S&P Global Ratings upgraded the University of Oklahoma's rating to AA-minus from A-plus ahead of a bond refunding.
The move reflects the university's role as Oklahoma's flagship higher education system, as well as its top research status, strong enrollment trend, "stable and capable" management team, recurring positive financial operations, and "ample financial resources," the rating agency said in a report this week.
"The stable outlook reflects our expectation that during the two-year outlook period, OU's enrollment will grow further, financial operating results will be positive on a full-accrual basis, and financial resources will remain ample and relative to debt not diminished significantly by any additional debt the university may issue," the report added.
S&P said it assigned the AA-minus rating to an approximately $160.7 million Series 2025A Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma general revenue refunding bond issue.
The university, which had $1.17 billion of outstanding general revenue bonds at the end of fiscal 2024, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the upgrade and the bond sale.
S&P also recently upgraded ratings for other Oklahoma issuers, raising the University of Oklahoma Health Campus a notch to AA with a stable outlook for bonds issued in 2020, 2023, and 2024, and to AA-plus for 2017 bonds. The action, which S&P announced on Oct. 20, was due to "financial resources, proactive management, and sustained enrollment growth."
OU Health, which operates three hospitals where OU Health Campus students receive training, received an upgrade to BB-plus from BB, with a stable outlook, for revenue bonds issued in 2018. In a
