Cooley Law School

Summary

Financial Advisor

Lansing, MI

Western Michigan University Cooley Law School is an American Bar Association accredited law school. Cooley has four campuses. Its main campus is in Lansing, Michigan and its satellite campuses are in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Auburn Hills, Michigan, and Tampa, Florida.

Cooley enrollments decreased by over 40% in the last three years causing an under-absorption of overhead costs and a net operating cash burn.

Key Challenges

Declining Enrollment

Tight Liquidity

Letter of Credit Extension

Regulatory Compliance

Engagement Highlights

CMA reviewed the School’s budget and forecast used for structuring the refinancing and worked with the leadership team to refine assumptions and initiatives.
CMA assessed and advised the school on the following restructuring initiatives:
- Close one campus location and transfer students to two other nearby campuses
- Sell the closed campus buildings and two vacant buildings at another campus location
- Reduce tenured faculty benefits to be in line with peer group benefits
- Reduce faculty and staff levels to correspond with reduced enrollment levels
- Improve student outcomes, specifically Bar Passage Rates, by investing in tutoring programs
CMA developed and provided liquidity and cash flow analyses, cost reduction plan, operational review, a sensitivity analysis of enrollment and wages, review of capital plan and peer group analysis.
This plan included a strategy to pay off and/or replace all Bank indebtedness/facilities, including swap.

Cooley Law School

Summary

Financial Advisor

Key Challenges

Engagement Highlights

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