The number of degree-granting private colleges that failed the U.S. Department of Education's "financial responsibility" score for the 2012 fiscal year was slightly higher than in the previous year, data released on Wednesday show.
Among nonprofit colleges, 118 failed to pass, compared with 116 in 2011. Among for-profit colleges, 50 had scores below passing, versus 34 in the previous year.
The scores, based on a calculation that takes into account such factors as colleges' debts, assets, and operating surpluses or deficits, are devised for all private colleges that participate in federal student-aid programs.
The scores are also one of the few publicly available nationwide indicators of the financial health of private colleges. Colleges that get failing scores sometimes end up shuttered or sold soon afterward, although not always before the scores are public because of the time lag between the end of the fiscal year and the release of the scores. Indeed, the 2012 data show at least three colleges with failing scores that have or will soon merge or close: Chester College of New England, the National Labor College, and Virginia Intermont College.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/More-Colleges-Fail/145013