University of California to Issue $1.2 Billion in General Revenue Bonds

May 15, 2018 | Education, Municipal Bonds, Municipal Finance

Featured Municipal Bond Issue, Week of May 14th, 2018: University of California Revenue Bonds – $1.2 Billion

The Regents of the University of California are issuing general revenue bonds in the amount of $1.2 billion the week of May 14th, 2018. 2018 Series AZ is $947 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds, and 2018 Series BA is $283 million in federally-taxable revenue bonds. The bond proceeds will be used to finance or refinance projects of the University, as well as refunding a portion of outstanding revenue bonds issues in 2009, with an aggregate principal amount of $113 million

The security for the bonds is a pledge of General Revenues, including gross student tuition and fees, facilities and administrative cost recovery from contracts and grants, net sales and service revenues from educational and auxiliary enterprise activities, and more. General Revenues do not include appropriations from the State of California (limited exceptions) or gross revenues of the University Medical Centers.

Details on the purposes, tax-status, security, as well as other matters pertaining to these University of California revenue bonds can be found in the preliminary official statement, available on MuniOS.



The University of California has a total headcount of over 270,000 students, attending ten campuses across the state. As of March 2018, the State of California has an unemployment rate of 4.2%, which is 0.1% higher than the U.S. rate in March, and 1% lower than the unemployment rate as of March 2017, as can be seen in the chart below.

You can find 10-year employment and labor force trends for all 50 states and each Metropolitan Statistical Area in the U.S. in our Employment Database, and more labor sector growth and compensation data on our Job Market page.

University of California

Provided at left (click to expand) is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the University of California as of 06/30/2017, compared with the 2016-2017 medians for other public higher education institutions, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC. Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness). In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages, and our employment database.

These facts and numbers are for informational purposes, and should not be considered an official disclosure for potential investors. Investors should consult the official statement. None of the information provided should be construed as a recommendation by MuniNet Guide, MuniNet LLC, Merritt Research Services LLC, or any of their employees. Information and analysis is for informational purposes only.

by Jeffrey L Garceau