Expert Answers to Your GI Bill Benefits Questions Topic: Hazelwood Act

According to the Hazelwood Act Rules of Eligibility, for you to qualify, you would have to:

• have been a Texas resident upon entry into the military, entered into active federal duty in the State of Texas, or declared Texas as your home of record at the time of entry into the armed forces as documented on your DD Form 214;
• have a military discharge of honorable or general, under honorable conditions;
• served at least 181 days of active duty service (excluding training);
• not be in default on an education loan made or guaranteed by the State of Texas and not in default on a federal loan if that default is the reason you cannot use your federal veterans’ benefits.

So if you meet these qualifications, and it sounds like you do at least for the first three listed (I have no way of knowing about the last bullet that talks about loan defaults), then you should qualify for the 150 hours.

Your daughter has to be a Texas resident under the age of 25 and claimed as a dependent in the current or previous tax year to be eligible to use the Hazelwood Act benefits you transferred to her.

So to get the process started, you as the sponsor holding the Post 9/11 GI Bill, have to fill out Sections A, C and D of the HE-V Application Packet for Veterans. Your daughter has to fill out the HE-D packet on the same website. To keep things simple send both packets together along with a copy of your DD 214.

You also have to provide your eligibility for the Post 9/11 GI Bill and your daughter proof she does not qualify for the Post 9/11 GI Bill by both of you requesting letters from the VA Office in Muskogee, OK. Once you have your letters. DD214 and packets filled out, she just has to wait and hear back. Good luck!

Sam, I think you are confusing the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) and the Hazelwood Act – they are two separate programs that can be used together or alone. To qualify, for the Hazelwood Act benefits, you have to

• Have been a Texas resident upon entry into the military, entered into active federal duty in the State of Texas, or declared Texas as your home of record at the time of entry into the armed forces as documented on your DD Form 214.
• Have a military discharge of honorable or general, under honorable conditions.
• Served at least 181 days of active duty service (excluding training).
• Not be in default on any education loans.

While it is true your MGIB benefits did expire in 2005, 10 years from your date of discharge – your Hazelwood Act benefits should still be good. The Act provides you with 150 semester hours of tuition free education at a VA-approved Texas public school.

Under the Legacy program, you can transfer any unused benefit hours to your dependent.   To qualify, your child has to:

• Be a Texas resident.
  • Be your biological child, stepchild, adopted child, or claimed as a dependent in the current or previous tax year.
  • Be 25 years or younger on the first day of the semester or term for which the exemption is claimed (unless granted an extension due to a qualifying illness or debilitating condition) and
• Make satisfactory academic progress in a degree, certificate, or continuing education program as determined by the institution.
• Live in Texas to use the benefit.

If you and he meet these requirements, you should be able to transfer some Hazelwood Act benefits to him or use them yourself.

Hi Janois. I wish I had a crystal ball where I could see the future and give you an accurate answer, but I don’t. There is always that possibility the program could be eliminated and in these days of economic turmoil in the different states, who knows what will happen or where the State of Texas will make cuts next, if they make any at all. A program can be a pet project for one administration only to have the next one come along and cut it. You just never know.

But as in everything else, we have to live in the here-and-now. Besides, if you do not plan on using your Hazelwood Act benefits yourself or plan on giving them to another child, you have nothing to lose by transferring them to him/her right now.

Many times people already in a program can benefit from “grandfathering” if changes are made to a program or it is eliminated, so I don’t really see any reason not to transfer your benefits to him right now. In the end, it might be beneficial to do it now, rather than later and end up wishing you had done it sooner.

Hi Marie. That is getting back a ways if your husband served in Vietnam, as that was back in the VEAP GI Bill Era, but I’m not finding any reference as to when he had to have served, so I’m thinking he should qualify, if he meets the following eligibility requirements:

• Have been a Texas resident upon entry into the military, entered into active federal duty in the State of Texas, or declared Texas as his or her home of record at the time of entry into the armed forces as documented on his or her DD Form 214;
• Have a military discharge of honorable or general, under honorable conditions;
• Served at least 181 days of active duty service (excluding training);
• Not be in default on an education loan made or guaranteed by the State of Texas and not in default on a federal loan if that default is the reason the student cannot use his or her federal veterans’ benefits.

For him to transfer benefits to your son under the Legacy program, then your son must meet the following requirements:

• Be a Texas resident,
• Be the biological child, stepchild, adopted child, or claimed as a dependent in the current or previous tax year,
• Be 25 years or younger on the first day of the semester or term for which the exemption is claimed (unless granted an extension due to a qualifying illness or debilitating condition), and
• Make satisfactory academic progress in a degree, certificate, or continuing education program as determined by the institution.

If he and your son meets these requirements, then he can transfer up to 150 hours of Hazelwood Act benefits. Also, 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.

New for 2011, the child who is using transferred benefits must reside in Texas at the time s/he uses the benefits. Before the change, the child had to attend a Texas school, but did not have to reside in Texas.