LSU on 'unsustainable financial path'

Published Jul 23, 2012 at 3:00 pm (Updated Jul 23, 2012)

A new analysis of nearly 1,700 American public and private nonprofit colleges being unveiled today by Bain & Company says that one-third of the institutions have been on an "unsustainable financial path" in recent years, and an additional 28% are "at risk of slipping into an unsustainable condition." LSU, according to the analysis, is among the institutions in which expenses are rising and equity as a percentage of total assets is down. The report says LSU's expense ratio has risen 3%, while its equity ratio has decreased 17%. The methodology is based on just two financial ratios, as The Chronicle of Higher Education reports, they produce some findings that may seem incongruous with conventional views on colleges' financial standing. The tool classifies wealthy institutions such as Cornell, Harvard, and Princeton Universities as being on an "unsustainable path" alongside tuition-dependent institutions like Central Bible College, in Missouri. You can check out The Chronicle of Higher Education's report on the study here; and The Wall Street Journal's here. Or, you can access the complete study and a searchable database of its findings by institution at the Bain & Company website here.