Reed’s Bond Rating Reaffirmed

Reed College’s bond rating was reevaluated by Standard & Poor’s this past summer in preparation for the issuance of $30 million in bonds to support residence hall construction on campus. S&P reaffirmed Reed’s AA– rating, and revised upward its outlook on the college’s finances to “positive.”

S&P cited the following favorable characteristics of Reed’s current situation in its bond rating:
• Continued growth in student demand, with a 15 percent increase in fall 2006 applications and a 40.4 percent acceptance rate, which has improved from 70 percent five years ago.
• More than $443 million in endowment as of April 2007, or more than $317,000 per full-time equivalent (FTE) student.
• Good liquidity, with unrestricted resources at 4.3x annual operating expenses and 4.4x pro forma debt.
• A good history of fundraising, with Annual Fund giving of $3 million in 2006 and an alumni participation rate of just over 30 percent.

Reed broke ground this past summer on four new small-scale residence halls that will form a quad on the northwest side of campus and house 125 students. Construction has also begun on a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge across Reed canyon (to the west of the existing bridge) that will link the new quad with dining, classroom, and administrative buildings on the south side of campus. In addition, construction crews broke ground in early fall on a new Spanish language house near Woodstock Boulevard that will house 17 students and provide facilities for language scholars and academic programming.