- Ivy League schools have borrowed $2.8 billion so far this year
- Colleges are rushing to sell bonds to spruce up campuses
Columbia University is expected to tap investors to borrow $500 million of debt, joining a boom of elite colleges that have issued in the capital markets this year.
The Ivy League university is poised to sell both tax-exempt and taxable securities this week to raise money for projects across its campus in Manhattan. A portion of the bond proceeds will be used to pay for improvements to multiple dorms, the addition of chemistry and quantum physics lab-space in academic buildings, furnishing the law school’s library and upgrades to the college’s medical center campus.
The deal marks one of the latest debt offerings from a US college, which have surged this year as the direction of interest rates stabilized and investor demand increased. Universities broadly have sold $24 billion of municipal debt so far in 2024, with sales from Ivy League schools climbing to nearly $3 billion, an increase of more than 650% from the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg Markets
By Lily Meier
October 1, 2024