Higher education bonds

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.

DALLAS - Two Texas universities, one public and one private, are preparing $420 million of bonds for expansion projects amid signs of a steadily improving economy.

The University of Connecticut plans to issue $200 million of general obligation debt-service commitment Series 2011A new-money bonds, and $20 million of Series A refunding bonds, beginning with a two-day retail period that commences Friday.

Plans to sell $294.6 million in lease revenue bonds for the University of California via negotiation next week received a AA rating and stable outlook from Fitch Ratings on Nov. 9.

Ohio State University announced last week that it has selected seven possible partners for the school's plan to become the first public university to privatize its parking system.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York plans a sale of $135 million revenue bonds under its school districts revenue bond financing program Wednesday, after a one-day retail period.

Texas Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, told a 10-member committee established to lay the groundwork for building a medical school in Austin that it is too early to know how much the proposal will cost.

The city that envelops it is a financial mess, but Harrisburg Area Community College had Standard & Poor's affirm its bond rating at A, with a stable outlook. "The Harrisburg name is not a taint on the credit quality of all related issuers," Janney Capital Markets said in a report.

Fitch Ratings assigned a AA to the Maine Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority's $37.25 million of Series 2011C revenue bonds, which are expected to sell by negotiation this week.

When Jackson Laboratory of Bar Harbor, Maine, scuttled plans to establish a research facility in Florida, several other states came banging at the door of the genetics research company. Connecticut won out.

Standard & Poor's warned that retiree health care benefits are a growing burden for public universities.