Dive Brief:
- A Texas Senate bill that would cut tuition benefits for military veterans and their children passed out of committee Wednesday.
- Military Times reports the bill would limit free tuition for veterans from 150 hours to 120 and cut the tuition benefit vets can pass on to children to 60 hours.
- The bill also sets an expiration date for the entire benefit at 15 years after the veteran leaves service, Military Times reports.
Dive Insight:
Texas first allowed veterans to pass on their tuition benefits to children in 2011. Since then, the cost to colleges and universities, which cover most of the burden, has ballooned. Statewide costs neared $170 million in 2014, according to Military Times, whereas they barely reached $25 million in 2010. In fact, today more children of veterans are claiming the free tuition than the veterans themselves. The state has the most generous higher education benefits for veteran families in the country. Nowhere else can a child go to college for free because of a parent’s service. While well-intentioned, the benefit is threatening to bury the state’s higher education institutions.