The Hazlewood Act is a State of Texas tuition exemption created to provide education benefits to honorably discharged or separated Texas veterans and to eligible dependent children and spouses of Texas veterans.
While veterans and dependents using VA federal education benefits CAN use Hazlewood concurrently, with Chapter 33 and Chapter 31, the value of the two combined cannot exceed the student's tuition and fees.
The 83rd Texas Legislative Session authorized new provisions which are effective May 2016.
Eligibility requirements for Veterans are as follows:
- Texas residents at the time of entry into the U.S. Armed Forces, or
- Designated Texas as their Home of Record, or
- Entered the service in Texas
- maintain a financial aid GPA of at least a 2.0 (Financial Aid GPA includes grades from
developmental courses), and
- cannot be reported by the institution as being in access hours according to Education Code
54.014.
SAP is run at the end of EACH semester.
Note: Chapter 33 and 31 Veterans who are eligible for Hazlewood can use Hazlewood to "stack" on top of their 33/31 benefits to pay any remainder of tuition and fees ONLY not paid by Chapter 33/31 benefits.
Eligibility requirements for Children and Spouses of Veterans who are 100% disabled for
reasons of employability:
- A Texas resident at the time of entry into the U.S. Armed Forces, or
- Designated Texas as their Home of Record, or
- Entered the service in Texas, and
- Received an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions, and
- Is rated by the VA as 100% disabled for reasons of employability
The child or spouse :
- maintain a financial aid GPA of at least a 2.0 (Financial Aid GPA includes grades from
developmental courses), and
- cannot be reported by the institution as being in excessive hours according to Education
Code 54.014.
SAP is run at the end of EACH semester.
Note: Chapter 33 Dependents who are eligible for Hazlewood can use Hazlewood to "stack" on top of their 33 benefits to pay any remainder of tuition and fees ONLY not paid by Chapter 33 benefits.
The benefit may not be used for correspondence courses unless the courses are part of the student's degree plan.
Eligibility requirements for Children and Spouses of Veterans who are MIA, KIA, or died of a service-related illness or injury
- A Texas resident at the time of entry into the U.S. Armed Forces, or
- Designated Texas as their Home of Record, or
- Entered the service in Texas, and
- Was a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, Texas National Guard, or Texas Air National Guard
who was killed in action (KIA), missing in action (MIA), died in service or whose death is
documented to be a direct result of injuries or illness connected with service in the armed
forces.
The child or spouse :
Note: Chapter 33 Dependents who are eligible for Hazlewood can use Hazlewood to "stack" on top of their 33 benefits to pay any remainder of tuition and fees ONLY not paid by Chapter 33 benefits.
The benefit may not be used for correspondence courses unless the courses are part of the student's degree plan.
This category of Hazlewood students (and only this category) are exempt from the SAP rules.
Transferability of Benefits (Legacy Program)
Eligible veterans (see above for veteran eligibility requirements) may assign unused hours of exemption eligibility to a child under certain conditions. To be eligible, the child must:
- maintain a financial aid GPA of at least a 2.0 (Financial Aid GPA includes grades from
developmental courses), and
- cannot be reported by the institution as being in excessive hours according to Education
Code 54.014.
Note: Chapter 33 Veterans who are eligible for Hazlewood can use Hazlewood to "stack" on top of their 33 benefits to pay any remainder of tuition and fees ONLY not paid by Chapter 33 benefits.
Veterans who transfer benefits to an eligible dependent must reside in Texas during the semester or term for which the exemption is claimed.
If a child to whom hours have been delegated fails to use all of the assigned hours, a veteran may
re-assign the unused hours that are available to another dependent child. Only 1 person may use benefits at a time. All parties only have 150 hours between them, not each.
Veteran's spouses are not eligible to receive a transfer of unused hours.
Award Amount
Eligible veterans, their children and spouses may receive an exemption from the payment of tuition, dues and fees, excluding deposit fees, student services fees, and any fees or charges for books, lodging, board or clothing for *up to 150 semester credit hours. (*Cannot go over max. hours at the institution).
Important: Please check with the cashier's office after Hazlewood posts each semester to pay the student services fee. If you do not pay this fee, you could be dropped for non-payment.
Application Process
1) To apply for Hazlewood benefits, or to transfer unused hours to an eligible child, students must
complete the following:
- The Term and Year must be filled in
- Sections labeled, "I am applying as:" and, "I am:" must be filled in
- Parts A, C and D; all spaces must be completed
- Form must be signed and dated
Note: Chapter 33 students MUST be enrolled at the time they submit their application because
we have to calculate what percentage of tuition and fees the Hazlewood exemption will pay for.
Any other category (non-Chapter 33) students do NOT have to be enrolled to submit
application.
- The Term and Year must be filled in
- Sections labeled, "I am applying as:" and, "I am:" must be filled in
- Parts A (with the exception of veteran's ID number and the address, phone and
email IF the veteran is deceased), B, C and D; all spaces must be completed
- Form must be signed and dated (does NOT need veteran's signature)
Note: Chapter 33 students MUST be enrolled at the time they submit their application because
we have to calculate what percentage of tuition and fees the Hazlewood exemption will pay
for.
Any other category (non-Chapter 33) students do NOT have to be enrolled to submit
application.
- The Term and Year must be filled in
- Sections labeled, "I am applying as:" and, "I am:" must be filled in
- Parts A (with the exception of veteran's ID number), B, C, D and E; all spaces
must be completed
- Form must be signed and dated by BOTH parties (student and veteran)
Note: Chapter 33 students MUST be enrolled at the time they submit their application because
we have to calculate what percentage of tuition and fees the Hazlewood exemption will pay
for.
Any other category (non-Chapter 33) students do NOT have to be enrolled to submit
application.
2) AND provide the following:
For All Hazlewood Exemption Students
Renewal Each Semester: All students must apply for Hazlewood each semester they intend to use the tuition exemption.
For the renewal application, click here.
Note on SAP: Please realize that each subsequent semester, your exemption MAY be posted prior
to SAP running for that semester. If, upon the SAP program running, you are NOT meeting the SAP requirements, the exemption will be removed from your account and you will be responsible for paying your tuition and fees out-of-pocket.
Submitting in a Timely Fashion: Please realize that the Hazlewood Exemption takes time to process, especially with all the changes. Please submit your application as early as possible to prevent delays. If you submit your application a day or two or even a week before payment deadline, we cannot guarantee it will be posted to your account in time to hold your classes.
Hazlewood Hours Account:
To create an account for your Hazlewood benefits, or to log in to your account to obtain your hours used,
go here: https://hazlewood.tvc.texas.gov/students/
NEW! - Beginning May 2016
Please note that beginning May 2016, students using Hazlewood for (forumula funded) Continuing Education classes will have those hours count against their 150 hour total. Prior to this date, CE classes were not counted against the Hazlewood maximum. Beginning in May 2016, these hours WILL NOW COUNT against the total number of hours available.
Reporting of Courses Measured in CEUs.
(1) Courses exempted under this subchapter that are measured in CEUs shall be reported to the Commission after conversion to semester credit hours.
(2) Based on the definitions of this subchapter and by the course instruction criteria listed in 19 Texas Administrative Code §4.6(a), the conversion ratio of CEUs to semester credit hours shall be one (1) CEU equaling 0.625 semester credit hours.
(3) When reporting the converted hours to the Commission, institutions shall round any fraction of a semester credit hour up to the nearest whole number.
Legislature:
To see the actual Hazlewood Act rules effective May 2016, click here.