As soon as the income of the university interest fund will admit, it shall be the duty of the board of regents to organize and establish branches of the university, 1 at least, in each judicial circuit or district of the state, and to establish all needful rules and regulations for the government of the same. They shall not give to any such branch the right of confering degrees, nor appropriate a sum exceeding 1,500 dollars, in any 1 year, for the support of any such branch.
MCL 390.18