Clark State acquires funds to buy Greene campus

The school sold the debt through the building authority’s State Credit Enhancement Program.

In the program, instead of directly borrowing money for the purchase of the Greene Center facility, Clark State will make lease payments to the state building authority, which will pay off the bonds.

Clark State is the second college to participate in the credit enhancement program, which was launched earlier this year.

The program serves to help two-year community colleges improve their credit ratings to make their bonds more attractive to investors and interest rates lower, said Kevin Fenlon, assistant director of the Ohio Building Authority.

The program is also like insurance to those who purchased Clark State’s bonds.

“If the college were ever to fail to make their payments, money that would normally go to the college would be intercepted and diverted to make the debt payment,” Fenlon said.

Doing it this way saves the school $488,000 in interest payments, according to Jackson.

The purchase of the Greene Center will allow Clark State to accommodate its growing enrollment. Clark State occupies one floor in the building, 3775 Pentagon Blvd., and may expand to the second floor if a tenant, the STEM science and technology school, chooses to end its lease in 2011 or 2012.