Standard & Poor’s Reaffirms Duquesne’s ‘A’ Credit Rating

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has reaffirmed its “A” credit rating of Duquesne. The rating is based on the most recent Standard & Poor’s Not-for-Profit Public and Private Colleges and Universities methodology.

According to Standard & Poor’s, Duquesne’s ‘A’ rating assessment reflects:

  • Healthy operating surpluses for each of the past five years
  • Stable enrollment at the undergraduate level
  • Stable selectivity and matriculation metrics with an above-average student quality
  • Moderate maximum annual debt service burden of 3.7 percent of fiscal 2016 operating expenses.

According to the report, “Duquesne’s enterprise profile is assessed as strong characterized by stabilizing enrollment and above-average student and faculty quality.”

The report also assessed “Duquesne’s finance profile as strong with historically solid operating performance, growing net tuition revenues and a below average debt burden. These credit factors lead to an indicative stand-alone credit profile of ‘a’ and issue rating of ‘A.’”

Duquesne was recently ranked No. 37 by U.S. News and World Report as a Best Value School among national universities. In addition, Forbes rated Duquesne as among the nation’s Best Value Colleges in 2016.