Staying Power Rankings of the 44 Colleges and Universities in The 2024 New England Survey

 Critics might suggest that "averages" can't possibly paint the full picture and summary statistics can be manipulated to support any theory or hypothesis.  

It is not the purpose of The 2024 New England Survey to call out any institution because of its financial vulnerabilities.  On the contrary, the hope is that awareness of the risks and thoughtful consideration of ways to mitigate that risk might help at risk schools weather the storm.  

But in response to those who try find fault with the observations presented based on population statistics, particularly averages, here is the "Staying Power"  for each of the 44 schools in The Survey - without their names - at a range of possible decline in enrollment.  

The "Staying Power Score" in the column to the right is simply the sum of the Staying Power metrics in each of enrollment decline buckets.  Statistically, the Score has no relevance except to rank the schools as shown below from those most at risk to those with the strongest financial position in terms of Staying Power.  That having been said:  The difference in the patterns of erosion in Staying Power raises some interesting questions that might be worthy of further investigation. 

Just a refresher on what  "Staying Power" is.  Staying Power is simply a calculation that says how long a school can remain cash positive in the normal course of business based on cash on hand and the rate at which net cash flows in the ordinary course of business will increase or decrease that cash if things carry on the same into the future.  $100 million in cash will last 10 years if a school has a negative cash flow of $10 million per year.  

Now, of course, short term lines of credit and other cash management tactics can tide a school over through seasonally low cash flows.  But the relief from those sources is inelastic.  Simply stated, they do not expand when the need grows.  And while schools may have great "wealth" in the form endowments and real estate, those don't automatically address a liquidity issue for the reasons clearly set forth in The Fallacy of Net Asset Value page of this website.  To be sure, schools can liquidate quasi endowment, take out more debt if it is available, and sell assets if they are allowed.  But the data for these 44 schools indicate those sources of relief would be limited and short lived where available.  And that assumes a Board of Trustees would be comfortable taking steps that are normally seen as last gasps.   

The concept of Staying Power and the systems and methods used to calculate it are copyright protected  - (c) 2025 Abenaki Analytics, Steven M. Shulman, All Rights Reserved - and are the subject of a pending patent.