More Than 150 Colleges Fail Financial Responsibility Test

Hundreds of America's colleges, non-profit and for-profit, failed a financial responsibility test issued by Department of Education.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 149 non-profit and 37 for-profit colleges did not pass the test, which largely determines whether or not the colleges will receive federal aid in the future.

Tests results were broken down by state. The states that had the most failed colleges from 2008-09 include Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri.

Pennsylvania and Illinois racked up the highest number of failing institutions with 13 a piece, receiving a composite score of less than 1.5 out of three. (See an interactive map of the results here.)

The Washington Post reported that even colleges with storied histories did not pass muster. Mary Baldwin College, one of the oldest women's colleges in the nation, saw ots score plummet from 2.9 to 1.3.

The Post also quoted the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, which contends that these reports are subject to interpretation:

Americans whose students attend, or are considering attending, one of the institutions on the list, should not rule out a college simply because it's listed. In many cases, colleges only appear on the list because of accounting methods that do not consider the institutions overall resources. Some schools that were initially on the list now are off because of Departmental calculation errors. Others appear on the list based on the day the snapshot was taken, and today would pass the test with flying colors.