What Is a AAA Bond Rating Worth?

Written By James Bacon

The University of Virginia's AAA bond rating was confirmed by the S&P bond rating agency recently, and verbally confirmed by Fitch. UVa is one of only four public universities in the country with the highest possible assessment of financial strength. What's that rating worth to the university?Board member and former finance chair Jim Murray had an answer for the Board of Visitors Thursday -- $33 million. If all of UVa's debt was rated two notches lower at a single A, as is the case with 63 public universities whose bonds S&P has examined, the difference in interest payments would be $33 million a year.Through many years of turnover through Republican and Democratic administrations, protecting the AAA rating is one priority that every Board has shared. -- JAB

James Bacon

After a 25-year career in Virginia journalism, James A. Bacon founded Bacon’s Rebellion in 2002 a blog with the goal of “Reinventing Virginia for the 21st Century.” Its focus is on building more prosperous, livable and sustainable communities. In recent years he has concentrated more on the spread of “woke” ideology in K-12 schools, the criminal justice system, higher education, and medicine.

In 2021, he co-founded The Jefferson Council to preserve free speech, intellectual diversity, and the Jeffersonian legacy at his alma mater the University of Virginia. He previously served as the organization’s executive director, now serving as congributing editor.

Aside from blogging, Bacon writes books. His first was Boomergeddon: How Runaway Deficits Will Bankrupt the Country and Ruin Retirement for Aging Baby Boomers — And What You Can Do About It, followed by Maverick Miner: How E. Morgan Massey Became a Coal Industry Legend and a work of science fiction, Dust Mites: the Siege of Airlock Three.

A Virginian through-and-through, Bacon lives in Richmond with his wife Laura.

https://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp/
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