Dissolving a Bond?

According to the Daily Bruin, the chancellor will deal with a deficit in the athletics program by "dissolving a bond." Does anyone have any idea what that means in this context? Now, I've heard of floating a bond. But you don't normally float (offer to sell) new bonds to deal with an ongoing budget deficit. I've also heard of "the bonds that tie," but not ones that dissolve.

Poking around on the web, yours truly found that "dissolving a bond" might mean selling bonds that you already own as part of your financial assets. So what bonds is UCLA holding that it plans to "dissolve"?* Basically, if selling off assets is being used to finance a deficit, it doesn't really matter what assets are being cashed in. What matters is that you are running down assets (reserves) which can't go on forever.

The Bruin also talks about a campus-wide "deficit." But without a complete financial statement, who knows what that means? The last time we had a financial statement was when then-CFO Agostini produced one. But then he was quickly fired for saying some Very Bad Words, as blog readers will know. And, as blog readers will further know, his estimates for revenue and expenditure were as of last September. Presumably, someone has updates. Or maybe not. As we have also noted on this blog, it is not clear that Murphy Hall has the ability to produce up-to-date numbers.

Excerpts from the Bruin:

UCLA will dissolve a $50 million bond to reduce UCLA Athletics department’s budget deficit and consolidate its chief financial officer and administrative vice chancellor roles, Chancellor Julio Frenk announced in a Tuesday morning State of the Campus address. Frenk outlined a three-step plan to address UCLA’s financial shortfalls at the inaugural address, which university administrators, student government leaders, faculty and UC Office of the President representatives attended. Frenk said in the speech that curtailed state and federal funding and rising operational costs impacted UCLA’s finances...

The consolidation of administrative roles [of CFO and Administrative Vice Chancellor] comes as Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck announced that he will retire at the end of 2026. Frenk said the university hopes to increase efficiency with the combination of offices...

UCLA is projected to generate a $220 million budget deficit for the 2025-26 academic year, UCLA’s Interim CFO Reem Hanna-Harwell said in a March 26 campuswide email. Hanna-Harwell’s figure came more than a month after former CFO Stephen Agostini alleged to the Daily Bruin that financial mismanagement from administrators led to a projected $425 million deficit for the same year...

Frenk also said the university is reviewing its real estate holdings, including by evaluating the financial performance and longevity of university-owned properties and seeking out opportunities to diversify its holdings...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/26/ucla-to-combine-administrative-roles-give-ucla-athletics-50-million-frenk-says.

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PS: Just a final question: Did any of the "university administrators, student government leaders, faculty and UC Office of the President representatives" who attended the talk ask what dissolving a bond means or, more importantly, what the heck is going on with UCLA's budget?

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*According to the chancellor's speech, some funds from past litigation are being held in the form of bonds. https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/julio-frenk-2026-state-of-the-campus-full-speech.