116-209.18. Powers of Authority to administer student assistance program.

In order to accomplish the purposes of this Article the Authority is authorized:

(1) To receive from the general fund or other sources such sums as the General Assembly may authorize from time to time for such purposes, and to receive from any other donor, public or private, such sums as may be made available, and to cause such sums to be disbursed for the purposes for which they have been provided;

(2) To establish such criteria as the Authority shall deem necessary or desirable for determining the need of students for grants under this Article, as opposed to other forms of financial assistance, and for deciding who shall receive grants;

(3) To prescribe the form and to regulate the submission of applications for assistance and to prescribe the procedures for considering and approving such applications;

(4) To provide for the making of, and to make, grants under this Article under such terms and conditions as the Authority shall deem advisable;

(5) To encourage educational institutions to increase the resources available for financial assistance; to prescribe such formulas for institutional maintenance of effort as the Authority may determine to be consistent with the purposes of this Article;

(6) To provide by contract for the administration of all or any portion of the student assistance program by nonprofit organizations or corporations, pursuant to regulations and criteria established by the Authority;

(7) To serve, on designation by the Governor, or as may otherwise be provided by federal law, as the State agency to administer such statewide programs of student assistance as shall be established from time to time under federal law; and

(8) To have all other powers and authority necessary to carry out the purposes of the student assistance program, including, without limitation, all the powers given to the Authority by G.S. 116-204 and by other provisions of the General Statutes.