A small but growing number of universities are obtaining credit ratings from agencies such as Standard & Poor's Corp. as competition intensifies amid a decline in students.
Officials of credit-rated schools said the country's institutions of higher education are under growing pressure to demonstrate their financial soundness to prospective applicants and their parents.
Keio University became the latest school to join the list, announcing recently that it received an AA rating from S&P and an AA plus from Rating and Investment Information Inc. (R&I)