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<section number="31-106" name="Authority powers and duties; penalty for false statements" law="code" slug="sec-31-106" node_id="PTIITI17PULOLAPRGECOMA_SUBTITLE_31PRGECOSUHIEDLOAU_S31-106AUPODUPEFAST">
  <level label="a">
    <level label="1">
      <text>In addition to any other powers granted or duties imposed upon it, the Authority shall:</text>
      <level label="A">
        <text>Coordinate activities and consult with the Maryland Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="B">
        <text>Have the powers and duties set forth in this Section.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>In consultation with the Maryland Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority, the Authority may adopt any rule or regulation necessary to carry out its powers and duties.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>The Authority may delegate to one or more of its members, or to one or more of its officers, agents and employees, such powers and duties as it may deem proper.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>The Authority may:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Adopt an official seal;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Maintain an office at the place or places it may designate;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Participate in legal proceedings in the name of the Authority; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>Sue and be sued in its own name, plead and be impleaded.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>The Authority may establish criteria for and guidelines encompassing the types of and qualifications for education loan financing programs which shall include the criteria for determining whether an educational institution qualifies as an "institution" within the meaning of this Subtitle, whether an institution is located within the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area, whether an institution or group of institutions has or reasonably can be expected to have, if approved for participation in a program of the Authority, a substantial number of residents of the County as full-time students, and those eligibility standards for borrowers that the Authority determines may be necessary or desirable to effectuate the purposes of this Subtitle and which shall include provisions that each student have a certificate of admission or enrollment at a participating institution, that each student be a resident of Prince George's County, that each borrower satisfy the financial qualifications that the Authority establishes and that each student and each borrower submit to the participating institution information that may be required by the Authority. In establishing criteria for the determination of County residency the Authority may utilize the criteria established by the University of Maryland for the determination of residency, as applicable, or may establish such other or additional criteria as are consistent with law.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <text>The Authority may contract with financial institutions and other organizations determined by the Authority to be qualified to provide loan origination and servicing services to provide assistance in prequalifying borrowers for education loans and for servicing and administering education loans and any lending institution's loan series portfolio. Any education loan fee may include a portion to cover the cost of any servicing organization's assistance prorated on a basis deemed fair by the Authority.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>To insure the marketability of its bonds and the adequacy of the security for the payment of the principal of and interest on its bonds, the Authority may consult with the Maryland Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority to establish criteria governing:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>The eligibility of any institution to participate in its program as a participating institution or lending institution;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The eligibility of any institution affiliate to participate in its program as a lending institution;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>The eligibility of students to participate in its program;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>The making of Authority loans and education loans;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="5">
      <text>Provisions for default;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="6">
      <text>The establishment of default reserve funds;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="7">
      <text>The purchase of default insurance; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="8">
      <text>Provisions for the establishment of prudent debt service reserves and for the furnishing by lending institutions or participating institutions of such additional guarantees of or other security for education loans, Authority loans, or the Authority's bonds.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="f">
    <level label="1">
      <text>The Authority may establish limitations on the principal amounts and the terms of education loans, criteria regarding the qualifications and characteristics of borrowers, and procedures for allocating Authority loans and education loans among participating institutions and lending institutions.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Any person who knowingly and willfully falsifies or conceals a material fact in connection with an application for funds from the Authority is guilty of a misdemeanor.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Each applicant for funds from the Authority shall receive notice from the Authority of the conduct that constitutes a violation of this Section prior to the awarding of any loan.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>A person convicted under this Section is subject to a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) or imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="g">
    <text>The Authority may:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Issue bonds for any of its corporate purposes and borrow funds as working capital for its operations;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Fix, revise, charge and collect rates, fees and charges for the services furnished or to be furnished by the Authority and contract with any person, including financial institutions, loan originators, servicers, administrators, issuers of letters of credit, and insurers;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Employ consultants, attorneys, accountants, financial experts, loan processors, bankers, managers, and other employees and agents as may be necessary in its judgment, and fix their compensation;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>Establish regulations, criteria or guidelines with respect to Authority loans, education loans and education loans series portfolios;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="5">
      <text>Receive and accept from any source and in any form, loans, appropriations, contributions, gifts, or grants for or in aid of any Authority purpose or education loan financing program and, when required, use the funds, property or labor only for the purpose for which it was provided;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="6">
      <text>Make Authority loans to lending institutions and require that the proceeds of the loans be used for making education loans and paying related loan costs and fees;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="7">
      <text>Make education loans to borrowers and require that the proceeds of the loans be used for the payment of the cost of attendance at a participating institution;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="8">
      <text>Charge to and apportion among borrowers, lending institutions and participating institutions its administrative and operating costs and expenses incurred in the exercise of its powers and duties; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="9">
      <text>Do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out its corporate purposes and in such manner and upon such procedures as the Authority may in its discretion from time to time determine or prescribe.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="h">
    <text>Notwithstanding any other provision contained in this Subtitle, the Authority may commingle and pledge as security for a series or issue of bonds:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>The education loans to be made from the proceeds of such issue, including the education loan series portfolios and some or all future education loan series portfolios of the lending institutions; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The loan funding deposits of lending institutions or participating institutions if education loan series portfolios and other security and moneys set aside in any fund or funds pledged for any series or issue of bonds are held for the sole benefit of the series or issue separate and apart from education loan series portfolios and other security and moneys pledged for any other series or issue of bonds of the Authority.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="i">
    <text>The Authority may:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Examine records and financial reports of participating institutions and lending institutions; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Examine records and financial reports of any contractor organization or institution retained by the Authority.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="j">
    <text>The Authority shall require that:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Authority loans to lending institutions be used solely to make education loans;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Participating institutions require each borrower under an education loan use the proceeds solely for the cost of attendance; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Each borrower certify that proceeds shall be used solely for the cost of attendance.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
