èßäapp

Contact
Kelly Wiemann
(573) 882-6441
wiemannk@umsystem.edu

Second positive credit rating report in eight months to highlight the èßäappSystem’s effective financial management.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings, one of the nation’s premier credit rating services, today announced an affirmation of the University of èßäapp System’s high-grade AA+ credit rating, and returned the outlook for the system’s overall credit rating to stable.  S&P’s opinion came after analysts held in-depth briefings with university leaders about the future of the institution.

“S&P’s affirmation accurately reflects the hard work of our campuses and health system to serve the citizens of èßäapp through research, teaching and outreach and is welcome news,” President Choi said. “My predecessor, Interim President Michael Middleton, and the Board of Curators deserve much credit as their leadership secured the stability of the èßäappSystem and enabled the university to maintain its solid financial footing.  We plan to build on this momentum to create a stronger and more resilient institution.”

This AA+ rating, the second highest long-term credit rating an institution can receive from S&P, will keep the èßäappSystem among the top ten percent of public higher education institutions rated by the agency. Today’s rating follows the recent July rating by Moody’s Investors Service, another leading credit rating agency, which reaffirmed its high-grade rating of Aa1 also with a stable outlook. These two ratings combined keeps the èßäappSystem among an elite group of aspirant institutions. Less than 10% of the public institutions rated fall within both rating services’ top two rating categories.

“We are very pleased with the detailed review and outcome that S&P analysts presented in this updated outlook on the èßäappSystem,” èßäappSystem Interim Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Ryan Rapp said. “The shift from a negative to stable outlook by S&P provides a third-party validation on the continued strength and soundness of our financial stewardship as well as our ongoing strategic investments in new infrastructure to grow research, enhance student learning and engagement and improve health care delivery to our patients.” 

In its report, S&P cited the èßäappSystem’s recent and expected strong, ongoing operating performance, fundraising and financial profile compared to its peers. The credit rating agency assessed the èßäappSystem’s enterprise profile as solid and the stable outlook is predicated on the expectation that during the next two years the èßäappSystem will continue to provide positive operating results on a full-accrual basis and maintain unrestricted net assets relative to debt at or near current levels.

èßäappSystem strengths outlined in the analysis include:

• The position as èßäapp’s land-grant institution and history of consistent state operational support;
• Historically stable-to-growing enrollment across all campuses;
• A good demand profile with sound student retention and above-average student quality;
• A history of balanced-to-positive operations on a full-accrual basis; and
• Reasonable maximum annual debt service burden.

S&P’s media release can be found here: /media/fa/ur/20170301-ums-sp-press-release.pdf

S&P’s full report can be found here: /media/fa/ur/20170301-ums-sp-press-release-2.pdf

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