Higher education bonds

DALLAS - The Texas A&M University System is giving a lean muni market a taste of its top-rated debt Wednesday with $87.2 million of bonds backed by the Texas Permanent University Fund.

Midwestern University will expand its facilities in Glendale, Ariz., and Downers Grove, Ill., with proceeds from $50 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds approved last week by the Glendale city council.

Moody’s Investors Services changed its outlook from positive to stable on $100 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds that Chapman University, a private school in Orange County, plans to issue.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A federal bankruptcy judge has allowed Lambuth University to lease its grounds to Tennessee's Board of Regents so that utilities remain on and the University of Memphis can begin offering classes there this fall.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed its long-term triple-A rating on Dartmouth College bonds issued by the New Hampshire Health and Education Facilities Authority, while assigning a stable outlook.

Moody's Investors Service last week affirmed Central College's low investment-grade underlying rating of Baa3 as it warned that a downgrade could loom due to challenges tied to thin liquidity coverage of its floating-rate debt.

Chapman University, a private university in Orange County is seeking approval from the California Educational Facilities Authority to issue $100 million worth of bonds to construct new buildings and improve existing facilities.

Berklee College of Music is planning a $90 million bond sale to help finance construction of a performance center, dormitory and dining hall at its main Boston campus.

Fitch Ratings placed all outstanding notes of the Vermont Student Assistance Corp. 1995 bond resolution on negative rating watch.

Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a stable rating to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, two weeks before the nation’s largest technological research university plans to remarket its Series 2002E bonds as fixed rate, and sell $40 million of taxable debt through a private placement.

The Monroe County, N.Y., Industrial Development Corp. is scheduled to issue $161 million of fixed-rate, tax-exempt revenue bonds on Thursday following a one-day retail order period, to benefit 19 projects at the University of Rochester.

The New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corp. has scheduled a sale of $522.6 million of taxable student loan-backed notes for this week.

LOS ANGELES - A state audit of the Los Angeles Community College District called into question more than $140 million in district spending funded by three general obligation bond measures approved by voters between 2001 and 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO - St. Mary's College of California said it disagrees with Moody's Investors Service's assessment of its finances after the rating agency put $69 million of variable-rate bonds on watch for a downgrade.

CHICAGO - A bond issuer made up of the University of Nebraska and the city of Lincoln will take competitive bids Tuesday on $100 million of bonds that mark the last large financing for a new arena that is the largest project in state capital's history.

The Birmingham City Council Tuesday unanimously approved the issuance of $215 million of revenue bonds on behalf of the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded $61.5 million of bonds sold on behalf of John Carroll University to A3 from A2. The Ohio Higher Educational Facility Commission issued the debt on behalf of the school.

SAN FRANCISCO - The state auditor cleared the University of California of misspending student tuition on bond payments in a report released Thursday.

CHICAGO - The top-rated College of DuPage in Illinois will hold its first-ever retail order period Tuesday for $105 million of mostly new-money bonds that will finance various building improvement and maintenance projects, including the completion of its Homeland Security Education Center.

DALLAS — Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy Tuesday night will hear from opponents as well as backers of a proposed $1.2 billion, 424-bed state academic medical center in New Orleans.