Amherst College Debt Cut by S&P as Top-Rated Schools Dwindle
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Amherst College, one of the wealthiest U.S. liberal-arts institutions, lost its top credit rating because of an increase in debt relative to revenue, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday in a report.
The school in western Massachusetts was cut one step to AA+ from AAA as it prepares to borrow $100 million for capital projects delayed after the global financial credit crisis in 2008, bringing its debt load to $412 million, S&P said. Williams College, another elite private school located farther west, on the border with New York, was downgraded by S&P in July because of diminished financial resources.