Education, Higher

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Expanding Free College Tuition for Veterans' Families

This bill expands free college tuition and fees to the children and spouses of veterans who have been given a permanent total disability rating by the U.S. government due to service-connected injuries during armed conflict.

What This Bill Does

• Expands eligibility for free tuition and fees at state colleges and universities to include dependent children and spouses of veterans with a 100% permanent total disability from service-related injuries.
• Requires applicants to provide official certification from the U.S. government confirming their parent or spouse's disability status.
• Limits eligibility for the veteran's spouse to terminate after ten years from when the disability was determined, unless the marriage ends earlier.
• Applies these benefits to all state institutions starting with the next registration period after July 1, 2025.
• Ensures that veterans must be Tennessee residents at the time their dependent applies for this benefit.

Who It Names or Affects

• Dependent children of veterans who have a permanent total disability from service-related injuries.
• Spouses of veterans with a permanent total disability from service-related injuries.
• State institutions of higher education in Tennessee.

Terms To Know

Service-connected disability

An injury or illness that was caused by military service and is recognized by the U.S. government as such.

Permanent total disability

A condition where a veteran's disability is so severe they are unable to work in any job due to their injuries.

Limits and Unknowns

• The exact financial impact on the state cannot be determined until future appropriations by the General Assembly.
• This bill applies only to institutions owned, operated, and maintained by the state of Tennessee.

Official Summary Text

Present law requires higher education
institutions

owned, operated
,
and maintained by the state
to
admit
at no
cost
a
dependent child
,

23 or younger
,
whose
parent was killed as a direct result of injuries received
,
or has been officially
reported as a prisoner of war or missing in action
,
while serving honorably as a member of the
U.S.
armed forces during a qualifying period of armed conflict or was formerly a prisoner of war or missing in action under such circumstances
. T
he spouse of s
uch veteran
also qualifies.

This bill expands such admission to
a dependent child
of a parent who
sustained

a service-connected disability determined by the veteran's administration to constitute a 100% permanent total disability, or the spouse of such v
eteran
.
To be eligible,
this bill requires
the dependent child or spouse
to p
resent official certification from the
federal
government that the parent or spouse veteran

sustained, while serving honorably as a member of the
U.S.
armed forces during a quali
fying period of armed conflict, a service-connected disability determined by the veteran's administration to constitute a 100% permanent total disability.
Such veteran must be
a citizen of this state at the time the person's dependent child or spouse appl
ies for the educational assistance benefits
.

This bill provides that a
veteran's spouse's eligibility terminates 10 years from the date on which the veteran's administration determined that the service-connected disability the veteran sustained

constitut
es 100% permanent total disability, or upon dissolution of the qualifying marriage.

This bill applies
to all state institutions of higher education beginning with the next registration or enrollment period for the next complete term after July 1, 2025.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 295
By Crowe

HOUSE BILL 299
By Reedy

HB0299
000644
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
relative to higher education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-102(a), is amended by
designating the existing language as subdivision (1) and adding the following as subdivision (2):
(2) Except as provided in subsection (e), every dependent child in this state
under twenty-three (23) years of age, whose parent sustained, while serving honorably
as a member of the United States armed forces during a qualifying period of armed
conflict, a service-connected disability determined by the veteran's administration to
constitute a one hundred percent (100%) permanent total disability, or the spouse of
such veteran, is entitled to a waiver of tuition, maintenance fees, student activity fees,
and required registration or matriculation fees and must be admitted without cost to any
of the institutions of higher education owned, operated, and maintained by the state.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-102(b)(1), is amended by
adding the following as a new subdivision:
(D) Present official certification from the United States government that the
parent (father or mother) or spouse veteran sustained, while serving honorably as a
member of the United States armed forces during a qualifying period of armed conflict, a
service-connected disability determined by the veteran's administration to constitute a
one hundred percent (100%) permanent total disability.
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-102(b)(2), is amended by
designating the existing language as subdivision (A) and adding the following as subdivision (B):

- 2 - 000644

(B) The veteran who sustained, while serving honorably as a member of the
United States armed forces during a qualifying period of armed conflict, a service-
connected disability determined by the veteran's administration to constitute a one
hundred percent (100%) permanent total disability must be a citizen of this state at the
time the person's dependent child or spouse applies for the educational assistance
benefits established in subdivision (a)(2).
SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-102(b)(4), is amended by
designating the existing language as subdivision (A) and adding the following as subdivision (B):
(B) A veteran's spouse's eligibility for the educational assistance benefits
established in subdivision (a)(2) terminates ten (10) years from the date on which the
veteran's administration determined that the service-connected disability the veteran
sustained, while serving honorably as a member of the United States armed forces
during a qualifying period of armed conflict, constitutes a one hundred percent (100%)
permanent total disability, or upon dissolution of the qualifying marriage.
SECTION 5. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-102(d), is amended by
designating the existing language as subdivision (1) and adding the following as subdivision (2):
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (d)(1), the educational assistance benefits
established in subdivision (a)(2) apply to all state institutions of higher education
beginning with the next registration or enrollment period for the next complete term after
July 1, 2025.
SECTION 6. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-102(f), is amended by deleting
the language "in which the ten-year period expires" and substituting instead the language "in
which the ten-year period expires, or at the end of the term in which an order of dissolution of
the qualifying marriage is entered, as applicable".
SECTION 7. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.