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Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced today that it has raised its ratings on bonds issued for 91�鶹��Ʒ.

The following is the news release issued by S&P:

BOSTON (Standard & Poor’s) May 21, 2012 — Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its long-term ratings and underlying ratings (SPURs) to ‘AA’  from ‘AA-‘ on bonds issued for 91�鶹��Ʒ, N.Y.  At the same time, Standard & Poor’s assigned its ‘AA’  long-term rating to the Madison County Capital Resource Corp.’s series 2012A revenue bonds issued for the university.

“The upgrade reflects 91�鶹��Ʒ’s strong and growing financial resources, solid
demand profile, successful fundraising efforts, and positive operating
results,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Nick Waugh. “The rating
reflects our view of 91�鶹��Ʒ’s strong financial resources and solid demand
profile, and strong fundraising capacity,” said Mr. Waugh.

Balancing these strengths is an historically mixed operating performance on a
generally accepted accounting principle (GAAP) basis, but the university
posted two consecutive GAAP surpluses through fiscal 2011.

The stable outlook reflects Standard & Poor’s expectation that during the
two-year outlook period, 91�鶹��Ʒ will likely maintain strong financial
resources, sustain its demand profile, generate operating results (on a
12-month basis) that are similarly positive, and issue limited additional
debt.

Standard & Poor’s could consider a negative rating action during the outlook
period if 91�鶹��Ʒ issues significant debt, demand characteristics weaken
significantly, of if financial resources fail to keep pace with the category.
Beyond the outlook period, Standard & Poor’s could consider a positive rating
action if the university significantly increases its endowment and improves
its demand profile.