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Risks and countermeasures of debt financing in colleges and universities
The contradiction between supply and demand of higher education funds will exist for a long time, and debt financing is an important source to solve the funding gap for the development of colleges and universities. We must give full play to financial leverage and promote the sustained and stable development of colleges and universities. However, at the same time, we should also see that the financial risks of lending colleges and universities exist objectively. If colleges and universities can't repay bank loans, or even are insolvent, financial risks will turn into financial crises, which will seriously affect the survival and development of lending colleges and universities. Therefore, it is the common responsibility of the government and colleges to guard against financial risks in colleges and universities.

(A) macro-financial risk prevention measures

1. Increase government financial input, formulate a set of supporting policies for university financing, and optimize the financing environment for higher education. It is necessary to strengthen the responsibility of government financial input and ensure the normal operation of loan colleges and universities. Colleges and universities are institutions that provide quasi-public goods. The government should bear due responsibilities and obligations for the problems faced after the expansion of higher education scale and the quality of the whole higher education. Therefore, increasing the government's investment in the daily maintenance and development of higher education is an important guarantee for the sustainable development of loan universities. In addition, it is necessary to improve the credit utilization policy of colleges and universities and maintain the sustainability of the loan utilization mode of colleges and universities: establish a graded guarantee institution to provide financing guarantee for colleges and universities; The government should fully discount the loan projects of teaching infrastructure such as teaching buildings, libraries, experiments, teaching equipment, etc., so as to reduce the interest-paying pressure of lending universities; Standardize and improve the supporting policies for the socialization reform of logistics in colleges and universities, allow social idle funds to enter the field of higher education, and introduce competition mechanisms among colleges and universities. We can also consider setting up local higher education investment companies and building a multi-level investment and financing platform. Establish local higher education investment companies and use socialized low-cost funds to solve the short-term and medium-term capital shortage in the rapid development of colleges and universities. The source of funds for higher education investment companies can be a one-time allocation of 5000- 10 billion yuan by local finance as registered capital, and then low-interest financing funds can be obtained by issuing higher education development bonds every year. Higher education investment companies do not aim at profit, but only require continuous cost recovery, no precipitation of assets, cash recovery and self-circulation and healthy development.

2. Strengthen the effective monitoring of the education authorities on the process of fund-raising activities of loan colleges and universities. Establish the scale of debt financing and the examination and approval system of investment projects in colleges and universities. The financial risks caused by large-scale debt financing in colleges and universities lack the guidance and supervision of macro policies. Although colleges and universities are the main body of running schools, they bear civil liabilities independently and have autonomy in the scale of loans and investment projects, from the perspective of property rights, the education authorities as owners have the right to supervise the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets. The competent education department should establish the examination and approval system of bank loans and investment projects in colleges and universities. The Ministry of Education and some provincial and municipal education departments have formulated corresponding systems to regulate college loans, requiring that the loan amount of colleges and universities must be within the repayment limit. Schools shall not use school property as collateral for loans, and those who borrow from banks without approval shall be held accountable for the responsibilities of schools and relevant personnel. Establish a debt financing and use reporting system. On the one hand, revise and improve the accounting system of colleges and universities, standardize the accounting of college loans and their use, financial leasing and so on. , comprehensively reflect the financing and use of college debts, and provide true and reliable accounting information; On the other hand, the education authorities have made a special report on college loans and their use, requiring the lending colleges to report the loan scale and the progress of investment projects to the education authorities on a monthly or quarterly basis, so that the education authorities can timely supervise college loans and their use and guard against possible financial risks. 1. Establish a modern university governance structure and gradually form the diversification of university investment subjects. To establish a modern university governance structure, it is first necessary to clarify responsibilities and improve the scientific nature of fund-raising decisions. The establishment of modern university governance structure is to transform higher education from a simple government investment to a development model that extensively absorbs social forces to invest in running schools through multiple channels, so as to improve the scientificity of university fund-raising and investment projects. Therefore, it is suggested to establish university councils in colleges and universities to effectively supervise the rights of decision makers and implement democratic management. The function of the Council is to supervise the operation of the school, formulate the overall construction and development plan, and examine and approve the budget and investment projects. At the same time, it is required to set up a fund-raising committee and an investment department on the basis of the Ministry of Planning and Finance, clarify the responsibilities of the three departments, strengthen the economic responsibility system, make the establishment, demonstration and results of loan investment projects public, and consciously accept the supervision of the masses, banks and relevant social departments, so that school leaders and relevant functional departments can assume the responsibility of capital security and risk control. In addition, it is necessary to establish a diversified fund-raising mechanism in colleges and universities. Practice shows that diversification of higher education investment subjects is an effective way to solve the shortage of higher education resources and an inevitable choice for the reform of higher education investment system. Therefore, colleges and universities should break the traditional concept of fund-raising, make full use of the capital market to attract social idle funds, and accumulate education funds through social investment and financing, education bonds and other market means. Conditional colleges and universities should boldly explore the shareholding system reform, innovate the investment and financing system of higher education, tap the ability of colleges and universities to face social financing and self-financing, and realize the purpose of raising education funds in various ways.

2. Optimize the financing structure and reduce the debt risk of colleges and universities: reasonably control the scale of debt financing of colleges and universities. The scale of financing in colleges and universities is the difference between the funds actually needed and the funds that may be owned by colleges and universities when they develop to a certain stage. The cost of running a university includes recurrent cost and constructive cost. Reasonable financing scale is to determine the equilibrium point of loan scale, that is, after deducting recurrent costs from school income, the surplus is greater than or equal to bank interest. The determination of loan equilibrium point must adhere to the principles of sustainable development, efficiency and reasonable amount. Optimize the time structure of financing. Because short-term loans are higher in risk than long-term loans, and long-term loans are higher in capital cost than short-term loans, it is necessary to rationally arrange the loan structure, combine long-term loans with short-term loans, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of long-term and short-term liabilities, and give priority to long-term loans as much as possible, supplemented by short-term loans when necessary. Determine the best capital structure. Capital structure refers to the composition and proportion of various sources of funds, which is determined by financing methods. The capital structure reflects the vitality, ability and development potential of colleges and universities to some extent. The main index reflecting the capital structure and measuring the financial risk tolerance is the asset-liability ratio. Colleges and universities must determine the best capital structure and weigh the financing risk and financing cost. As long as the proportion of risk and cost is appropriate, colleges and universities can maximize their benefits.

3. Establish a good relationship of "cooperation between banks and schools" and seek loan support from commercial banks. On the one hand, colleges and universities should strengthen contact with commercial banks, strive for preferential policies on loan interest rates to the maximum extent, and strive to reduce loan costs. On the other hand, commercial banks reasonably determine the loan direction, investment amount and repayment period by means of "joint credit", and try to control the loan funds within the repayment range of colleges and universities when determining the credit amount, which not only controls the risks of banks, but also reduces the risks of colleges and universities. At the same time, colleges and universities should take student loans as an important part of the cooperation between banks and schools, and take the strength of student loans as an important condition for schools to choose an account bank. Through the development of student loan business, the problem of arrears of students with difficulties can be solved, the tuition collection rate can be improved, and the self-sufficiency of funds can be enhanced.

4. Establish a financial early warning system for colleges and universities to monitor the financial risks that colleges and universities may face in time. The establishment of financial early warning system is based on the existing financial management and accounting in colleges and universities, setting relevant quantitative indicators, analyzing and evaluating the rational use of school funds, financial management level and real financial situation, revealing hidden problems in time, and forecasting and forecasting potential financial risks. Specifically, it includes: compiling cash flow budget regularly to provide early warning signals of cash availability for colleges and universities; Determine the financial analysis index system such as solvency, operating performance and development potential of colleges and universities, and establish a long-term financial early warning system; Appropriate risk coping strategies should be adopted in combination with the reality of colleges and universities. After establishing the risk early warning index system, when the risk signal appears, preventive control or inhibitory control should be taken to prevent the occurrence of risk loss or minimize the degree of risk loss.