Moody's Revises Iona College Bond Rating Outlook to Positive
Iona College's bond rating outlook from Moody's Investors Service has been upgraded to positive.
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. –Iona University's bond rating outlook from Moody's Investors Service has been upgraded to positive. The College's current Baa2 rating was also affirmed.
Moody's pointed to a number of reasons for the outlook upgrade, including continued solid operating cash flow, growth in reserves from retained surpluses in budget, and steady debt reduction over the past several years. The report also noted Iona's track record of strong fiscal discipline and healthy debt service coverage and the increased donor support and rising endowment.
“This is welcome news. Iona University has kept an especially sharp eye on managing its expenses, maintaining positive cash flow, fundraising to grow the endowment and for the exciting capital projects on our campus that include modern residence halls, the Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the new LaPenta School of Business," said Anne-Marie Schettini-Lynch, senior vice president for Finance and Administration. "We are particularly pleased with Moody’s positive outlook and affirmation of our bond rating as it reflects the College’s continued fiscal discipline and responsible stewardship at a time when so many institutions of higher education face challenging financial headwinds.”
A bond rating is a grade given to bonds in order to indicate its credit worthiness. Independent rating services such as Moody's provide evaluations of a bond issuer's ability to pay a bond's principal and interest in a timely fashion. Bond ratings are important to both investors and entities that are issued bonds because the rating affects the interest rate to be paid. Iona currently holds bonds issued from 2012 by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and from 2015 by the City of New Rochelle Corporation for Local Development.
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2024 national list of “The Best 389 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.