Chronicle - As Fiscal Year Ends, Big Questions Loom for Colleges' Financial Futures

Will the stock market close on a high note tomorrow, the last day of the fiscal year for most colleges? Will that last big gift come in before the books close?

While the end-of-fiscal-year value of a college's net assets is just one indicator of the institution's overall health, it's an important one. If the value falls too low relative to debt, bondholders could find the institution in default on covenants and demand repayment. [Read More]

Both Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service have noted the deterioration of college finances over the past several months and say they expect the difficult financial conditions to continue through 2012. [Read More]

As the economy worsened over the past year, more than 40 states made midyear cuts totaling nearly $60-billion, according to figures from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.[Read More]