Date of Award

December 2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education, Health & Behavior Studies

First Advisor

Deborah Worley

Abstract

College and university administrators must be able to process large amounts of financial information quickly and be able to communicate information about financial performance to governing boards. Financial ratio analysis provides a framework for administrators to identify financial and operational concerns as well as variances from institutional plans and policies. Modern financial ratio analysis in the higher education industry relies on a set of standard ratios that comprise the Composite Financial Index (CFI). With more frequent debilitating economic events such as the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic and the predicted enrollment cliff on the horizon, college and university administrators must be able to interpret financial information quickly and be able to respond strategically to aid in the continuity of operations and to ensure the financial health of the institution under extraordinary circumstances. This study examined the relationship of institutional financial health as measured by the CFI to four major revenue streams in six high-research, land-grant institutions over a five-year period leading into the COVID-19 pandemic. This research found that the four revenue streams of interest did not have any statistically significant relationships to institutional financial health, however, that there was a statistically significant increase in financial health between fiscal years 2020 and 2021.

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