Higher education bonds

Standard & Poor's has downgraded Dowling College in New York to B from BB. The rating remains on CreditWatch with negative implications.

A judge has overturned a step by the State University of New York aimed at restoring financial health to the SUNY Downstate Medical Center.

The board of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York approved $298 million in new bonds.

Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service both gave a double-A ratings to a $75.4 million planned March 18 sale by the California State Public Works board for University of California Santa Barbara.

Indiana University Health, one of the state's largest health care providers, announced this week it is taking "a step back" on a planned new patient tower that carried a price tag as high as $500 million.

The decline in college savings among Americans is a credit negative for the higher education sector, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Connecticut's Bond Commission will vote on more than $37 million in capital improvement projects for community colleges at its special meeting.

Fitch Ratings last week affirmed its B rating on Midland University and revised its outlook to stable.

The University of Massachusetts Building Authority plans a $270 million bond sale to benefit capital projects at the system's five campuses statewide.

Maricopa County Community College District will raise its property tax rate and tuition as state aid continues to decline.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed its audit of $162.53 million of general fee revenue bonds issued by Auburn University, Ala., in 2007 with no change the bonds' tax-exempt status.

Voters on March 5 will select three new trustees for a seven-person Los Angeles Community College District board in a district that has been riddled with controversy.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has signed House Bill 7, which allows the state's public universities to issue $363.3 million of own bonds secured by specific fees to fulfill pent-up capital needs.

The University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority hits the market Wednesday with a $263 million sale that will nearly double its modest debt levels to help finance a five-year $670 million capital program that includes a new off-campus facility.

The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced a handful of small direct or private placements for an array of not-for-profits.

The range of risks facing the higher education sector could lead to uneven credit performance in 2013, according to Standard & Poor's.

Tulane University in New Orleans will continue its post-hurricane renewal effort with a negotiated sale of $98.6 million of revenue bonds.

In the State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out a plan for stronger regulation of colleges and universities, which Moody's Investors Service calls a credit negative in the near term.

Fitch Ratings revised its outlook to negative from stable on Xavier University, a private, Jesuit institution based in Cincinnati. The ratings agency affirmed its A-minus rating on the school.

The board of Wayne State University last week approved a plan to sell $92 million of general revenue bonds this spring to finance new construction, including a new building in Detroit.