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Elite Colleges Join Bond-Market Boom by Seizing on Low Rates

  • Harvard, Brown, MIT among universities that have sold bonds
  • About $8 billion of debt issued since Fed spurred rebound
A pedestrian exits the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass. on April 20.

A pedestrian exits the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass. on April 20.

Photographer: Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg

America’s elite colleges are joining the corporate-debt boom.

Even with the pandemic sowing uncertainty about the coming academic year, some of the richest universities are seizing on a chance to borrow at low interest rates. Investors have plowed into highly rated corporate debt since the Federal Reserve pledged to intervene to keep credit flowing, setting off a rally amid confidence the market will weather the steep economic contraction.