UA officials will take an important step toward beginning construction on the two new residence halls to be built on East Sixth Street.

The Arizona Board of Regents is scheduled to auction off $215 million worth of debt securities on behalf of the UA today, in an effort to finance the new dorms, said Joel Valdez, UA senior vice president for business affairs.

The new dorms, which are scheduled to begin construction this summer, will use students’ rent to repay the loans, Valdez said following the Feb. 20 meeting of the board of regents capital committee.

Bond financing is a commonly used form of long-term borrowing where branches of state and local governments will borrow money and agree to pay it back over time with added interest.

“”Anytime you sell bonds you incur debt; it is just like a mortgage on your house,”” Valdez said via phone on Sunday.

The two new residence halls will provide 1,066 new beds and cost over $150 million to construct, according to the August 2008 board of regents meeting agenda.

Both residence halls will be built in areas that are currently lot-specific parking lots. One dorm will be built on the corner of Sixth and North Highland Avenue, the other will stand at Sixth and North Tyndall Avenue.

The bonds will also be used to fund over $37 million in renovations to existing residence halls, according to the August 2008 agenda.

In terms of financiers’ interest in purchasing the bonds, Valdez said they were “”good bonds”” and he had his fingers crossed that they will be bought.