[aprssig] College tuitions - Texas Style!

[Ray McKnight]

>My oldest qualified for several really good merit-based/scholastic 
>scholarships.  That helped.  A lot.  Middle kid isn't in the same
league 
>as his sister at test-taking but he's gotten his grades up over the
last 
>3 semesters.  IF he'd done that from the start, I suspect we'd have 
>gotten a bit of 'merit' scholarship money but all he was offered at one

>of the better, albeit smaller and private, schools in Texas was 
>work-study.  Since he's also playing soccer for the school (nope, Div. 
>II/III schools don't offer athletic scholarships) we're footing the 
>bill.  Realize, though, that this is based on my somewhat biased 
>professional opinion that he'd not do well at a large, impersonal State

>school.  I suspect he'd not do well in the Army either, so that
option's 
>out.

I'm not promoting military service, and this isn't Israel where you MUST
do a year, but there is a really great program that many don't know
about.
The state of Texas will give any military veteran a free 4 year college
degree, with a few conditions:

1) You must enlist while you are a resident of the state
2) You must at least return to Texas and establish residency
after getting out, if you didn't maintain Texas as your primary
residence while in the military.  Not difficult to do.  Even if you
don't elect to return to Texas immediately after getting out you don't
lose the benefit if you enlisted while you were a resident.
3) It doesn't matter much how long you spend in the military, like
the VA even short periods such as 6 months will qualify, you don't 
need to do a full 20!  The definition of "veteran" is pretty lenient.

This is the Hazlewood Act.
It also provides the same benefits for dependant children of
active duty Texas servicemen killed in the line of duty.

It pays all fees except things like property deposits, books, living
expenses, etc at any state funded school in Texas.

Also, for military retirees, Texas law mandates that 40% of all
State jobs be given preference to them.

I think it's a pretty good reason to learn to yell Yee-Haw.
You'll have to drive a pickup truck, the gun rack is optional...