Higher education bonds

Rutgers University in New Jersey announced on Aug, 5 that it raised a record $187.9 million during the 2014-15 academic year fueled by a surge in donations at the end of a lengthy fundraising campaign.

Enrollment declines at the 14 universities in Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education pressure their operations, said Janney's Alan Schankel.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the University of West Alabama's bonds to A3 from A2 citing weak financial performance and declining enrollment.

Five Louisiana universities avoided rating downgrades by Standard & Poor's because the state bolstered their 2016 budgets instead of enacting new cuts.

The University of Texas System saw strong demand for $218 million of Permanent University Fund bonds priced through a nine-member syndicate led by JP Morgan.

The Illinois Finance Authority is rolling out a new financing program to help smaller hospitals purchase equipment and meet federal healthcare record-keeping mandates.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is proposing to create a trade data product that would allow higher education researchers to see what dealers are doing while keeping the dealer identities anonymous.

Pepperdine University received Double A ratings from two rating agencies ahead of plans to price a $77 million revenue bond refunding the week of July 20.

Temple University in Philadelphia approved a 2.8% increase in undergraduate tuition on July 14.

Bonds issued to finance student loans will not become taxable if their issuer takes action to cease being a qualified scholarship funding corporation, the Internal Revenue Service said.

Michigan's Oakland University has become the second school in the state to forgo state aid in favor of a large tuition hike.

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) has broken ground on a science, technology, engineering and math building, financed in part by the Garden State's $750 million Building Our Future Bond Act.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is giving 529 college savings plan underwriters a 60-day extension on the first date data submissions are due under a recently adopted rule.

Single-A rated Chapman University's $130 million of unsecured general obligation bonds will seek bond investors flush with cash from July 1 interest payments.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it lowered its long-term rating and underlying rating to CCC-minus from CCC-plus on the University of Puerto Rico's existing university system revenue bonds.

Oregon Health and Science University will sell $100 Million of federally-taxable debt next week.

A Virginia judge approved a mediated deal June 22 that will keep Virginia's Briar College open for another year and release endowment funds.

Covenant violations on lines of credit and poor operations caused Howard University's bond rating to fall with the possibility of the rating declining more if the university cannot fix operations that have been running a deficit in recent years.

Midwestern University is making private loans to students in partnership with the Glendale Industrial Development Authority and the Illinois Finance Authority, which are coming to market with a total of $30 million of bonds that will fund additional lending.

Standard & Poor's lowered the bond ratings of Virginia’s Sweet Briar College further into junk territory June 18 due to the legal efforts to keep the institution open.