S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'AA' long-term rating to University of Southern California's (USC) series 2016 taxable bonds. In addition, S&P Global affirmed its 'AA' long-term and underlying ratings (SPUR) on California Educational Facilities Authority's and other issuers' outstanding bonds issued for USC. The outlook is stable. We assessed USC's enterprise profile as extremely strong, characterized by increasing selectivity, and healthy retention and matriculation rates, as well as a history of successful fundraising. We assessed USC's financial profile as strong, characterized by sound operating performance and available resources and moderate debt burden. Combined, we believe these credit factors lead to an indicative standalone credit profile of 'aa-'. As our criteria indicate, the final rating can be within one notch of
