Higher education bonds

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York’s board has approved $534 million in financings for higher education and health care institutions.

DALLAS — The largest two-year state-supported technical college in Arkansas without local tax support will ask Pulaski County voters to create a taxing district.

The Fox Valley Technical College will seek approval on the April 3 ballot for $66.5 million of new borrowing to finance capital projects.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will ask lawmakers for a five-year program of $54 million in annual bond sales to reduce a $271 million backlog in the state’s endowed chair program.

The Board of Trustees of Arkansas State University last week approved a proposal for $28.5 million of revenue bonds for projects at the school’s main campus in Jonesboro.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Lake County Community College District 532’s rating to Aaa from Aa1.

Connecticut and Jackson Laboratory finalized their agreement for the Bar Harbor, Maine, company to build a $1.1 billion personalized-medicine laboratory at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised the outlook on the University of Washington’s Aaa general obligation bond rating to stable from negative.

Michigan-based Trinity Health, one of the nation's largest Catholic health care systems, will invest up to $150 million over the next five years as part of its acquisition of Mercy Health System if the deal is approved by an Illinois review board.

Moody’s Investors Service has affirmed Roosevelt University’s Baa2 rating, but analysts revised the outlook to negative from stable, partly because of recent enrollment challenges and stagnant tuition growth.

The Texas Tech University System will get the Southwest bond market rolling with $198 million of revenue bonds after a lean year for higher education.

Pulaski Technical College officials decided last week to build a new bond-financed culinary school at an existing site rather than a location in downtown Little Rock, Ark., promoted by Mayor Mark Stodola and a coalition of 48 businesses and organizations.

Radian Asset Assurance Inc. accelerated payment of $4.9 million of bonds owed by Lambuth University, according to a market notice filed Tuesday by Bank of New York Mellon, the trustee.

Cornell University's plans to establish an applied-sciences engineering campus in New York City should enhance the school in the big picture despite anticipated credit risks in the short-to-medium term, according to a major rating agency.

Bank downgrades and looming changes to bank collateral requirements under Basil III compelled San Diego-based Point Loma Nazarene University to sell its bonds directly to Bank of America rather than renewing a letter of credit due to expire this month.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York approved $531 million in financings for higher education and health care, including $340 million in 23-year, fixed or variable-rate tax-exempt bonds for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook to stable from negative on the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees’ A-plus due to improved operations.

The Pulaski Technical College Board of Trustees in Arkansas is expected to decide in January whether to ask voters for permission to collect property taxes through a proposed taxing district to supplement tuition revenue and state aid.

WASHINGTON - The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency has paid $12.3 million to settle tax-law violations and protect the tax-exempt status of its student loan bonds.

Athens-based Ohio University will spend $1 billion over the next six years for capital improvements, most of it financed with bonds.