NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) April 28, 2004--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today assigned its ratings to New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority's $200 million student loan revenue bonds 2004 series A, B, C, and D (see list). The 2004 bonds are tax-exempt auction rate bonds that re-price every 35 days. The 2004 bonds will be issued to finance student loans, pay the costs of issuance and capitalized interest, and fund other trust accounts, including the debt service reserve account. The financed student loans consist of state supplemental loans, called the NJCLASS Loan Program (74%), and federally insured Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans (26%). This is the seventh series issuance under a master trust indenture from 1998.
