KINGSVILLE (Sept. 15, 2026) — Texas A&M University-Kingsville will receive about $1.6 million for the 2026-27 academic year through a new initiative from The Texas A&M University System that will help universities cover the unreimbursed cost of serving Texas veterans under the Hazlewood Act.
The funding will help offset the tuition and mandatory fee revenue A&M-Kingsville forgoes when eligible veterans receive Hazlewood benefits. This support will allow the university to direct additional resources toward instruction, student services and other priorities that benefit all students.
“Texas made a promise to the men and women who wore our nation’s uniform, and we intend to keep it,” said Robert L. Albritton, chairman of the A&M System’s board of regents. “But keeping that promise should not weaken the universities that serve so many veterans and military families. This initiative gives those campuses meaningful relief while protecting the education of every student who walks through their doors.”
“We are incredibly grateful to the Board of Regents for this support of our university, which will help us better serve Texas veterans,” said Texas A&M University-Kingsville President Dr. Robert Vela. “Because of his Board-led initiative, we are able to double down on our long-standing commitment to Texas veterans seeking a college degree.”
The Hazlewood Act provides qualifying Texas veterans with up to 150 semester credit hours of tuition exemption, including most mandatory fees, at public colleges and universities. Eligible veterans may transfer unused hours to a qualifying child through the Hazlewood Legacy program. Benefits also are available to certain spouses and dependent children of veterans who are disabled, missing or killed as a result of military service.
Based on fiscal 2025 data, state funding reimbursed about 67% of the cost of exemptions transferred to children through the Legacy program. Exemptions used directly by veterans are currently not reimbursed, leaving public universities to absorb those costs.
The board authorized up to $30 million annually for three years for the Hazlewood Veteran Initiative. Funding for the systemwide initiative will come from the Available University Fund. The $1.6 million allocation to A&M-Kingsville applies only to the initiative’s first year. Allocations for the second and third years will be determined separately in those years.