Title 49, Education

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Volunteer Trust Fund Act.”

The general assembly recognizes the importance of creating a legal mechanism to safeguard and protect valuable rights and privileges sought to be created and protected by the framers of our constitution. Through this part, the general assembly recognizes, as did our forefathers, …

(a) (1) A trust corporation, which shall be chartered as a not-for-profit general welfare corporation under the laws of this state, may be formed for the sole purpose of administering and providing fiduciary services for a special educational trust created for higher education, t…

(a) The trust corporation shall have a board of directors as provided in the document that creates the trust to be administered by the corporation. The board shall also serve as trustees of the trust. The board of directors and their successors shall be appointed in the manner pr…

(a) Any trust for higher education created to be administered by a trust corporation formed under this part shall be a charitable trust for the general welfare of the citizens of this state. No funds shall be available for distribution from the trust until two hundred (200) years…

(a) Any person, association or corporation may make contributions to the trust corporation for the benefit of the trust pursuant to this part, and the trust corporation is authorized to accept funds and deposit the funds in the trust for higher education. (b) In addition, the tru…

(a) There is created within the general fund a special endowment trust fund earmarked for the sole purpose of generating revenue to provide funds to promote leadership in agricultural and home economic programs in institutions of higher education. (b) Any person, association, cor…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Tennessee College Savings Trust Act.”

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Account owner” means an individual, association, corporation, trust, charitable organization, or other such entity that establishes an educational investment trust account pursuant to this part or that is otherw…

The Constitution of Tennessee, Article XI, § 12 manifests the intention of the citizens of this state that the advancement and improvement of higher education in this state is an essential governmental function and purpose of this state. Therefore, the general assembly finds that…

(a) There is created a board of trustees of the program composed of the following nine (9) members:(1) The state treasurer;(2) The comptroller of the treasury;(3) The commissioner of finance and administration;(4) The secretary of state;(5) The chancellor of the state board of re…

(1) In addition to the powers granted by any other provisions of this part, the board shall have, as agents of this state, the powers necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes and provisions of this part, the purposes and objectives of the program and the powers delegated…

The board may enter into a tuition contract with a purchaser for the purchase of tuition units on behalf of a beneficiary through the educational services plan or for the creation and deposit of contributions to a savings account through the educational savings plan, or both; pro…

(a) An educational services plan tuition contract entered into between the board and a purchaser shall allow the purchaser to purchase tuition units on behalf of a beneficiary at the price determined by the board pursuant to subsection (c) for the year in which the tuition unit i…

(a) An educational investment plan is established whereby an account owner may participate to create an account in such plan and shall allow any contributor to make contributions to such an account intending for such contributions and any earnings thereon to be applied toward the…

(a) The following information shall be disclosed in writing to each purchaser of a tuition contract:(1) The terms and conditions for purchasing tuition units if the contract involves the educational services plan, or the terms and conditions for the making of contributions if the…

(a) Nothing in this part nor in a tuition contract entered into pursuant to this part shall be construed as a promise or guarantee by the state, the board or any institution of higher education that a beneficiary will:(1) Be admitted to an institution of higher education or to a …

(a) (1) A tuition contract may be terminated by the refund recipient under any of the following conditions upon written request of the refund recipient to the board:(A) The death or permanent disability of the beneficiary;(B) The beneficiary is eighteen (18) years of age or older…

(a) There are created two (2) Tennessee college savings trust funds, the educational investment trust fund and the educational services trust fund. The board, or if designated by the board, the state treasurer shall serve as trustee. These funds shall be held and maintained as se…

The state treasurer shall be the custodian of the trust funds, and the facilities and employees of the state treasurer shall be used and employed in the administration of the funds, including, but not limited to, the keeping of records, the management of bank accounts and other i…

(a) The board shall establish an investment policy for each trust fund. The board may authorize assets of the trust funds to be invested in any instrument, obligation, security or property that constitutes legal investments for assets of the Tennessee consolidated retirement syst…

Subject to the limitations in § 49-7-814, the board, or its nominee, has full power to hold, purchase, sell, assign, transfer or dispose of any of the securities or investments in which the assets of the funds have been invested, as well as of the proceeds of the investments and …

(1) All of the board's business shall be transacted, all of its funds invested, all warrants for money drawn, any payments made and all of its cash and securities and other property shall be held:(1) In the name of the board;(2) In the name of its nominee; provided, that the nomi…

Except as otherwise provided, no board member nor employee of the board shall have any personal interest in the gains or profits of any investment made by the board; nor shall any board member or employee of the board, directly or indirectly, for the member or employee or as an a…

(a) Implementation of the policies established by the board may be delegated by the board to the state treasurer who shall put the policies into effect. (b) Subject to the delegation of the board, the state treasurer shall have full power to invest and reinvest the assets of the …

(a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the board may, at its option, contract for investment management services for the assets of either or both of the trust funds and provide for the powers, duties, functions and compensation of any investment managers so engaged. A…

(a) The board shall obtain appropriate actuarial assistance to establish, and maintain, and certify a fund sufficient to defray the obligation of the educational services plan. The actuary shall recommend to the board, and the board shall adopt, actuarial assumptions and appropri…

The board may call upon other departments and agencies of this state for assistance in carrying out the purpose and intent of this part, including, but not limited to, the office of vital records. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the office of vital records shall pr…

Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, all assets, income and distributions of qualified tuition plans as defined by the code authorized by federal law, this part, part 9 of this chapter or by the laws of another state are exempt from any state, county or municipal tax and shal…

If the board determines that any of the educational investment plan or plans or the educational services plan is, for any reason, financially unfeasible, or is not beneficial to the citizens of this state or to the state itself, the board may suspend or terminate the plan immedia…

(a) A tuition contract terminates when the plan is terminated if the contract does not remain in effect under subsection (b). In that event, the purchaser must make a written request to the board to roll the tuition account over to another qualified tuition program established un…

(a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), the board and any officer, employee, agent or contractor of the board shall not disclose personal information about any person obtained by the board in connection with the purchase o…

(a) The state or any department, division or agency of the state may establish a scholarship program to award scholarships to students that consist of contributions and earnings accrued in a savings account created through the educational investment plan established pursuant to §…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Baccalaureate Education Savings for Tennessee Act.”

(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:(1) It is an essential function of government to foster and encourage schools and the means of education, as provided in the Constitution of Tennessee, Article XI, § 12;(2) It is a responsibility of state government to maintain ins…

(1) In light of the findings described in § 49-7-902, the general assembly declares the purposes of this part to be to:(1) Encourage education and the means of education;(2) Encourage attendance at institutions of higher education;(3) Provide students and their parents financing …

(a) Bonds issued by the state funding board pursuant to title 9, chapter 9, or by the Tennessee state school bond authority pursuant to chapter 3, part 12 of this title, may be designated by the appropriate issuer as college savings bonds and issued in accordance with this part. …

(a) College savings bonds shall be sold at a discount to be determined by the issuer, shall bear no stated rate of interest and shall be payable in one (1) payment at maturity on a fixed date. The bonds shall mature no less than five (5) years nor more than twenty (20) years from…

(a) The state funding board and the Tennessee state school bond authority, when issuing college savings bonds, shall develop a plan of implementation for the sale and issuance of the bonds, including:(1) Advertising to inform the public about the availability of college savings b…

After each sale and issue of college savings bonds pursuant to this part, the appropriate issuer shall report to the general assembly an evaluation of the sale of the college savings bonds and recommendations, if any, for improvements in the program.

The mission of the Northeast State Community College includes comprehensive one- and two-year occupational, college parallel, continuing education and community service programs, and the institution shall be renamed the Northeast State Community College.

The institution shall continue to provide high quality technical and scientific occupational programs and serve as a regional technical school to train engineering technicians for industry and prepare students to earn a living as a technician or technical worker in the fields of …

Any legal, equitable or contractual rights, duties, obligations, evidences of debt, powers or authorities of the Tri-Cities State Technical Institute shall not be modified, altered, amended or abrogated by this part.

(a) (1) There is established a state university and community college system, to be called the board of regents. The state university and community college system is composed of state universities, community colleges, and state colleges of applied technology.(2) (A) The board of …

(a) (1) Persons who otherwise meet admission requirements shall be admitted to a state college or university, at in-state tuition rates, if they are residents of the state, or if they are nonresidents whose bona fide place of residence is in a county of another state lying immedi…

(a) The board of regents and each state university board are authorized to establish from time to time reasonable and appropriate rules and policies defining residency of students, which shall be used for the purpose of determining whether or not out-of-state tuition shall be cha…