Higher education bonds

DALLAS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will eliminate a $106.8 million deficit in the $25.5 billion budget for fiscal 2011 mostly by cutting expenditures for higher education and health care.

The Ohio Building Authority issued $9.5 million of bonds on behalf of Clark State Community College, marking the second transaction under the new Ohio Community and Technical College Credit Enhancement Program.

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.

CHICAGO — UC Health, which operates the primary safety-net hospital in Cincinnati, is coming to market Tuesday with $207.5 million of revenue bonds to finance capital projects.

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of Oregon hopes to get the green light for a novel plan to sell $800 million of bonds to help create an endowment that would pay for the school’s expenses and reduce its reliance on state funding, according to its president.

Louisiana Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, said Monday he would support a temporary reinstatement of state income tax hikes that were repealed in 2008 if it would avoid severe budget cuts for higher education.

DALLAS — The University of Colorado Board of Regents enjoyed a good market response Tuesday to a $95 million issue that included taxable and tax-exempt debt, said associate treasurer David Solin.

New Mexico voters will decide on more than $175 million of proposed state bonds at the November election. The state general obligation bond questions are on the ballot every two years.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board this week advanced deals to help fund projects for the University of Chicago Medical Center and DePaul University and announced the successful pooling of federal recovery zone facility bond allocations from at least 15 cities and counties for Navistar International Corp.

The University of Nebraska board of regents will vote Friday on a $56 million plan to expand its Memorial Stadium to make it more competitive with other Big 10 stadiums. The Cornhuskers join the Big Ten conference next year.

WASHINGTON — Virginia is preparing to competitively issue $168.4 million of general obligations bonds for seven universities at a time when the Pentagon’s proposal to close a major military base in the Hampton Roads area is raising concerns about the state’s credit.

Moody’s Investors Service revised its outlook to negative Monday and affirmed its Aa3 rating on Earlham College. The liberal arts college in Richmond has $36.4 million of direct debt, of which $26.5 million is rated by Moody’s.

DALLAS — Southern Methodist University will begin a multi-year capital project to build new on-campus residential facilities with proceeds from this week’s sale of $125 million of general obligation revenue bonds.

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of Oregon has been forced to plunge deeper into a special reserve fund seeded by sneaker magnate Phil Knight to cover interest payments on $200 million of debt sold to pay for one of the most expensive college basketball arenas in the country.

WASHINGTON — The Virginia College Building Authority expects on Tuesday to competitively price $337.5 million of bonds for higher education projects, beginning a season of heavy issuance for the state.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York plans to begin institutional pricing on $1.36 billion of new-money personal income tax bonds on Monday. DASNY took retail orders on Thursday and Friday on the tax-exempt portion of the deal, which also includes traditional taxable bonds and taxable Build America Bonds.

The presidents of Oklahoma’s two largest universities last week asked proponents of a constitutional amendment that would boost state aid to K-12 public education to stop using the schools’ logos in a television advertisement.

Colorado Mountain College president Stan Jensen said last week that passage of Proposition 101 and Amendments 60 and 61 in November could cause a large increase in tuition and delay the school’s plans for a new four-year degree program.

The new slate of bond counsel firms announced Wednesday by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York includes three teams pairing large firms with smaller minority-owned firms.

Universities and colleges need to think about how to attract and serve students in a global environment, New School University president Bob Kerrey said Tuesday.