Postsecondary scholarship fund.

Sec. 236j. (1) The postsecondary scholarship fund is created in the department of treasury for the purpose of providing scholarship awards to eligible students who attend eligible postsecondary educational institutions in this state, as provided in subsection (5). (2) The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from any source for deposit into the postsecondary scholarship fund. The state treasurer shall direct the investment of the postsecondary scholarship fund. The state treasurer shall credit to the postsecondary scholarship fund interest and earnings from postsecondary scholarship fund investments. (3) Money in the postsecondary scholarship fund at the close of the fiscal year must remain in the postsecondary scholarship fund and not lapse to the general fund. (4) The department of treasury is the administrator of the postsecondary scholarship fund for auditing purposes. (5) Money must be expended from the postsecondary scholarship fund for the purpose of supporting state grants and financial aid allocated in section 236(7). (6) It is the intent of the legislature that the postsecondary scholarship fund serves as a funding source of the Michigan achievement scholarship. To ensure the Michigan achievement scholarship provides ongoing supports for students, it is the intent of the legislature to provide annual ongoing increases for the Michigan achievement scholarship allocated in section 236(7) and to use funds from the postsecondary scholarship fund to support the scale up to the fully implemented costs of the Michigan achievement scholarship. (7) In addition to the appropriations in section 236, if the amount of state money allocated in section 236(7)(a), (b), (d), or (e) is not sufficient to fully fund 1 or more of those awards, there is appropriated from the postsecondary scholarship fund the amount necessary to fully fund those awards. The state budget director must determine if money is appropriated from the postsecondary scholarship fund under this subsection and shall provide written notification to the standard report recipients prior to any additional appropriation described in this subsection. (8) For the fiscal year ending September 30, 2027 only, an amount not to exceed $100,000,000.00 from the school aid stabilization fund is deposited into the postsecondary scholarship fund. It is intended that this deposit is funded first from unspent and unreserved state school aid fund balances appropriated under section 11, as recorded as part of the state book-closing process for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and, if necessary, from available fund balances of other funds created under article I and deposited into the school aid stabilization fund.