WT Receives New A&M System Support for Hazlewood Commitment

Media contact: Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas - West Texas A&M University will receive about $1.3 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 WT 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."

"Serving veterans and military families is a source of great pride for our faculty and staff," said Dr. Neil Terry, WT's interim president. "We are grateful for the Texas A&M system's financial commitment to supporting our efforts to advance this important aspect of our mission."

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 $1.3 million allocation to WT applies only to the initiative's first year. Allocations for the second and third years will be determined separately in those years.

The initiative does not change Hazlewood eligibility or benefits. It provides institutional support so universities can continue serving eligible veterans without shifting the unreimbursed cost to other campus priorities.

Veterans and military-affiliated students make up more than 7 percent of WT's student population.

Military and Veterans Services provides support for active-duty service members, veterans and families of either, offering access to a variety of educational benefits programs for them and their dependents.

For a third year, the office won a gold Veteran Education Excellence Recognition Award from the Texas Veterans Commission.

WT is No. 15 for Best Colleges for Veterans in the west for 2027, up from No. 25 a year ago in the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report. Among Texas schools, WT is No. 3 for veterans.

The University also co-sponsors an annual Veterans Day celebration with the City of Canyon at the Veterans Memorial on the WT campus.

About West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M University is a Regional Research University in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of about 9,000 and offers multiple options for students to graduate and succeed: 65 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 41 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor's and master's degree, a specialist degree and three doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men's and women's athletics programs.

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