Dive Brief:

• A new study questions whether too much borrowing has destabilized colleges’ finances.
• The study, funded by the American Federation of Teachers, points out that while instructional and overall costs per enrolled student in U.S. higher education remained flat from 2002 to 2012, financing costs increased 53%.
• In 2012, U.S. spending on higher education reached $491 billion, and it was twice as much per student as for comparable industrialized countries.

Dive Insight:

Also, the study points out, Moody’s has reported a negative outlook to bond investors on the higher ed sector since 2009, and in 2012, the ratings agency downgraded 22 institutions while upgrading only eight. The report, titled “Borrowing Against the Future: the Hidden Costs of Financing U.S. Higher Education,” ultimately offers no prescription for the problem, just that “it is overdue that we ask what viable alternatives do we have as a society to fund the expansions and improvements to higher education that are so popular.”