Finances
Total enrollment has increased to 12,000 students on-campus and more than 60,000 students in distance learning programs in the past five years. Tuition has also increased significantly during this time, though not at a pace that exceeds tuition increases at other schools. In 2007 Liberty was between $20 and $25 million in debt, but when Falwell died in May 2007, he had a $34 million insurance policy, which was used to pay off the debt. In January 2009, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. announced the university's plans to freeze tuition for Liberty University Online and lower tuition for residential students for the 2009-2010 academic year.
In May 2012, Liberty University Chancellor and President Jerry Falwell Jr announced that the school's net assets are worth $1 billion, in part from the success of its online learning program and from accelerated facility expansion. In December 2010, Liberty sold $120 million in facilities bonds, with the proceeds to be used to finance future expansion. An additional $100 million in taxable bonds were sold in January 2012, with the proceeds used to help finance $225.2 million of planned capital projects around the campus over the next five years. The bond offering is part of Liberty University's campus transformation plan which will include several renovations and additions to academic buildings and student housing, as well as fund the new Jerry Falwell Library and formation of a medical school. The bonds received ratings of "AA" and "A1" from Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service, respectively.
The students at Liberty University received approximately $445 million in federal financial aid money in 2010, the highest total of any school in Virginia and one of the highest in the country. The total, a 56 per cent increase over the prior year, was mostly in the form of student loans, but also included some grants and other forms of aid. In March 2011, the university's financial aid office had 138 employees.
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