I'm totally clueless about Women's college wrestling. What is a typical roster size? Or is there such a thing as "typical"?

Might be one of the NCAA's "emerging sports".  There are ten weight classifications so ideally as a minimum you'd have one woman at least per classification.

FWIW, Elmira College has 22 listed on their roster, just for a comp.

Per Ithaca's story (which is excellent)

"In 2023, women's high school wrestling participation numbers are higher than the NCAA-sponsored sports of crew, fencing, skiing, and rifle and NCAA emerging sports of rugby, sand volleyball, and equestrian."

and

"Within the past year the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) now recognizes it as a varsity sport in sections around the state. NYSPHSAA hosted its second girls wrestling invitational in January and will have its first state championship in February 2025."

This strikes me as such a smart move by Ithaca. You're getting in on the ground floor on something that is growing rapidly, at a reasonable cost. You've got something almost no other D3 school in the area has (We see you, Elmira and Utica).

Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 30, 2024, 02:36:01 PMMight be one of the NCAA's "emerging sports".  There are ten weight classifications so ideally as a minimum you'd have one woman at least per classification.

Roster sizes are all over the map, but tend to correlate with program quality in DIII

North Central (ILL) has one of the best women's wrestling team in DIII and has 37 on the roster

Adrian is a middling team and has 26 on the roster

John Carroll has a lower down team, but is serious about the sport, and has 12 on its roster.

That is very interesting. I will have to research the status of that sport in Virginia.
If you can get about 20 additional student-athletes in a relatively low cost sport, that seems like a good move. And I'm also in favor of providing the next level of competition in any sport for high school athletes.

And I just wondered.....does Women's Wrestling factor into the Learfield Cup Standings?

Huntingdon started Women's Wrestling last year and there were 10 on the roster.
The Alabama High School Athletic Association will officially sponsor Girl's Wrestling state championships this school year but I think have been having them for a couple of years unofficially. 

Huntingdon is also starting a Women's Flag Football program this year. AHSAA has sponsored it for a couple years now.

Quote from: CNU85 on July 30, 2024, 03:01:45 PMAnd I just wondered.....does Women's Wrestling factor into the Learfield Cup Standings?

It won't until it has an official NCAA Championship attached. That's why gymnastics doesn't

According to NFHS, girls wrestling was the fastest growing high school sport from 2022 to 2023. You're going to girls wrestling all over colleges across the country.  Easy to budget for, especially if you already have men's wrestling.

Wilkes just announced today they are adding it for 2025-26.

Keystone merges (is acquired by?) non-profit Washington Institute for Education and Research

QuoteThe proposed merger agreement will cause Keystone College to become a nonprofit subsidiary of WIER, with the day-to-day operations of the College and its academic mission remaining essentially unchanged. Additional details of the agreement will be made available after reviews by the necessary accrediting and regulatory agencies.

Quote"The national reports of higher education institutions closing at the rate of one per week are well documented and alarming. Those closures have drastically impacted the most vulnerable students in the system. The process of saving and rebuilding a college is exhaustive and must be done deliberately. We have tried to be as transparent as possible as we move through this process while not negatively impacting our desired outcome," said Tim Pryle, Keystone's Vice President of Enrollment, Institutional Advancement, and Marketing. "The American marketplace has quality at every price point in all industries. Higher education is no different. At Keystone, we aim to reestablish ourselves by building on the quality, private, liberal arts-based education that Keystone provides at an affordable cost in today's higher education market. We are grateful to have found a partner in WIER to forge ahead in our shared mission."

Quote from: Kuiper on August 19, 2024, 05:43:25 PMKeystone merges (is acquired by?) non-profit Washington Institute for Education and Research

QuoteThe proposed merger agreement will cause Keystone College to become a nonprofit subsidiary of WIER, with the day-to-day operations of the College and its academic mission remaining essentially unchanged. Additional details of the agreement will be made available after reviews by the necessary accrediting and regulatory agencies.

Quote"The national reports of higher education institutions closing at the rate of one per week are well documented and alarming. Those closures have drastically impacted the most vulnerable students in the system. The process of saving and rebuilding a college is exhaustive and must be done deliberately. We have tried to be as transparent as possible as we move through this process while not negatively impacting our desired outcome," said Tim Pryle, Keystone's Vice President of Enrollment, Institutional Advancement, and Marketing. "The American marketplace has quality at every price point in all industries. Higher education is no different. At Keystone, we aim to reestablish ourselves by building on the quality, private, liberal arts-based education that Keystone provides at an affordable cost in today's higher education market. We are grateful to have found a partner in WIER to forge ahead in our shared mission."

WIER is a complete scam and its proprietor is a con artist, per the linked article below. Keystone will be gone in a year.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/08/19/keystone-college-plans-merge-fledgling-think-tank

This is WIERd.  They formed last year (so no financials) and the president of Keystone is on their board.

I can't see the accrediting agencies signing off on this.

Dear lord. Nothing about that is good for Keystone.

More not-so-good news:

Moody's Ratings downgraded Whitworth's bonds to Baa2 from Baa1, citing sustained declines in enrollment and net tuition revenue as well as a highly competitive student market in the state.  Moody's cites Whitworth's "solid total wealth" of ~$200M and adequate liquidity (>190 days cash on hand) at the end of FY23 as positive factors underpinning the rating.  The school has $89M in revenue bonds outstanding and total debt outstanding of $92M.  The outlook remains negative.

Moody's also downgraded Centre College from A3 to Baa1, and revised their outlook to negative from stable.  The school has total outstanding debt of $179M (at the end of FY23).  The downgrade is due to "an escalation of operating deficits", "a deep operating deficit in FY23" and "projections reflect[ing] significant operating deficits" for at least the next two years.  The rating is supported by the schools "sizable wealth relative to its scale" including $300M cash/investments and 11 months cash on hand.  One of the factors that could cause a further downgrade was "Inability to meet enrollment and net student charge growth objectives in fall 2024, including enrolling over 400 new freshmen" - and per the school 408 new freshmen will be in the class of 2028 (along with 25 transfers).   Centre reported a $25M loss on revenues of $105M in FY23. 

Bond ratings are a complex subject, but A3 and above are considered prime investment grade, with Baa[1,2,3] being somewhat more speculative.  Moody's definition for Baa in general:  "Obligations rated Baa are subject to moderate credit risk.  They are considered medium-grade and as such may posess speculative characteristics."  Generally speaking, the lower your bond rating, the greater return will have to be offered to investors to offset the risk they are assuming.  Below Baa comes Ba (and lower grades) which are not considered investment grade.

And, finally:  UC Santa Cruz will be the latest instution to incorporate layoffs as a cost-cutting measure, after the school reported a $107M deficit in its core funds, "which include state appropriations, tuition and fees."  A deficit was expected but not of this magnitude.  They will reduce spending by $17M in FY25; staff levels will be primarily be cut via attrition but there will also be some layoffs.  The result at the end of FY25 will be a structural deficit of $125M, including a $111M deficit in core funds, so obviously there's more work to be done.

I'm pretty illiterate when it comes to bonds, but would it not also be the case that in a season of college closures and downsizing that the rating agencies would be a little less optimistic overall, simply because the sector isn't super healthy?