(a)

(1) The board of trustees of the University of Tennessee, the board of regents, and each state university board shall adopt procedures whereby a Tennessee resident who is enrolled at an institution of higher education within their jurisdictions under educational assistance benefits administered and provided by the United States department of veterans affairs or under other governmentally funded educational assistance benefits may elect, upon formal application to the institution, to defer payment of the required tuition and fees until the student's monetary benefits from the department or other governmental agency have been received. Application for deferment shall be made by the student prior to the commencement of the academic term for which deferment is being requested; however, if the student can prove to the institution that the student could not have reasonably made application prior to the commencement of the academic term, application for deferment may be made no later than fourteen (14) days following the start of the term.

(2) Deferment shall not extend beyond the final day of the term for which the educational assistance benefits are being provided or until all monetary benefits are received from the department or other governmental agency, whichever occurs first; however, a further extension may be granted upon a finding of extenuating circumstances related to the delay of delivery of benefits through no fault of the student. In no instance shall deferment be extended for more than one (1) academic term after the academic term in which deferment was initially granted, if the student receiving the deferment has an outstanding balance of unpaid tuition or fees from the academic term in which deferment was initially granted.

(3) The amount of tuition and fees deferred shall not exceed the total anticipated monetary benefits to be received by the student from the department or other governmental agency for the term.

(4) Eligibility for deferment shall terminate if the student fails to abide by any applicable rule or regulation or fails to act in good faith in the timely payment of required tuition and fees that have been deferred pursuant to this section.

(5) Except as provided by subdivisions (a)(2)-(4), deferment shall not be grounds for a state institution of higher education to:

(A) Deny or otherwise encumber a student's request for academic transcripts or term grade reports;

(B) Prohibit or otherwise encumber a student from registering for courses at the institution for the academic term immediately following the deferment or extension of deferment or from reenrolling at the institution at a subsequent date; or

(C) Prohibit or otherwise encumber a student from graduating from the institution or from participating in graduation ceremonies conducted by the institution; provided, that all degree requirements have been met.

(6) No additional fees or service charges shall be imposed against a student by a state institution of higher education for deferred payments of tuition and fees made pursuant to this section; however, all other policies and procedures relevant to the payment of fees and tuition and refunds of fees and tuition shall be applicable to a student who is deferring payment.

(7) A student veteran classified as a resident for tuition and fee purposes under the Academic Common Market Agreement, as codified in § 49-7-301, is eligible for deferment of tuition and fees under this section.

(8) A student veteran cannot be in an overpayment status to the United States department of veterans affairs to an extent of such that the student cannot be expected to receive the amount of tuition and fees due.

(b) All procedures adopted pursuant to this section are subject to the approval of the commissioner of finance and administration and shall be filed with the comptroller of the treasury.

(c)

(1) All public institutions of higher education shall publish notice of entitlement to veterans' educational benefits in their catalogues and schedules of classes.

(2) Inclusion of the information shall be subject to review by the veterans' education division of the Tennessee higher education commission.