S&P lowers outlook for Brooklyn Law School
Standard & Poor’s has lowered its outlook on Brooklyn Law School’s debt from stable to negative.
The outlook means the agency believes there is a one in three chance it will downgrade the school’s BBB+ rated debt, Crain’s New York Business reports.
The S&P report said Brooklyn Law School had a $996,000 operating deficit for the fiscal year that ended in June 2012, forcing the school to dip into its endowment, the story says. Even though the school increased full-time tuition 2.5 percent this year, to more than $51,000, it increased its grants and scholarships to 37 percent, compared to 15 percent in 2007.
A spokesman for Brooklyn Law School told Crain’s that Moody’s Investors Service had reconfirmed a stable outlook for school debt two months ago, and the school was confident it would continue to do well. The school is lowering its costs through lower salary and pension expenses, the spokesman said. The school’s 1L class is slightly larger this year, and its new accelerated two-year degree program starts next year.
S&P rates five stand-alone law schools, according to prior coverage. Most law schools that are analyzed by S&P are reviewed in conjunction with a rating for an affiliated university, and they represent a small portion of the overall rating. In April, S&P revised its outlook for Albany Law School from BBB/positive to BBB/stable.
Hat tip to TaxProf Blog.
