Purdue University Northwest
Composite Fragility Score over time
Pillar trajectories
Institutional debt per student
Total institutional long-term debt (not student loans) divided by full-time-equivalent enrollment, nominal dollars. For public-university systems with centralized bond debt (UC, FL SUS), the system pool is allocated across sibling campuses proportional to FTE.
Latest-year debt per FTE student includes IPEDS-reported plant debt plus the LLM-enriched DSO snapshot (off-balance-sheet bonds at affiliated entities — typically FY 2024 audit values). For schools in public systems not yet in our curated map (CSU, UT, TAMUS, etc.), the system pool is currently attributed entirely to the flagship campus per the dedupe pass; per-student numbers at those flagships are overstated until allocation is added. The trajectory line shows IPEDS-reported debt only (no DSO) for consistency across years — DSO is a single audit-year snapshot, not a time series.
Athletics & enrollment
Share of undergrads who play varsity sports (EADA, U.S. Dept of Education). A rising ratio over time at a tuition-dependent private is the “athletic ratchet” — adding sports or expanding rosters to fill seats as enrollment pressure mounts. Snapshots taken at ~6-year intervals.
NCAA Division II without football
What EADA counts: a student who participated in at least one intercollegiate (varsity) competition during the academic year. Excludes redshirts, JV / developmental rosters, and club sports. The actual athletic-recruit footprint can be substantially larger than this count. At D3 schools, “athletic aid” reads $0 in EADA because institutional merit aid that functions as recruitment subsidy isn’t classified as athletic aid — so the discount-rate signal on this page is the right place to look for that money.
vs 6.6% reported (304)
kept-peer range suggests 10–14% (460–628 athletes)
| Peer | UG | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Sonoma State UniversityCA(trimmed) | 4,562 | 6.5:1 |
| University of Southern IndianaIN | 4,782 | 8.8:1 |
| Columbus State UniversityGA(trimmed) | 4,059 | 11.3:1 |
| Saint Cloud State UniversityMN | 4,008 | 9.1:1 |
| Texas A & M International UniversityTX | 5,481 | 6.7:1 |
Peers chosen by similarity score: same control + NCAA division weighted highest, plus Carnegie classification and UG enrollment band. The highest and lowest peer ratios are trimmed before averaging so one outlier doesn’t shift the range; the implied range is the school’s coach count multiplied by the kept peers’ min and max ratios, capped at UG enrollment.
Administrative spending
Institutional Support (administration) measured two ways, from IPEDS expense-by-function reporting: as a share of total operating expenses alongside Instruction (faculty/teaching), and indexed against net tuition revenue to show whether admin spending tracks the revenue that funds it.
Instruction and Institutional Support as a share of total operating expenses. Instruction is the IPEDS faculty/teaching proxy; Institutional Support is the administrative proxy (executive management, finance, HR, general admin). A narrowing gap means admin is gaining on teaching.
What “admin” means here: Management (OCCUPCAT 300) + Business and Financial Operations (OCCUPCAT 310) full-time staff — the “decision-making admin” headcount. Source: IPEDS S2023_OC survey (Fall 2023). This is a headcount metric, not a dollar metric, so it isn’t contaminated by regional salary differences. Not part of the fragility score; surfaced as descriptive context only.
Program earnings outcomes
From the HEA Group’s January 2026 release of program-level earnings data used in AHEAD negotiations. Each tested program is checked against a same-state high-school-graduate earnings benchmark; programs also subject to OBBBA Gainful Employment lose Title IV eligibility on a fail and are flagged AT RISK.
- English Language and Literature GeneralBachelor · 31 completers in earnings cohortFAIL ±0K
- Computer Software and Media ApplicationsBachelor · 17 completers in earnings cohortFAIL -5K
- Electrical Electronics and Communications EngineeringBachelor · 41 completers in earnings cohortPASS +61K
- Mechanical EngineeringBachelor · 65 completers in earnings cohortPASS +56K
- Registered Nursing Nursing Administration Nursing Research and Clinical NursingBachelor · 813 completers in earnings cohortPASS +54K
- Computer ScienceBachelor · 22 completers in earnings cohortPASS +53K
- Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/TechniciansBachelor · 51 completers in earnings cohortPASS +50K
Source: HEA Group Jan 2026 release using AHEAD-negotiations data. Pooled 2017-18 + 2018-19 completer cohorts; earnings measured CY 2022-23, inflation-adjusted to 2024 (CPI-U). Only programs with sufficient Title-IV completers appear in the test. “AT RISK” = fails the OBBBA Gainful Employment threshold — loss of Title IV eligibility likely, program likely closes.
Latest-year breakdown (FY 2023-24)
| Pillar | Raw Metric | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Margin | 25.0% | 5 / 25 |
| Pricing Power | $8,604 real net tuition / FTE | 16 / 25 |
| Debt Burden | 2.79 viability ratio | 2 / 25 |
| Liquidity | 354 days cash on hand | 0 / 25 |
Peer schools
Closest by Fragility Score in FY 2023-24. Financial similarity only — geographic / regional clustering is a separate (future) feature.
Selected raw financials — FY 2023-24
GASB / IPEDS Finance F1A. DSO totals from LLM enrichment of audited financial statements; see /sources for citations.