FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

Components used in the calculation:

• Endowment Assets Per FTE (15%)
  
• Three Year Average UNAEP to Expenses (15%) [UNAEP=Unrestricted Net Assets Exclusive of Plant (Property, and Equipment)]
• Primary Reserve Ratio (10%)
• Viability Ratio (10%)
• Core Operating Margin (10%)
• 2-Year Enrollment Growth (10%)
• Tuition As A Percentage of Core Revenues (7.5%)
• Return On Assets (7.5%)
• Net Tuition Revenue Per Student (7.5%)
• Instruction Expenses Per FTE (7.5%)

Unfortunately the article which provides more information on what these all mean has been paywalled (it was open yesterday).

[thescottharris]

Forbes put out a graded list of financial health of colleges. I'm not going into the methodology, but here are the ODAC grades:

Averett        0.34    D
Bridgewater    1.83    C-
EMU            2.05    C
Guilford      1.93    C-
H-SC          4.17    A
Hollins        4.16    A
Lynchburg      1.92    C-
Randolph      4.27    A
R-MC          3.86    A-
Roanoke        3.3    B+
Shenandoah    2.89    B-
Sweetbriar    no rank   
VWU            2.16    C
W&L            4.5    A+

Some perspective. There are 247 schools with a D grade, Averett is third worst of them all. Not sure how a school like Averett isn't in a death spiral. No way I'm paying for my kid to start there. There are 103 A+ grades, well over half carry the same 4.5 max as W&L. I'm a little surprised at how high Randolph ranks, a little surprised Bridgewater, Lynchburg and Guilford fall in the same rating. Thought Bridgewater would be higher, Guilford lower. Lynchburg in the middle makes sense.

That's an incredible recovery by Randolph. They were in a death spiral before they went co-ed.

Averett not really surprised at. When you have to sell off your own facilities and then rent them you know it's gotten pretty bad. Their problem is what so many other D3 schools have - expensive with unremarkable academics. And Averett isn't nearly as expensive as a lot of others, but a residential student is still looking at a minimum bill of $37,360 for this upcoming school year.

That's only counting full-time tuition, the cheapest room rate, the 14-meal-per-week board plan, and the $950 required fee. If you're a student-athlete it looks like you have to pay another $400. I'm assuming they aren't letting a student who lives on campus get by with the 7-meal-per-week plan, but that would only save you $1K so seems dumb to even sign up for that one.

Of course keep in mind that's before any discounting, scholarships, and grants. I would assume no one is paying full price. If someone is, then they should have just gone to trade school instead.

Actually expected a bit worse from Lynchburg but maybe they are turning things around after getting put on probation or whatever it's called by SACS. Shocked they are lower than Guilford though if even only by .01 points. I thought Guilford was doing worse than that so good on them for seemingly turning things around some.

[jknezek]

Forbes put out a graded list of financial health of colleges. I'm not going into the methodology, but here are the ODAC grades:

Averett        0.34    D
Bridgewater    1.83    C-
EMU            2.05    C
Guilford      1.93    C-
H-SC          4.17    A
Hollins        4.16    A
Lynchburg      1.92    C-
Randolph      4.27    A
R-MC          3.86    A-
Roanoke        3.3    B+
Shenandoah    2.89    B-
Sweetbriar    no rank   
VWU            2.16    C
W&L            4.5    A+

Some perspective. There are 247 schools with a D grade, Averett is third worst of them all. Not sure how a school like Averett isn't in a death spiral. No way I'm paying for my kid to start there. There are 103 A+ grades, well over half carry the same 4.5 max as W&L. I'm a little surprised at how high Randolph ranks, a little surprised Bridgewater, Lynchburg and Guilford fall in the same rating. Thought Bridgewater would be higher, Guilford lower. Lynchburg in the middle makes sense.

That's an incredible recovery by Randolph. They were in a death spiral before they went co-ed.

Not going to lie, I found that pretty shocking as well. I'm kind of curious about the components for each school, but the article doesn't seem to drill down by school. I'd love to know what Randolph scores really high in, and I'd like to know where Bridgewater is lacking.

Overall, as a parent of a h.s. rising junior (and a pair of rising freshmen), I'd definitely look at this data as a very basic guide. I'm simply not dropping 100K+ over 4 years on any college without at least a B-, probably more like a B. It's just a lot of risk if something goes wrong. And we've seen the recent trend of schools basically just closing doors. What a massive dislocation if you are a rising junior or senior to have to deal with.

There are 407 schools listed B- or better. 11 alone in VA reach that minimum criteria. Unless you are looking for something very, very specific, why risk it?

I understand that some of these schools are probably miscategorized and some are probably better than the grade or the grade doesn't factor in something important. It's not an end all be all assessment. But as a basic guide? Probably not a bad idea. Anything in that D category should just be a complete no-go without significant research.