STEP ONE - INITIAL CONTACT
The first thing you will have to do, of course, is contact us. MCM has appointed two highly experienced Senior Investment Bankers and a staff of trained professionals to talk with you about your project. This is where we will begin what is called "due diligence". We will need to know a little about your school and the project you are intending to buy or build - things such as an estimate of the project cost, the number of students, plans for future growth, etc. This is not to be confused with the standard "business plan" that you hear so much about. We will accumulate the information we need in order to present a complete, comprehensive picture of your school to our investors.

STEP TWO - ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
With the information that you provided to us in the initial contact, we will examine several alternate financing structures and present to you those that appear to meet your needs. We will discuss such things as "Capitalized Interest", "Amortization Period", "Interest Only Period", "Debt Service Reserve Fund" and all the other things that can be so confusing and yet are so vital for you and your Board to make an informed decision. The questions in your mind, naturally, are "How much can we afford to borrow?" and "How will we pay?" These questions will be answered at this step.

STEP THREE - PROPOSAL
Once we have zeroed in on what you need and want we will make a formal proposal to you and your Board. Our proposal will include a comprehensive Plan of Finance, an anticipated Debt Service Schedule based on the information that you provided and a draft contract for your review. We will be available to make a presentation to your Board if you would like. In fact, a lot of our clients find that this can be a very educational and informative meeting and they take a great deal of comfort in knowing that we are there to answer all of your questions.

STEP FOUR - CONTRACT
After you and your Board approve moving forward with the transaction, we will need to enter into a contract with you. This will specify that we are your agents, acting on your behalf and it will outline exactly what duties we are going to perform for you. It will also specify our compensation and it will identify, as close as possible, what the anticipated expenses will be.

It's very important to understand that, if for some unexpected reason, we are not successful in providing you with the loan, you are not responsible for paying us. We don't require an upfront fee, a retainer or anything like that - we are paid at the closing table. As a matter of fact, ALL of the expenses of the transaction are paid out of the proceeds of the loan - you will not have any out-of-pocket expenses to contend with and you won't have to bring your checkbook to the closing table.

STEP FIVE - UNDERWRITING
This step is where the work begins. We start by meeting with your legal counsel (if you don't have one, we will help you find one), your CPA firm and your staff to accumulate the additional information we will need. We will draft the legal documents, contact the title insurance company of your choice (assuming that real estate is involved), arrange for a Environmental Site Assessment if one hasn't been done recently, engage the trustee, examine your Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws for any changes that may need to be made, contact and coordinate with your Authorizing Body and all the rest of the things that are necessary to close the financing. This process may take as few as thirty days or as long as several months - it depends on what needs to be done and how quickly the parties can do their respective jobs.

STEP SIX - CLOSING
Everyone has been working towards this time. We will all be very busy during the last few days prior to the close and you will wonder how it can possibly come together. However, throughout this entire process, you will be very glad that you hired experienced professionals who have been through this so many times before. When it is over, you can rest assured that the job is done right.

We have oversimplified the process with these six steps to show you that it is not as overwhelming as it first appears when you work with the professionals at Municipal Capital Markets Group. However, this is not a time to experiment with unproven individuals or organizations - your project is too important to the school to trust the financing to anyone but the best and most experienced.

For additional information, please contact either John Grafelman or Jay Hromatka at (612) 338-0200