financial health assessment of 876 private US colleges and universities. Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, Forbes reviewed colleges’ endowment assets, viability ratio (expendable assets divided by total liabilities), reliance on tuition as core revenue, and other key factors.
Forbes developed the grading system to help future college students make wise enrollment decisions. In addition to inflation and rising operating costs, by 2026 American institutions will face the sinister-sounding “demographic cliff”—a 15% drop in incoming students thanks to lower birth rates during the 2007–09 Great Recession.
With colleges competing for fewer students, Forbes writer Emma Whitford argues, fiscally prudent institutions like 61´«Ă˝will be best equipped to weather the enrollment storm.
“Balance sheet strength is never mentioned on the list of must-haves. But it should be,” she writes. “For any student who wants to spend their college days on the same campus—especially if that school is small to begin with—selecting a financially sound school is more important than ever.”