Hazlewood Exemption

Program Purpose

The purpose of the Hazlewood Exemption (Hazlewood Act) is to provide an education benefit to honorably discharged or separated Texas veterans and to eligible dependent children and spouses of Texas veterans.

SB 639 (82nd Texas Legislative, Regular) authorized new provisions that are effective with tuition and fee charges for Fall 2011. See New provisions below.

Eligibility Requirements

Veterans

At the time of entry into the U.S. Armed Forces, eligible veterans:

• Were Texas residents,
• Designated Texas as Home of Record, or
• Entered the service in Texas.

Veteran must:

• Have served at least 181 days of active military duty, excluding training, as indicated as "net active service" (the sum of 12(c) and 12(d)) on the DD214),
• Have received an honorable discharge or separation or a general discharge under honorable conditions,
• Have no federal veteran's education benefits or have federal veteran's education benefits dedicated to the payment of tuition and fees only (such as Chapter 33 or 31; Pell and SEOG are not relevant) for term or semester enrolled that do not exceed the value of Hazlewood benefits,
• Not be in default on a student loan made or guaranteed by the State of Texas, and
• Enroll in classes for which the college receives tax support (i.e., a course that does not depend solely on student tuition and fees to cover its costs) unless the college's governing board has ruled to let veterans receive the benefit while taking non-funded courses.

New: Beginning Fall 2011, veterans who are granted their first Hazlewood Exemption must reside in Texas during the semester or term for which the exemption is claimed. This requirement does not apply to veterans who received the exemption prior to the 2011-2012 academic year.

Children and Spouses

At the time of entry into the U.S. Armed Forces, eligible children and spouses of veterans:

• Were Texas residents,
• Designated Texas as Home of Record, or
• Entered the service in Texas.

Children and spouses of veteran must:

• Have a parent or be the spouse of a veteran of the U. S. Armed Forces, Texas National Guard or Texas Air National Guard who died as a result of service-related injuries or illness, is missing in action, or became totally disabled for purposes of employability as a result of service-related injury or illness,
• Have no federal veteran's education benefits or have federal veteran's education benefits dedicated to the payment of tuition and fees only (such as Chapter 33 or 31; Pell and SEOG Grants are not relevant) for the term or semester enrolled that do not exceed the value of Hazlewood benefits, and
• Be residents of Texas as of the term or semester in which they enroll.

New: Beginning Fall 2011, eligible children who receive the Hazlewood Exemption must be 25 years of age or younger on the first day of the semester or term for which the exemption is claimed (unless granted an extension due to a qualifying illness or debilitating condition). This requirement does not apply to children who received the exemption prior to the 2011-2012 academic year.

The benefit may not be used for correspondence courses unless the courses are part of the student's degree plan.

Transferability of Benefits (Legacy Program)

Eligible veterans may assign unused hours of exemption eligibility to a child under certain conditions.

To be eligible, the child must:

• Be a Texas resident,
• Be the biological child, stepchild, adopted child, or claimed as a dependent in the current or previous tax year,
• Be 25 years or younger on the first day of the semester or term for which the exemption is claimed (unless granted an extension due to a qualifying illness or debilitating condition), and
• Make satisfactory academic progress in a degree, certificate, or continuing education program** as determined by the institution.

If a child to whom hours have been delegated fails to use all of the assigned hours, a veteran may reassign the unused hours that are available to another dependent child.

Veterans' spouses are not eligible to receive a transfer of unused hours.

New: Effective with tuition and fee charges Fall 2011, a veteran's spouse or a child's guardian, conservator, custodian, or other legally designated caretaker may reassign unused hours to an eligible child (through Legacy) on behalf of the veteran if the veteran died prior to requesting the transfer of hours.

Award Amount

Eligible veterans, their children and their spouses may receive an exemption from the payment of all tuition, dues, fees and other required charges, including fees for correspondence courses, but excluding deposit fees, student service fees and any fees or charges for books, lodging, board or clothing for up to 150 semester credit hours.

Awards may not be used to pay tuition and relevant fees for continuing education classes unless one of the following applies:

1. The college receives state tax support for the classes, or
2. The governing board has specifically approved this benefit.

Learn how to apply for Hazlewood benefits.

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