Penn State has been removed from Moody's Investor Service's "Watchlist for Possible Downgrade," where it was placed on Nov. 11, 2011, in wake of the Jerry Sandusky criminal charges, the university announced Friday.

Penn State maintains its long-term Aa1 rating from the company, which provides financial research on an organization's general credit worthiness.

An Aaa rating is the highest credit rating that can be assigned (Aa1 is second).

But Moody's still listed the university's outlook as negative. Joseph Doncsecz, Penn State's associate vice president for finance and corporate controller, said in a press release the negative outlook is because of ongoing uncertainties, including direct litigation costs as well as possible indirect effects on student demand and philanthropy stemming from the sexual-abuse charges involving Sandusky.

Related coverage

• StateCollege.com's earlier and ongoing coverage of the Penn State-charges situation