Higher education bonds

CHICAGO - Cleveland's University Hospitals Health System today will take retail orders on $101 million of fixed-rate and variable-rate revenue bonds to raise funds for its $1 billion capital improvement plan and to refinance some outstanding debt.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle last week signed a law that allows universities and charitable organizations more leeway in dipping into their endowments.

CHICAGO - Chicago-area governments should follow the City Colleges of Chicago's lead by holding their property tax levies steady and offering backup plans for possible state aid cuts, according to a report from a local business-funded government watchdog group on the colleges' $492 million fiscal 2010 budget.

Moody’s Investors Service this week revised its outlook to negative from stable on DePauw University’s A2 credit due to operating deficits. It has about $100 million of rated debt sold through the Indiana Finance Authority and the Indiana Educational Facilities Authority.

SAN FRANCISCO - Moody's Investors Service on Friday placed on review for downgrade the credit enhancement policies of California's two state pension systems, as well as California State University bonds, while affirming the University of California's credit rating.

WASHINGTON — Legislation introduced by a key House lawmaker to require all federally guaranteed student loans to be issued directly by the federal government includes provisions that may impact the market for existing debt backed by student loans, market participants said yesterday.

Three former City College of San Francisco administrators, including a former chancellor, pleaded not guilty to charges that they steered more than $150,000 in college funds into bond campaigns, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

CHICAGO - The Curators of the University of Missouri will enter the market on Thursday with a $350 million sale that includes $275 million of taxable Build America Bonds to fund projects at its various campuses and projects at its health system, including a new patient tower.

DALLAS - Oklahoma State University will acquire privately owned on-campus student housing with the proceeds from this week's negotiated sales of about $200 million of debt.

Dodge City Community College, Pratt Community College, and Cowley Community College have filed suit against the Kansas Board of Regents based on what the plaintiffs said was unequal funding for vocational and technical programs.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Creighton University’s $144 million of debt one notch to A3 due to an overall weakening in operating performance.

DALLAS - The San Jacinto Community College District is coming to market today with the second tranche of a $295 million bond package voters overwhelmingly approved last year.

Oklahoma State University’s credit rating was increased last week by Standard & Poor’s to AA-minus from A-minus with a stable outlook. The new rating applies to OSU’s outstanding athletic facility revenue bonds, recreational facility bonds and student union revenue bonds.

New York could sell $192 million of qualified school construction bonds this year through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, according to a resolution adopted by the agency at its monthly board meeting yesterday.

DALLAS - Louisiana State University System's governing board on Monday rejected a proposed management agreement for a new academic and charity hospital in New Orleans to avoid sharing power with Tulane University.

University Medical Center in Tucson opened a new emergency room last week, part of the hospital’s $200 million capital improvement program financed with proceeds from $137 million of revenue bonds sold in 2005 and another $55 million of bonds sold in March of this year.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is conducting audits of $38.2 million of revenue bonds issued by Howard County, Md., for a continuing-care retirement community and $49.3 million of revenue bonds issued by the Tompkins County, N.Y., Industrial Development Agency for Ithaca College.

WASHINGTON - The University of North Carolina System expects to issue $127 million of bonds tomorrow to finance the construction of dormitories, athletic facilities, and other projects as it and other higher-education institutions face state-supported and endowment revenue declines amid the economic recession.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Tennessee lawmakers adjourned their legislative session Thursday after passing a nearly $30 billion budget that made some cuts in the bottom line but also relies on $2.2 billion in federal stimulus funds.

The U.S. Department of Education last week released $681 million in federal stimulus funds that will allow Arizona to restore some cuts made to higher education in fiscal 2009 and boost its education budget for fiscal 2010.