universities, Says Moody’s Magic 8 Ball

Higher ed has had a negative grade since 2009, but in 2011, elite research universities were given upgrades, and now the entire field has been downgraded again. “Moody’s explained the change by saying that even the best colleges and universities faced diminished prospects for revenue growth, given mounting public pressure to keep tuition down, a weak economy and the prospect that a penny-pinching Congress could cut financing for research grants and student aid.”

PENNY-PINCHING CONGRESS. This part is good:

“[Moody’s] maintained that the average debt load was manageable for most students, since 72 percent of student loans were held by borrowers with less than $25,000 in debt. Nonetheless, the report noted that the increasing focus on student debt and college affordability by the media and politicians puts additional pressure on college administrators to rein in costs.”

Okay then! What is YOUR student debt situation? Do you have loans? Public, private? Give it to me straight and I’ll put it on this website and TOGETHER we’ll, uh, “put additional pressure on college administrators to rein in costs” (that’s how it works, right?) (is that even what we want?) (or do we just want more money from the states and less money from students?) (let’s have a CONVERSATION!) GET AT ME: logan@thebillfold.com

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