Section 5505 - Purposes and general powersThe authority is created for the purpose of (i) acquiring, constructing, financing, improving, maintaining and operating any educational facility; and (ii) assisting colleges in financing on a short-term basis their working capital requirements.
The authority is hereby granted and shall have and may exercise all the powers necessary or convenient for the carrying out of the aforesaid purposes, including but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following rights and powers:
(1) To have perpetual existence as a corporation;(2) To sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, complain and defend, in all courts;(3) To adopt, use and alter at will a corporate seal;(4) To acquire, purchase, hold, lease as lessee, and use any property, real, personal or mixed, tangible or intangible, any educational facility, or any interest therein, or any contract for the acquisition, construction, furnishing or equipping thereof, necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the authority, and, with respect to a college, lease as lessor, transfer, sell, grant options for, and dispose of any educational facility, property or any interest therein at any time acquired by it. Any lease to a college of any educational facility or any instrument of transfer, sale or option to a college of any educational facility hereby authorized may contain provisions, which shall be a part of the contract with the holders of the bonds of the authority issued with respect to such educational facility; (i) pledging or granting a security interest in all or any part of the present and future accounts, contract rights and general intangibles of the college, consisting of fees, rates, and other charges billed to and payable by all occupants of such educational facility, and all or any part of present and future tuition fees billed to and payable by all full-time and part-time students enrolled in such college to secure payments required under the terms of such lease or instrument; (ii) specifying or regulating the minimum rates, rentals, fees, tuitions, and other charges to be fixed and collected by the college, the amounts to be raised in each year thereby, and the use and disposition of such moneys, earnings, income and revenues, including the setting aside of reserves and the creation of special funds and the collection and disposition thereof for the protection of the authority or its bondholders; and (iii) any other matters of like or different character which may be deemed necessary or desirable for the security or protection of the authority or its bondholders. Any pledge of present and future accounts, contract rights and general intangibles hereinbefore authorized shall be valid, binding, and perfected pledges and security interests from the time when such pledge is made or such security interest granted. The accounts, contract rights and general intangibles so pledged and the moneys, earnings, income and revenues derived therefrom when thereafter received by the pledgor shall immediately be subject to the lien of such pledge or security interest without any physical delivery thereof or further act. The lien of any such pledge of security interest shall be valid and binding as against all parties claiming liens upon such accounts, contract rights and general intangibles as a result of legal or equitable proceedings based on claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the pledgor irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof. No instrument by which such pledge is created or security interest granted need be recorded or otherwise filed of record. All colleges are hereby authorized to enter into leases or other instruments containing the provisions herein authorized, anything in the charters of such colleges or in any other law to the contrary notwithstanding;(5) To acquire by purchase, lease, gift or otherwise, and to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, repair and operate projects;(5.1) To finance projects by making loans to colleges, which loans may be evidenced by, and secured as may be provided in, loan agreements, mortgages, security agreements or any other contracts, instruments or agreements, which contracts, instruments or agreements may contain such provisions as are referred to in clause (4) or such other provisions as the authority shall determine necessary or desirable for the security or protection of the authority or its bondholders. All such provisions shall be a part of the contract with the holders of the bonds of the authority issued with respect to such project, and all colleges are hereby authorized to enter into such contracts, instruments or agreements containing the provisions herein authorized, anything in the charters of such colleges or in any other law to the contrary notwithstanding;(5.2) To make short-term loans to colleges for the purpose of funding their working capital requirements, which loans may be evidenced by, and secured as may be provided in, loan agreements or similar instruments entered into by the authority and the college or colleges. Loans may be secured by a pledge of or security interest in revenues receivable by the participating college or colleges during the term of the loan and by such additional security as the authority deems necessary. For the purpose of this subsection, the term "revenues receivable" shall mean all revenues reasonably estimated to be receivable by a college during the term of the loan and shall include, without limitation, to the extent not previously received, funds appropriated for the use of the college by the Commonwealth or the Federal Government or any agency thereof, revenues estimated to be receivable under the college's current schedules of tuitions and fees and all other revenues reasonably committed to the use of the college: Provided, That such term shall not include funds receivable subject to restrictions as to use and which may not be applied to or pledged for the repayment of such loans. All provisions contained in a loan agreement or similar instrument relating to the security or protection of the authority shall be a part of the contract with the holders of the revenue anticipation notes of the authority issued with respect to such loans and all colleges are hereby authorized to enter into agreements or instruments containing such provisions, anything in the charters of such colleges or in any other law to the contrary notwithstanding;(6) To make bylaws for the management and regulation of its affairs;(7) To obtain from the State Public School Building Authority, for a fee, those executive, fiscal, and administrative services, which are not available from the college for whose use the project is being constructed or financed, as may be required to carry out functions of the authority under this act;(8) To fix, alter, charge and collect rentals and other charges in respect of any educational facility or for the services rendered by the authority, at reasonable rates to be determined by it for the purpose of providing for the payment of the expenses of the authority, not provided for otherwise, the acquisition, construction, financing, improvement, repair, equipping and furnishing, maintenance and operation of any educational facility, the payment of the principal of, and interest on, its obligations, and to fulfill the terms and provisions of any agreements made with the purchasers or holders of any such obligations;(9) To borrow money for the purpose of paying the cost of any project, make and issue negotiable notes, bonds, refunding bonds and other evidences of indebtedness or obligations (hereinafter called "bonds"), of the authority, and to secure the payment of such bonds, or any part thereof, by pledge or deed of trust of all, or any, of its revenues, rentals, receipts and contract rights, and to make such agreements with the purchasers or holders of such bonds or with others in connection with any such bonds, whether issued or to be issued as the authority shall deem advisable, and in general to provide for the security for said bonds and the rights of the holders thereof;(9.1) To borrow money for the purpose of providing short-term loans to colleges to fund their working capital requirements and paying the expenses incident to the provision of such loans, to make and issue negotiable revenue anticipation notes of the authority, and to secure the payment of such revenue anticipation notes, or any part thereof, by pledge or assignment of the income and revenues receivable by the authority under loan agreements or similar instruments entered into by the authority and the college or colleges, and to make such agreements with the purchasers or holders of such revenue anticipation notes or with others in connection with any such revenue anticipation notes, whether issued or to be issued as the authority shall deem advisable, and in general to provide for the security of such revenue anticipation notes and the rights of the holders thereof;(10) To invest moneys not required for current expenditures, pending such expenditures, in any securities eligible for the investment of funds in the Commonwealth;(11) To make contracts of every name and nature, and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient for the carrying on of its business;(12) Without limitation of the foregoing, to borrow money, and accept grants from, and to enter into contracts, leases or other transactions with, any Federal or other governmental agency;(13) To pledge, hypothecate or otherwise encumber, all or any of the revenues, receipts or contract rights, of the authority as security for all, or any of, the obligations of the authority;(14) Notwithstanding any other provisions contained in this act, to combine for financing purposes, with the consent of all colleges involved, the project or the projects and some or all future projects of any two or more colleges, and to provide reserves, out of lease rentals or other funds made available for the purpose, for debt service, maintenance, repairs and replacements and to combine, with the consent of all colleges involved, separately secured financings of working capital of two or more colleges;(15) To do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers granted to it by this act or any other acts: Provided, however, That the authority shall have no power, at any time or in any manner, to pledge the credit or taxing power of the Commonwealth, nor shall any of its obligations or debts be deemed to be obligations of the Commonwealth, nor shall the Commonwealth be liable for the payment of principal or interest on such obligations.1967, Dec. 6, P.L. 678, § 5. Amended 1970, Nov. 25, P.L. 730, No. 235, §1; 1984 , March 23, P.L. 145, No. 27, § 2, imd. effective; 1984, Oct. 12, P.L. 948, No. 185, § 3, imd. effective.