The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has approved up to $90 million over three years to help system universities absorb costs associated with the state’s Hazlewood Act. The funding includes Texas A&M University-Central Texas in Killeen.
Beginning with the 2026-27 academic year, as much as $30 million per year will come from the Available University Fund. The money is intended to replace tuition and required-fee revenue that universities do not collect when they educate veterans who qualify for Hazlewood benefits.
The initiative is designed to provide additional support to regional universities, where unreimbursed exemptions can represent a larger portion of available operating and tuition revenue. Board Chairman Robert L. Albritton said the system wants to maintain the benefit for veterans without weakening campuses that serve veterans and military families.
Hazlewood offers eligible Texas veterans a tuition exemption covering as many as 150 semester credit hours, along with most required fees, at public colleges and universities. Under the Hazlewood Legacy program, qualifying veterans can pass unused hours to an eligible child. Certain spouses and dependent children of veterans who are disabled, missing or killed because of military service may also qualify.
Fiscal 2025 figures showed that state funding covered about 67% of the expense tied to exemptions transferred to children through the Legacy program. Universities did not receive reimbursement for exemptions used directly by veterans and had to cover those costs themselves.
