Fitch Rates Nova Southeastern University, Florida 'BBB+'.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 assigns a 'BBB+' rating on Broward County Educational Facilities Authority (BCEFA BCEFA Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS ), FL, educational facilities revenue bonds, series 2006 (Nova Southeastern University History Originally named Nova University of Advanced Technology,[7] the university was chartered by the state of Florida in 1964[8][9] as a graduate institution in the physical and social sciences. (NSU NSU Nonspecific urethritis, see there ) Project) in the approximate amount of $98,320,000. Fitch also affirms the 'BBB+' rating on NSU's $131.5 million outstanding parity bonds issued by BCEFA as series 2000B, 2002B, 2004A, 2004B, and 2004C. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The bonds are expected to be sold the first week of April. The bonds will be sold through negotiation by SunTrust Capital Markets, Inc. Bond proceeds will be used to fund construction of a dormitory, the second phase of the university center, a performing arts center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. , various smaller projects, and to pay costs of issuance. The 'BBB+' rating is supported by the university's increasing enrollment and history of stable financial operations. Headcount enrollment of 26,335 for fall 2005 reflects a 35.7% growth rate since fall 2001. Unlike the other colleges and universities in the state, NSU is principally a graduate institution. Only 21.7% of NSU's fall 2005 students were undergraduates. Enrollment growth coupled with tuition and fee increases and cost containment cost containment, n the features of a dental benefits program or of the administration of the program designed to reduce or eliminate certain charges to the plan. measures have contributed to the continued positive operating margins. For fiscal 2005, the operating margin was 6.6%. Financial performance for fiscal 2006 is expected to be comparable to the prior year. Credit concerns center on the increasing debt burden and NSU's high dependency on student generated revenue. The series 2006 issuance will increase debt outstanding by 63.5% to $252.2 million. Annual debt service is projected to be relatively flat through fiscal 2036. Maximum annual debt service (MADS) of $17 million occurs in fiscal 2011. MADS would consume 4.4% of fiscal 2005 revenues. The median for universities rated in the 'BBB' category by Fitch is 4.9%. While NSU's debt burden is slightly below the median, the additional debt represents a significant increase from prior years. In addition, NSU may issue an additional $50 million in fiscal 2008. Payment of debt service is a general obligation of NSU. Any significant decline in enrollment or liquidity could have a negative impact on NSU's ability to repay the debt given its heavy reliance on student-generated revenues. For fiscal 2005, student-generated revenues, which include tuition, fees and auxiliary revenues, represented 86.8% of unrestricted revenues. NSU is an independent, co-educational school, with its principal campus located on a 300-acre campus in suburban Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale (lô`dərdāl), residential, commercial, and resort city (1990 pop. 149,377), seat of Broward co., SE Fla., on the Atlantic coast; settled around a fort built (c.1837) in the Seminole War, inc. 1911. , FL. 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. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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