Moody’s affirms UBC’s Aa1 credit rating while S&P lowers its rating to A due to strong provincial credit link

Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings released rating actions on UBC in early April 2026, with Moody’s affirming the university’s long‑term issuer credit rating at Aa1, while S&P lowered its rating to A from A+, citing its assessment of UBC’s strong credit linkage to the Province of British Columbia as the rationale for the downgrade. S&P lowered their rating on the province to A with a negative outlook from A+ on April 2, 2026.

Moody’s affirmation reflects UBC’s strong credit fundamentals, including a sophisticated governance and management framework, strong enrolment demand, and excellent wealth levels. The rating continues to recognize the university’s leading position within the Canadian post‑secondary sector and its global academic and research reputation.

S&P maintained UBC’s stand‑alone credit profile at aa+, reflecting its intrinsic credit strength and highlighting the university’s strong market position, reliable operating performance, high levels of liquidity, and conservative debt profile. At the same time, S&P revised UBC’s long‑term issuer credit rating to A, reflecting its view of the university’s strong financial and governance relationship with the Province of British Columbia.

About credit ratings

As a requirement of issuing and having publicly traded debt outstanding, UBC is required to maintain a credit rating. A credit rating is an independent evaluation and forward-looking opinion of UBC’s financial health and overall creditworthiness, particularly in repayment of the debt outstanding. A higher rating indicates greater financial stability, which helps build trust with external stakeholders and improves access to capital, and comparing credit ratings of different companies provides investors with a sense of relative potential default rates of a particular bond or debt security.

UBC maintains credit ratings with two different rating agencies, Moody’s Investors Service (commonly referred to as “Moody’s”) and S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”). Each year Moody’s and S&P meet separately with UBC to assess the factors influencing the university’s credit rating. This includes, but is not limited to, an overview of UBC’s strategic objectives, governance structure and executives, our financial results and projections for future years, student enrolment numbers and trends, capital projects, government funding, research funding, fundraising and even Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts.