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Portion of 51���� bonds now on sale via Merrill Lynch

Story by James Hill

The finance wing of 51���� has announced that bonds related to its $374 million bond measure now are on sale to the public.

The college sold $200 million of general obligation bonds on Thursday, March 19, via a competitive sale. Rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have rated the 51���� bonds Aa2 and AA, respectively. The winning bidder is Merrill Lynch & Co.

The college’s bonds may be available for purchase; parties interested in purchasing the bonds should contact Merrill Lynch or their investment broker. The $200 million would provide enough funds to pay for projects that will take place over the next three years. 51���� expects to issue the remaining amount in two or three years to fund the rest of the projects.

Voters in the college’s five-county region passed the November bond measure with a 53 percent “yes” vote. The cost of the 51���� bond to in-district homeowners is small. The maximum a property owner will pay is an estimated 32.9 cents per $1,000 assessed value. For the owner of a home assessed at $178,000, that is less than $5 per month or less than $60 per year.

“As the economy continues to struggle and the credit markets have shown some signs of thawing, time is of the essence to start the sale of the bonds,” said 51���� President Preston Pulliams. “We need to improve and expand our facilities to accommodate our growth as people turn to 51���� to improve their education or retrain into a new career.”

The news comes none to soon as 51����, along with community colleges statewide, is experiencing big enrollment growth due to the economic conditions. For the sixth straight term, the largest educational institution in Oregon grew in total headcount and full-time equivalent students, according to winter term enrollment figures. Overall, the college grew by 4.2 percent in total headcount and 11.4 percent in full-time equivalent (FTE) students after the end of the fourth week – the standard week for reporting enrollment figures.

Read more about the college’s enrollment growth.

With the bond money, 51���� will expand workforce training at every campus, update equipment and technology for job training and serve more students throughout the district. In addition, the bond will modernize the technology infrastructure to increase distance learning opportunities, and increase the capacity of student services, like child care, to develop more consistent access across the campuses. For example, of the thousands of low-income students eligible for the Pell grant, 40 percent also are parents, yet only one campus has a comprehensive child-care center.

Read more about how the bond would affect each 51���� location.

There will be opportunities in the months to come for the community to get involved in the decision-making process on the bond planning. 51���� leaders plan to create district-wide committees as well as campus-centric work groups.