US universities find ways to share their financial burdens
Working with non-profits to build high-capacity dorms on campus means US universities can preserve their capacity to borrow for academic necessities
New York — New Jersey’s Kean University is joining a growing number of colleges tapping outsiders to finance dorms, a step that holds down debt as they cope with declining state aid and pressure to limit tuition increases. Kean is working with a Louisiana-based non-profit to finance a new 385-bed dorm on campus. Provident Group-Kean Properties was planning to sell $43.3m worth of municipal bonds on Wednesday to pay for the project. "Rather than tacking on more debt to the university directly, we’re able to have this partner share in the burden," said Felice Vazquez, Kean’s associate vice-president for strategic initiatives. Kean, the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Texas A&M are among universities that, in the last year, turned to non-profits to build dorms backed solely by revenue from the projects. That preserves universities’ capacity to borrow for classrooms and labs while reducing the risks of constructing new housing facilities that are a selling point to prospective s...
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