Higher education bonds

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.

Kent State University’s board last week approved $250 million of capital projects that feature $210 million of general receipt-backed borrowing.

Hospitals, universities and other not-for-profit issuers are enjoying exceptionally low ­borrowing costs and rampant demand for their debt. The only problem is it is not likely to last forever.

New York’s large public university systems plan to market back-to-back bond issues this week with two tax-exempt offerings totaling $323.7 million.

A pair of billion-dollar deals — one in Texas and the other in Utah — will be part of an estimated $7.92 billion expected to be priced in the primary market this week, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer. The mammoth deals will help pump some life into what has recently been a lackluster municipal market that’s short on volume.

CHICAGO — The Iowa State Board of Regents will competitively sell $20 million of debt Thursday in the final financing for the $43 million reconstruction and expansion of the Carver-Hawkeye Arena at the University of Iowa.

The amount of debt that will be issued to build a new state hospital in New Orleans could be pared by $55 million to $100 million of expected additional federal reimbursements for hurricane damage to shuttered Charity Hospital.

The municipal market was unchanged to slightly firmer Tuesday in a primary-driven session in which two universities led the way by bringing nearly $1.5 billion of combined debt to market.

DALLAS — The University of Texas System is preparing to price $631 million of taxable and tax-exempt bonds Tuesday, including $430 million for a new UT Southwestern Medical School hospital in Dallas.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — The University of California will sell $670 million of mostly taxable Build America Bonds next week, its largest foray into the market this year, to help pay for campus upgrades.

CHICAGO — The Regents of the University of Minnesota on Wednesday will sell $146 million of bonds in two issues to fund biomedical science research facilities. The deal will offer a mix of tax-exempt revenue debt supported by a state appropriation and taxable Build America Bonds backed by the school’s credit.