Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — With the threat of deep budget cuts looming, national credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has placed five Louisiana higher education institutions on a negative credit watch.
The move effectively cautions investors that ratings could be lowered in the near future.
S&P's decision affects Nicholls State University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the University of New Orleans Research Foundation, LSU's Bogalusa Community Medical Center Project and the Delgado Community College Foundation.
The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1bmHlb1 ) the rating agency said it will look again at the issue within 90 days, after the legislative session ends and next year's budget is crafted.
Higher Education Commissioner Joe Rallo and Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration expressed optimism that a budget solution will be found and the institutions will be taken off S&P's watch list.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
