5. a. The Legislature shall annually appropriate to the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education such funds as may be necessary for Student Success Incentive funding to provide capacity-building grants to each county college to support the goals of the Community College Opportunity Grant Program. The Secretary of Higher Education shall distribute funding made available pursuant to this section to county colleges for outreach, recruitment, and promoting the success of county college students. The secretary shall establish the purposes for which a county college may use a grant received pursuant to this section, which shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) establishing mentorship programs;

(2) hosting events to assist students and families in completing financial aid applications; and

(3) addressing students’ material hardships, such as lack of access to food, medical care, housing, child care, and transportation.

b. The secretary shall distribute the funding made available pursuant to this section. The secretary may retain up to five percent of the funding for grant administration activities designed to increase the effectiveness of the program. Fifty percent of the remaining appropriation shall be distributed equally among all of the county colleges, while the other fifty percent of the remaining appropriation shall be distributed based on the total number of students at each county college who received awards under the program during the previous academic year.

L.2021, c.26, s.5.