Most schools with Calvin College’s financial profile and good credit carry debt service payments of between 5% and 7.3% of their operating budgets. Calvin College’s debt service payments are at about 6.1% now and will grow to 9.2% by 2017 if our revenue holds constant. The problem is that we have not built more than .9% of the debt service payment into our operating budget.

A new report from Calvin College’s Financial Review Task Force says the school’s $69.4 million budget gap is the result of construction costs thatexceeded expectations by about $31 million.

Calvin’s long-term, $115-million debt exceeds the money in the school’s plant fund, which is designed to pay off the debt, by $69.4 million.

According to a statement from Calvin College president Michael Le Roy, debt of $115 million is “within an appropriate range for colleges of our size and type.”

However, he said the problem is that Calvin has not budgeted for its debt service payment.

According to Le Roy:

Most schools with Calvin College’s financial profile and good credit carry debt service payments of between 5% and 7.3% of their operating budgets. Calvin College’s debt service payments are at about 6.1% now and will grow to 9.2% by 2017 if our revenue holds constant. The problem is that we have not built more than .9% of the debt service payment into our operating budget.

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