S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term rating and underlying rating (SPUR) to 'BBB' from 'BBB+' on Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees' housing and auxiliary facilities system (HAFS) revenue bonds, and certificates of participation (COPs), issued for Southern Illinois University (SIU). At the same time, we removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed with developing implications on Nov. 15, 2016. The outlook is negative. We placed SIU on CreditWatch in November in connection with our review of the Higher Education Scoring Model following the identification of errors in our model. (See "Ratings On Three U.S. Universities Placed On CreditWatch Developing, One On CreditWatch Negative," published Nov. 15, 2016, on RatingsDirect). While we earlier indicated that the correction of
