What Texas Schools Accept the Hazlewood Act?

Every public college and university in Texas accepts the Hazlewood Act. That includes all public senior universities, every community and junior college district, the public technical colleges, and the state’s medical and dental units. Private universities, for-profit career schools, and out-of-state institutions do not participate, regardless of whether they have a Texas address or accept federal GI Bill payments.¹

What Counts as a Participating School

The Hazlewood exemption is tied to the statutory term “institution of higher education” under Texas law. That definition covers public senior universities, public junior and community colleges, public technical institutes including the Texas State Technical College System and Lamar Institute of Technology, public medical and dental units, and public state colleges.²

In practical terms, that reaches every campus in the University of Texas System, every Texas A&M System school, every community college district across the state, and the Texas State Technical College campuses. If the institution receives legislative appropriations and is governed by a state-appointed board, the Hazlewood mandate applies to it.

Schools That Do Not Participate

Private universities in Texas are not part of the program. Neither are for-profit career schools or trade schools that operate without state appropriations. Out-of-state institutions are excluded as well, even for Texas-resident veterans studying remotely. The benefit is a Texas state tuition waiver, and only Texas public institutions are required or authorized to grant it.

One distinction trips up a lot of applicants: a school accepting federal VA education payments is not the same as a school participating in Hazlewood. A private Texas university may happily process your Post-9/11 GI Bill, but it cannot waive its tuition under the Hazlewood Act. If tuition coverage from Hazlewood is central to your plan, your choices are limited to the public system.

Courses the Benefit Reaches

Participation is school-wide, but the exemption itself applies only to courses that receive state tax support, meaning courses funded at least partly by legislative appropriations rather than solely by student tuition.¹ Most degree-program courses meet this standard.

Continuing education classes that receive no formula funding are a different story. Institutions are not required to extend the exemption to those non-funded courses, though some choose to do so. Before enrolling in a continuing education or self-supporting program at an otherwise participating school, confirm with the veterans affairs office that the specific course is covered.

What the School Will Actually Waive

At a participating school, the exemption waives tuition, dues, fees, and most other required charges, including correspondence course fees, for up to 150 credit hours.² Several charges sit outside the waiver and remain the student’s responsibility:

Student services fees, which the statute specifically excludes and which can run several hundred dollars per semester at larger universities
General deposit fees charged at enrollment
Room, board, and clothing
Books, supplies, and parking

So “accepting Hazlewood” at a public university does not translate into a zero bill. It covers the tuition line and most mandatory fees. Living costs and course materials still come out of your pocket or another aid source.

Using Hazlewood Alongside the GI Bill

Public Texas schools administer Hazlewood in combination with federal VA education benefits. Texas does not require you to exhaust federal benefits first.¹ You can use both in the same semester, but the combined amount cannot exceed your total tuition and fees. In practice, Hazlewood fills the gap left after the federal benefit pays its share.

There is one limit. If your Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) or Vocational Rehabilitation (Chapter 31) tuition payment already equals or exceeds the value of the Hazlewood exemption for that semester, you cannot stack Hazlewood on top. Federal benefits that are not dedicated solely to tuition and fees, such as the Montgomery GI Bill housing stipend, do not block Hazlewood eligibility.

Veterans with active-duty service after September 11, 2001, must provide a VA Certificate of Eligibility showing their federal benefit type, payment amounts, and remaining entitlement.¹ The school needs this document to calculate whether Hazlewood applies and for how much.

Confirming a School Participates and Applying

Because participation is defined by statute rather than by individual school opt-in, you can confirm a Texas school is covered by asking a single question: is it a public institution? If the answer is yes, Hazlewood applies there. The Texas Veterans Commission maintains program information and the central database used across institutions, but the school’s own veterans affairs office or financial aid office processes applications and makes eligibility determinations.¹

To apply at your chosen school, you will generally need:

Your DD-214, which verifies service dates, home of record, place of entry, discharge status, and branch of service
The TVC-ED-1 initial application form for first-time applicants, or the TVC-ED-2 continuation form if you have used Hazlewood at the same school before
An account in the Texas Veterans Commission’s online Hazlewood database, which tracks hours used across every institution you attend
A VA Certificate of Eligibility if you served on active duty after September 11, 2001

Every detail on the TVC forms must match your DD-214 exactly. Mismatched dates, misspelled names, and incorrect service branches are the most common reasons applications get kicked back. Some schools accept electronic uploads through a secure portal; others require paper submissions. The administrative code gives you until the last day of classes for the semester to file, but processing can take several weeks to 45 business days or longer during high-volume periods, so file well before any payment deadline.³

Keeping the Benefit Once You Enroll

Every participating school requires you to meet its satisfactory academic progress standards to continue receiving the exemption. Those standards are set by each institution’s financial aid office rather than by a single statewide number.⁴ That typically means a minimum GPA (often 2.0 for undergraduates, with graduate programs setting their own) and completing a reasonable percentage of attempted hours.

Undergraduates also face an excessive credit hour limit. If you accumulate too many credits beyond what your degree requires, the institution can cut off the exemption.⁴ Transfer credits that count toward your degree are included in that count. Credits earned by exam, dual-credit high school courses, and developmental coursework are excluded. Changing majors multiple times is the most common way students run into this wall. If you are approaching the limit, you can petition your institution for a good-cause exception, though approval is not guaranteed.

1
Texas Veterans Commission. Hazlewood Act
2
State of Texas. Texas Education Code 54.341 – Veterans and Other Military Personnel; Dependents
3
Cornell Law Institute. 40 Texas Administrative Code 461.40 – Veteran Eligibility
4
State of Texas. Texas Education Code 54.2001