Bonds

Columbia Is the Latest Ivy League School to Tap Muni Debt Market

  • Ivy League schools have borrowed $2.8 billion so far this year
  • Colleges are rushing to sell bonds to spruce up campuses
Graduates and guests during the Columbia University commencement convocation in New York, US, on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg
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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.