Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook to positive from stable on Nebraska State Colleges’ student fees and facilities revenue and refunding debt issued by the Nebraska State Colleges Board of Trustees. The debt’s underlying rating is A.
Nebraska State Colleges is the smaller of the state’s two higher education systems. It consists of three small rural regional schools — Chadron State College, Peru State College — and Wayne State College. Together, they have 9,000 students. Enrollment has increased by 1% since fall 2004, Standard & Poor’s said.
The outlook revision comes in advance of NSC’s sale of $5 million of student-fee and facility revenue bonds on behalf of Wayne State.
Ameritas Investment Corp. is the underwriter. Proceeds will be used to renovate housing on campus. The debt is payable from net revenues of the facilities. NSC has $26 million of outstanding debt.
The system has seen gradually increasing enrollment and student fees every year, Standard & Poor’s said. It has also seen its unrestricted assets grow by double digits each fiscal year from 2007. NSC’s low debt burden is another strength.
