§305 Conditions of Grant

Summary

Land and scrip grants are given to states only if the state legislature agrees and follows certain rules. The state must keep the grant fund's capital intact and replace any lost principal so the fund is never reduced. The yearly interest must be used for the purposes listed in section 304, but up to 10 percent of what a state gets may be spent to buy land for sites or experimental farms if the state legislature allows it. None of the fund or its interest may be used to buy, build, fix, or preserve buildings. A state that accepts must provide at least one qualifying college within five years after acceptance or the grant ends; if the grant ends the state must repay money it got from any land sales, though buyers keep their titles. Each college must send an annual report on progress, costs, experiments, and useful state statistics to the other colleges and to the Secretary of the Interior. Lands whose price was doubled because of railroad grants count at the higher price and the acreage is reduced accordingly. States in rebellion or insurrection cannot get benefits. States had to accept within three years from July 23, 1866; new states get three years from their admission to accept and then five years from acceptance to provide a college.