cross posted with politics

http://kxan.com/2015/05/02/senate-bill-could-trim-benefits-for-texas-veterans/

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Texas veterans are battling a bill that would trim their benefits. Since 1923, the Hazlewood Act has provided educational benefits to qualified veterans. A "legacy provision" in 2009 allowed them to pass unused credit hours to their kids, but that has resulted in lost revenue for state schools.

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Proposed by Sen. Brian Birdwell, the measure would require six years of service for a veteran to be eligible to pass hours along to their children, and implement a 15-year time limit on use of the exemption from the veteran's end of time in service. It also reduces the number of hours a veteran may pass to their children from 120 to 60, limits the use of the Hazlewood exemption undergraduate programs for legacies and requires veterans and legacies to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

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On the Senate floor as we speak.

Thank you for posting this. I was unaware of any legislation against the Hazlewood.

I don't understand how the Hazlewood is producing that much "debt". I was under the impression that no money exchanges hands for tuition but student service fees, books, and other non-tuition expenses are still to be paid.

That is correct. Schools are complaining about lost revenue...tuition only.

Have they given any real numbers?

I know this is not a new thing and even Bob Gates was worried about it when he was President. But I have yet to see any real numbers on what the schools are loosing in tuition cost.

The problem is the recent change allowing benefits to extend to dependents. Most vets who wouldn't have used it are now letting their kids use it and costs have skyrocketed. Combine this with a recent court ruling extending the benefits to non-Texans at the time of enlistment and you have universities crapping bricks.

nevermind

The dependent thing didn't make sense so I did some more digging for myself (and my children).

Earlier this year they changed the parameters of eligible recipients to include all Texas residents, not just residents of Texas who joined the military as Texans. That dramatically increases the amount of people using the act and creates new issues that need adaptation.

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The dependent thing didn't make sense so I did some more digging for myself (and my children).

Earlier this year they changed the parameters of eligible recipients to include all Texas residents, not just residents of Texas who joined the military as Texans. That dramatically increases the amount of people using the act and creates new issues that need adaptation.

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By "they" you mean a judge who sided with one veteran who ruined it for everybody.

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quote:

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The dependent thing didn't make sense so I did some more digging for myself (and my children).

Earlier this year they changed the parameters of eligible recipients to include all Texas residents, not just residents of Texas who joined the military as Texans. That dramatically increases the amount of people using the act and creates new issues that need adaptation.

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By "they" you mean a judge who sided with one veteran who ruined it for everybody.

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Yeah, I think it only applies to that one case at the university of Houston. However, there is worry that the ruling could expand to include every veteran. Also, I've been hearing complaints for some time about how hazel wood was an unfunded mandate. Here's what dr Loftin had to say a few years ago

http://www.theeagle.com/news/a_m/r-bowen-loftin-free-veteran-tuition-a-big-burden-on/article_6abba834-dffd-5ce4-9aa2-5c6326c533d7.html?mode=jqm

Good intentions gone awry !

It is not too late to stop the damage done to the Hazelwood Act. It needs to be passed by the House. Please contact your State Representative.

As far as numbers, the University of Texas-Austin has 1,034 students receiving benefits from the Hazelwood Act yet they say they are losing over 4 million dollars. Those numbers don't add up. I do not know the number at Texas A&M.

IMHO this is an attack on veterans by higher education.

And remember Senator Brian Birdwell (R) Grandbury, (Lamar University grad) for this atrocity on veterans on election day.

The Hazelwood Act has been providing Texas veterans with college benefits for decades. The ability to pass benefits to our kids (the Legacy provision) was just added a few years ago. I'm hoping they keep it around so my kids can take advantage, but it's not like the Legacy provisions are a longstanding contract we relied on. If the legacy provision is reduced it isn't a slap in the face to vets or anything. It's simply a return to the status quo.

Senator Birdwell is a veteran (http://www.birdwell.senate.state.tx.us/), so it's not like this is coming from someone who's never worn the uniform. Obviously, the senior leadership of some higher education institutions have his ear on this matter.

I agree w/AgLaw02, appears to be trying to return it to the way it was. I don't know about the financial impact to higher education, but if UT-Austin has 1,034 students utilizing Hazlewood benefits, I would imagine that A&M CStat has that many, if not more. Then you need to look at it from a System-wide standpoint across all campuses (A&M CC, Commerce, Stephenville, etc) and the impact gets bigger.

But....my opinion is that it's difficult to take this benefit away (i.e. put the cat back in the bag). When lawmakers (or their predecessors) passed the original law allowing a veteran to pass it on to a dependent, wasn't there an analysis performed by some accountant-type person as to the cost of said action?

- Can it be pulled back? - Yes
- Is it a good idea, from a political standpoint? No; you're pissing off more people than it keeps happy.
- Will the A&Ms, UTs, etc go broke because of it? No; maybe you need to cut back in other areas of operations (I got some ideas - waiting for the new President of A&M to call me......)