MOHELA board reaffirms loan sale

More than 100 people attended the public meeting at Lodge of the Four Seasons on Lake of the Ozarks, and 19 people spoke to the matter before the board voted a second time in favor of Gov. Matt Blunt’s $450 million Lewis & Clark Discovery Initiative, according to a news release.

Blunt proposed in January privatizing a portion of its $5.2 billion in assets, and on Jan. 24 and 31, the board approved the plan to sell its $2.4 billion consolidated loans portfolio. The sale is supposed to generate $450 million for higher education capital improvements, scholarships and endowments.

A second vote was necessary after Attorney General Jay Nixon in February filed a lawsuit saying MOHELA violated the state’s open meetings and records laws when formulating sale details. A representative in the attorney general’s office could not be reached for comment.

A news release said MOHELA members received nearly 50 letters and e-mails prior to the meeting.

Click here to read the complete funding plan. In it, Missouri State University is slated to receive $37 million for facility renovations in 2007.

According to Raymond H. Bayer Jr., MOHELA’s interim executive director, MOHELA staff is working with an independent financial adviser and investment bankers to develop a more detailed funding plan for review of authority members in May or June. Bidding would begin shortly thereafter, and sales could begin in late June or July, Bayer said.

Additionally at the meeting, Bayer announced that the education loan authority had hired Liscarnan Solutions Inc. to conduct a financial review of the authority.

MOHELA, one of the largest nonprofit student loan secondary markets in America, purchases more than $1.2 billion in loans a year.