Fitch Rates Florida State University Parking Revs 'AA-', Series 2005A.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. assigns an 'AA-' rating to the approximately $11,380,000 State of Florida, Florida Education System, Florida State University Florida State University, at Tallahassee; coeducational; chartered 1851, opened 1857. Present name was adopted in 1947. Special research facilities include those in nuclear science and oceanography. parking facility revenue bonds, series 2005A. Fitch also affirms the 'AA-' on $28.7 million of outstanding Florida State University parking facility revenue bonds, series 2001, 2003A, and 2003B, which are on parity with the series 2005A bonds. The Rating Outlook is Stable. A competitive sale of the 20-year bonds is expected after at least 18 hours notice that will be given by the state's division of bond finance through Thomson Municipal Market Monitor. The bonds are expected to sell in November. Bond proceeds will be used to construct a five-level parking garage (Garage No. 4) containing approximately 1,000 parking spaces, to purchase a bond insurance policy and reserve fund surety bonds surety bond An insurance fee required before a duplicate security is issued to replace one that has been lost. The fee is approximately 4% of the market value of the security to be replaced. and to pay costs of issuance. FSU FSU Florida State University FSU Former Soviet Union FSU Ferris State University FSU Fayetteville State University (North Carolina) FSU Frostburg State University FSU Finance Sector Union will contribute approximately $1.4 million of cash from the parking system for the project. Project construction is expected to begin in December 2005 and end in December 2006. The 'AA-' is primarily supported by a mandatory student transportation access fee (transportation fee or fee) and a debt service reserve fund. Effective fall 2000, FSU began collecting a transportation fee, which is mandatory and based on credit hours taken by students. The fee was initially set at $2.85 per student credit hour. The fee was raised to $4.90 per credit hour in fall 2002 and increased to $6.00 beginning fall 2005. In fiscal 2005, the parking system's gross operating revenues, of which 68.6% were derived from the transportation fee, were nearly $6.9 million and operating expenses Operating expenses The amount paid for asset maintenance or the cost of doing business, excluding depreciation. Earnings are distributed after operating expenses are deducted. were $3.2 million. Net parking system revenues covered the $2.6 million of debt service for fiscal 2005 by 1.5 times (x). With the issuance of the series 2005A bonds, maximum annual debt service is expected to be $3.5 million, and coverage is expected to remain at 1.5x. The increase in debt service is offset by projected 1% increases in enrollment, which will result in increased transportation fee revenue. FSU anticipates the issuance of an additional $15 million of parking revenue bonds within the next year. Based on projected fiscal 2005 parking system net revenues, the additional debt service coverage would decline but still be at or near 1.3x. An additional bonds test Additional bonds test A test for ensuring that bond issuers can meet the debt service requirements of issuing any new additional bonds. additional bonds test requires coverage of 1.2x. The parking system currently has 12,382 vehicle spaces for students and staff. With a university student body that exceeds 39,652 and additional parking needs for faculty, staff, and visitors, the demand for parking far exceeds the number of spaces available. FSU's student demand data has strengthened over the past five years. Fall 2005 enrollment of 39,652 was 11.8% higher than fall 2001. The freshman acceptance rate for fall 2005 was 59.6%, and the matriculation ma·tric·u·late tr. & intr.v. ma·tric·u·lat·ed, ma·tric·u·lat·ing, ma·tric·u·lates To admit or be admitted into a group, especially a college or university. n. rate was 38.6%. Both have been steady over the past five years. Strong demographic trends in the state are a credit positive, as the number of statewide high school graduates is projected to increase by 30% over the next 15 years. FSU's general credit strengths include its strong student demand, positive operating performance, and solid historical state support for both operations and capital projects, which has enabled the university to keep tuition and debt levels low. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. 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