Texas Hazlewood Act Exemption Application (TVC-ED-1): Eligibility and Filing Steps

To apply for the Texas Hazlewood Act tuition exemption, submit Form TVC-ED-1 along with your supporting documents to the financial aid or veterans affairs office at the Texas public college or university you’re attending. The form goes to your school, not to the Texas Veterans Commission, and it needs to be in before your institution’s internal deadline for the semester you want covered. Approval hinges on three things: confirming you meet the eligibility rules, gathering the right paperwork, and completing every field on the form accurately.

Confirm You Qualify Before You Start

Hazlewood has three separate tracks, and the one that fits you determines what you’ll need to prove.

Veterans

To qualify as a veteran, you must meet all of the following:

At least 181 days of active duty service, not counting training time
Honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions
At the time you entered active duty, you designated Texas as your Home of Record, entered service in Texas, or were a Texas resident
No federal veterans education benefits dedicated to tuition and fees that exceed the value of the Hazlewood exemption for the semester you’re enrolling in (this mainly involves Chapter 33 Post-9/11 GI Bill and Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation)
Current classification as a Texas resident by your institution
Not in default on any student loan made or guaranteed by the State of Texas
Enrollment in classes the college receives state tax support for, unless the governing board waives that rule

The Texas-at-entry rule is where applicants most often fall out. Your DD-214 shows your Home of Record and where you entered service. If you moved to Texas after enlisting, you won’t qualify as the veteran yourself.

Spouses and Dependent Children

A spouse or dependent child doesn’t automatically inherit eligibility from a qualifying veteran. The veteran must also fall into one of these categories: died as a result of service-related injuries or illness; rated by the VA as 100% totally and permanently disabled, or meeting individual unemployability criteria, due to a service-related condition; or classified as missing in action or killed in action.

When the veteran meets one of those conditions, each qualifying spouse and dependent child gets their own 150 hours, separate from the veteran’s. There is no age limit under this provision. The standard rules on Texas residency, no state loan default, satisfactory academic progress, and federal benefit overlap still apply.

Legacy Children

The Hazlewood Legacy Act is a different pathway. An eligible veteran without a service-connected disability can assign unused hours from their own 150-hour allotment to a child. The restrictions are stricter than the standard benefit:

Only one Legacy child can use transferred hours at any given time
Total hours assigned across all children cannot exceed 150, drawn from the veteran’s own allotment
A Legacy child must stop using the benefit at age 26
Unused hours can be revoked and reassigned to another child using the TVC’s Revocation of Previously Assigned Hours form

Gather Your Documents

Missing a document is the fastest way to blow past your school’s tuition deadline. Assemble the full packet before you start the form.

If You’re the Veteran

Your DD-214, Member 4 or Service 2 copy, which shows character of service, dates of service, place of entry, and Home of Record. For service that predates the DD-214, older separation forms such as WD AGO 53 and NAVPERS-553 are accepted. If your original is lost or destroyed, a National Archives certification (NA Form 13038) can substitute, but only with written verification from the National Archives that the original is gone.
A certificate of eligibility for federal education benefits, requested from VA.gov. Anyone who served on active duty after September 11, 2001 must supply this, even if no GI Bill entitlement remains. The certificate documents that fact.
Proof you’re not in default on a state-guaranteed student loan.

If You’re a Spouse or Dependent

You’ll need everything the veteran would need, plus:

Proof of the veteran’s qualifying status: a DD Form 1300 (Report of Casualty) for service-related death, or a VA rating decision letter for total and permanent disability
Proof of relationship: birth certificate, adoption certificate, marriage certificate, or a federal income tax return showing the relationship
The veteran’s DD-214, to verify the Texas connection at entry
A certificate of eligibility for federal education benefits if the veteran served after September 11, 2001

Male applicants should confirm Selective Service registration, since some institutions require it for state financial aid compliance.

Register in the Hazlewood Database

Before you submit, create an account in the Texas Veterans Commission’s Hazlewood Database. Registration is required to apply. The database doesn’t confirm eligibility by itself, but it tracks how many of your 150 hours have been used across all Texas public institutions, and it gives your school a way to verify your remaining balance.

Fill Out Form TVC-ED-1

TVC-ED-1 is the application every first-time Hazlewood user files, whether veteran, spouse, dependent, or Legacy child. There is no separate form for dependents. Download it from the Texas Veterans Commission’s Hazlewood page.

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Near the top you’ll check one of two boxes: first-time applicant, or previous recipient who has already used hours at an institution. Returning applicants need to account for hours already consumed.

Enter the veteran’s service dates exactly as they appear on the DD-214, down to the day. Any mismatch will get flagged during the school’s verification. Spouses and dependents identify their relationship to the veteran and provide the veteran’s information so the school can cross-reference the Hazlewood Database. Legacy children should pay close attention to the sections covering the veteran’s assignment of hours.

The form also asks which Texas public institution you’re enrolling at and which semester you’re applying for, because the exemption is processed term by term.

Sign every signature line. Schools report that missing signatures are the most common reason for administrative holds. The form functions as a binding statement that you meet all eligibility requirements, so an unsigned application won’t be processed.

Submit to Your School, Not to TVC

Send the completed packet to the financial aid or veterans affairs office at your college or university. The Texas Veterans Commission maintains the forms and the database, but your institution reviews the application, verifies your documents, and applies the exemption to your tuition bill.

Most schools accept digital uploads through a student portal. Some smaller campuses still take physical copies or secure email. Whichever method your school uses, submit early. Texas Administrative Code technically allows submission up to the last class date of the semester, but treating that as your target invites trouble. Your school needs time to review the packet, verify your DD-214 and database records, and adjust your bill before the payment deadline. Several weeks before classes start is a safer window.

What the Exemption Pays For

Hazlewood exempts you from tuition and most mandatory fees at Texas public colleges and universities, including standard lab fees and course-specific charges built in as institutional fees. Credit-by-examination fees are covered as well, since the statute refers to “all dues, fees, and charges.”

It does not cover books, supplies, living expenses, property deposits, or student services fees. Programs with extraordinary fees, such as flight training or diesel mechanics, may charge amounts the governing board sets outside the exemption, so Hazlewood won’t fully zero those out. Teacher certification fees paid directly to the State Board for Educator Certification also fall outside the benefit. Plan to cover these costs another way.

How Federal Benefits Interact

For any given semester, you cannot use federal veterans education benefits dedicated to tuition and fees if those benefits exceed the value of the Hazlewood exemption for that semester. In practice, most veterans need to exhaust or decline Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) or Vocational Rehabilitation (Chapter 31) benefits before Hazlewood applies for that term.

The post-9/11 certificate of eligibility from VA.gov is required either way. Even if you’ve used all your federal entitlement, the school needs the certificate to confirm that fact.

Reapplying for the Next Semester

Once you’ve been approved at a school and you continue enrolling there without a break, you don’t submit the full TVC-ED-1 again. File Form TVC-ED-2, the Application for Continued Enrollment. It certifies that you still meet all the requirements from your initial application.

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TVC-ED-2 only covers continuous enrollment at the same institution. Take a semester off, or transfer, and you start over with a full TVC-ED-1 and all the supporting documents.

Keeping the Exemption After Approval

The exemption continues only if you meet your institution’s Satisfactory Academic Progress standards. Those typically require a minimum cumulative GPA, generally 2.0 for undergraduates and 3.0 for graduate students, and a course completion rate around 67% of attempted hours. You also cannot have attempted an excessive number of credit hours, generally more than 30 hours beyond what your degree program requires.

Fall below those standards after a full academic year (fall and spring) and you’re placed on probation. You can still use Hazlewood during probation. Continue missing the standards while on probation and the exemption is suspended. You then either pay out of pocket and re-enroll until you meet SAP again, or file a Hazlewood appeal with your school’s financial aid office. Appeals are typically granted for circumstances like illness, injury, or a death in the family.

The 150-hour lifetime cap runs cumulatively across every Texas public institution you attend, and the Hazlewood Database tracks it. Dropped courses and repeats still consume hours. Once you’ve used all 150, the benefit is gone.

1
Texas Veterans Commission. Hazlewood Act
2
Cornell Law Institute. Texas Code 40 Tex. Admin. Code 461.90 – Supporting Documentation for the Hazlewood Act Exemption Application
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Texas Veterans Commission. Hazlewood Act Application Form
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Texas Veterans Commission. Texas Hazlewood Act Exemption Application
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Texas Veterans Commission. Texas Hazlewood Act Exemption Application For Continued Enrollment