December 13, 2002

Many Colleges May Close or Merge, Standard & Poor's Predicts

By MARTIN VAN DER WERF

In an unusually blunt assessment of the financial problems in higher education, a new Standard & Poor's report predicted that colleges and universities might "consolidate in large numbers or close as they struggle against stagnant levels of financial resources and substantially higher levels of debt."

The report, "Weak Equity Markets Hurt U.S. Higher Education Endowments," also suggests that accounting procedures used by colleges are inconsistent, potentially hiding financial

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