UPDATE: St. Elizabeth College of Nursing Responds to College Watch List Story

The St. Elizabeth College of Nursing in Utica just made an Education Department list that no school wants to make.  They're on a watch list for colleges that are facing financial issues.  St. Elizabeth's is one of nearly 30 colleges in New York and one of 556 across the country that made the list.

The Department of Education says the schools on their list are endangered because of  their ability to raise money to become or remain fiscally solvent.

UPDATE: 07/23/2015 Officials at St. Elizabeth College of Nursing have responded with the following statement:

"St. Elizabeth College of Nursing is unique when compared to other colleges, due to its affiliation to the hospital, St. Elizabeth Medical Center. The federal government reviews the hospital's financial statement when evaluating the College.

"As you would expect, the hospital finances (and thus, St. Elizabeth College of Nursing) don’t compare to private and public colleges and universities. Hospital reimbursements are highly regulated while private colleges and universities are not. Public colleges also receive other government funding.

"To alleviate the concerns of the federal government, the medical center posts a letter of credit from a bank to 'equalize' the difference between what the federal government sees as a financially acceptable institution (the College) and the hospital. It is this letter of credit that caused the College of Nursing to appear on the list. The College's financial status is sound."

-- Louis Aiello, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Mohawk Valley Health System