(New Orleans) — Loyola received good news Monday when Moody’s Investors Service announced that it removed Loyola University New Orleans from its watch list, and Loyola’s rating remains at A1, the highest rating given by Moody’s, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

This means that Loyola is no longer in immediate danger of seeing its credit rating downgraded. A drop in rating can require a college to pay higher interest rates to sell its bonds to investors. Loyola has $48 million of rated debt, and its rating remains at A1, reflecting its significant unrestricted financial reserves of $274 million at the end of the 2005 fiscal year.

The outlook for Loyola, however, could still be negative because of “uncertainty regarding enrollment recovery and the associated financial impact of likely enrollment losses,” according to Moody’s.

Moody’s is a credit rating agency that put Loyola on its watch list in September. Moody’s analysts were gathering information about the hurricane’s impact at the colleges to decide whether each institution’s rating should be lowered. Other schools placed on the watch list in September include: the Southern University System, Tulane University, and the University New Orleans.

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