At East Texas A&M University, we're committed to helping students access an affordable, high-quality education. Tuition waivers reduce a student's cost by lowering the tuition rate from non-resident to Texas resident status, while exemptions fully or partially remove tuition and/or required fees.
Texas law requires most students receiving a waiver or exemption to maintain a 2.0 GPA and stay within a state-mandated hour limit to remain eligible. (Foster Care Exemptions are currently excluded from the GPA requirement.) A comprehensive list of Texas exemptions and waivers is available on the College for All Texans website.
If you fall below the required GPA, don't worry—an appeal process is available.
Below, you'll find details on the waivers and exemptions available to ETAMU students and the documentation needed to apply.
Economic Diversification Waiver
As an ETAMU employee, you may qualify for tuition exemption. Review the program details, eligibility, and required documentation below.
- Contact Financial Services
- Eligibility: Nonresident and domiciled foreign students whose families have been transferred to Texas as a part of the state's plan for economic development
- Required documentation: Company transferring student's family to Texas must meet Texas Department of Commerce requirements (contact Angie Mendez 512-936-0222)
- Coordinating Board notifies the university of eligibility for the waiver
Military Personnel Stationed in Texas Waiver
As a member of the Texas National Guard, you may be eligible for a tuition exemption. Review the requirements, who to contact, and application deadlines here.
- Contact Financial Services
- Eligibility: Military personnel stationed in Texas, their spouses and children
- Required documentation: Must provide documentation from the military of eligibility at least once per year
Higher Education Teaching Waiver
If you were in foster care, you might qualify for an exemption covering your tuition and fees. Contact Financial Services to understand the eligibility requirements and documentation needed for this benefit.
- Contact Financial Services
- Eligibility: Must be employed at least half-time as a teacher or professor at any Texas institution of higher education (employee's spouse and children are also eligible)
- Required documentation: Documentation from institution verifying at least half-time employment as a teacher or professor on a regular monthly salary
Reciprocal Agreement with Bordering Counties Waiver
If you are a senior citizen 65 or older, you may qualify for specific tuition and fee exemptions at ETAMU. Find details on eligibility and who to contact for assistance.
- Contact Admissions
- Eligibility: Students from neighboring states living in counties adjacent to the Texas border with which we have a reciprocal agreement
- Required documentation: University must have filed at the Coordinating Board that reciprocity exists between a neighboring state institution and a comparable Texas institution.
Mexican Citizen with Financial Need Waiver
If you are from another nation in the western hemisphere, the Good Neighbor Scholarship Exemption offers tuition assistance. Contact International Student Services for details on eligibility and required documentation.
- Contact Financial Services
- Eligibility: Students from Mexico who have financial need
- Required documentation: Proof of financial need
Teaching/Research Assistant Waiver
If you are a blind or deaf student, review the details for a full tuition and fee exemption, including eligibility and required documentation.
- Contact Graduate School
- Eligibility: Student must be employed as a teaching or research assistant at a public institution of higher education.
- Eligibility is limited to the semester of assistantship appointment. (Employee's spouse and children are also eligible)
- Required documentation: Student must provide proof of at least half-time employment as a research or teaching assistant.
Competitive Scholarship Waiver
If you are a peace officer disabled in the line of duty, you may be eligible for specific tuition and fee exemptions at ETAMU.
- Contact Scholarship Office
- Eligibility: Student receives competitive scholarships for at least $1,000. Eligibility for waiver is tied to semesters covered by a scholarship.
- Required documentation: Student must have competed with other students, including Texas residents, for the award. A recognized East Texas A&M scholarship committee must administer the scholarship.
- Funds and selection must be under university control.
Academic Common Market Waiver
If your parent is a Prisoner of War (POW) or Missing in Action (MIA), you may qualify for specific tuition and fee exemptions.
- East Texas A&M Contact: [email protected] 903-886-5473
- Coordinating Board Contact: [email protected] 512-427-6214
- Eligibility: Nonresident students enrolled in graduate programs not offered in their home states.
NATO Forces Waiver
Discover how you can qualify for exemptions as a child of a disabled fireman or peace officer. Find out about the eligibility criteria, benefits, and necessary steps to apply for this valuable assistance.
- Contact Financial Services
- Eligibility: Nonresident aliens, their spouses and dependent children stationed in Texas with NATO forces.
- Required documentation: Proof that family is stationed in Texas in keeping with the North Atlantic Treaty.
Bordering States Waiver
As a child of a deceased Texas veteran, you can find details on eligibility, covered fees, and who to contact for this exemption below.
- Contact Admissions
- Resident rate plus $30 per credit hour
- Eligibility: Undergraduate students from Oklahoma or Louisana may pay a lowered nonresident tuition rate when they attend a public university located within 100 miles of the Texas border if the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has approved the institution to participate in the program.
Valedictorian Exemption
As an eligible U.S. military veteran or the child of a deceased veteran, you may qualify for the Hazlewood Exemption to cover tuition and fees.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts tuition only
- Eligibility: Valedictorians of each accredited Texas high school.
- Applies during first two regular semesters following high school graduation. Must be used within two years of high school graduation.
- Required Documentation: Documentation that student was the highest ranking graduate of an accredited high school in Texas. A certificate is issued by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). If the certificate is lost, a new one may be acquired through the high school or TEA or a letter from the high school principal or superintendent may serve as proof of eligibility.
Hazlewood Exemption
Discover how you, as a valedictorian of an accredited Texas high school, can benefit from this tuition-only exemption. This section outlines the eligibility criteria and required documentation.
- Contact Veterans Affairs Office
- Exempts tuition/fees, except student services fee and property deposit
- Eligibility: U.S. military veterans and children of deceased veterans who were Texans when they entered the service; served at least 180 days of active military duty (excluding training); have insufficient federal education benefits (including Pell and SEOG) to cover relevant tuition and fees.
- No student may use Hazlewood for more than 150 credit hours with the count beginning in fall 1995.
- Required documentation: Official documentation indicating eligibility (usually the DD214) plus documentation from the financial aid office regarding eligibility for Pell or SEOG.
Children of Deceased Texas Vets Exemption
If you are an undergraduate student from Oklahoma or Louisiana, learn about the contact information, associated costs, and eligibility requirements for this waiver.
- Contact Veterans Affairs Office
- Exempts tuition/fees, except student service fee and property deposit
- Eligibility: Dependents of Texas veterans killed in action or died while in service or whose death was directly caused by illness or injury connected with service in the armed forces.
- Required documentation: Official documentation from the military, indicating eligibility.
Children of Disabled Firemen and Peace Officers Exemption
Find out who is eligible for the NATO Forces Waiver, who to contact, and what documentation you will need to provide.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts all tuition/fees, except property deposit
- Eligibility: Children of disabled firemen and peace officers. A student must apply prior to their 21st birthday.
- Required documentation: Contact Coordinating Board (Angela Crowder, 1.800.242.3062, ext 6344) to acquire letter certifying student's eligibility. (Coordinating Board letter is issued after it receives confirmation from the parent's prior employer of the student's eligibility.)
MIA/POW Children
To learn more about the Academic Common Market Waiver, you can find important contact information and specific eligibility requirements below.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts all tuition/fees
- Eligibility: Children of POWs/MIAs. A student must be 25 or younger and receiving most of their support from a parent.
- Required documentation: Provide proof from the U.S. Department of Defense that parent is MIA or POW.
Disabled Peace Officers Exemption
If you receive a competitive scholarship, you may qualify for a waiver. Review the eligibility and documentation needed for this opportunity.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts all tuition/fees, except property deposit
- Eligibility: Peace officers disabled in the line of duty. Applies up to 12 semesters of an undergraduate degree and work on first master's degree and first doctoral degree.
- Required documentation: Contact Coordinating Board (Angela Crowder, 1.800.242.3062, ext 6344) to acquire letter certifying student's eligibility. (Coordinating Board letter is issued after it receives confirmation from a prior employer of the student's eligibility.)
Blind or Deaf Exemption
If you are employed as a teaching or research assistant, you may qualify for a tuition waiver. Review the specific eligibility criteria and required documentation here.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts all tuition/fees
- Eligibility: Blind or Deaf students.
- Required Documentation: Certification of a blind or deaf condition by the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, the Texas Commission for the Blind or the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Good Neighbor Scholarship Exemption
Explore the requirements for the Mexican Citizen with Financial Need Waiver, including eligibility criteria and necessary documentation you must provide.
- Contact International Student Services Office
- Exempts tuition only
- Eligibility: Students from other nations of the western hemisphere (other than Cuba).
- Required Documentation: Coordinating Board must approve eligible students. Students are selected by the Coordinating Board according to school and geographic priorities.
- Deadline is March 15.
Senior Citizens Exemption
Discover how you can qualify for the Reciprocal Agreement with Bordering Counties Waiver if you reside in an adjacent county.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts tuition/fees for auditing courses
- Exempts tuition only up to six credit hours per term
- Both exemptions are based on space availability.
- Eligibility: Senior Citizens 65 or older
- Required Documentation: Proof of age
Foster Care Exemption
Explore the specific eligibility criteria and required documentation for the Higher Education Teaching Waiver.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts tuition/fees
- Foster Care Exemptions are currently exempt from the GPA evaluation. A full list of exemptions and waivers can be found at www.collegeforalltexans.com.
- Eligibility: Students in foster or other residential care. A student must enroll within 3 years of earliest dates: date student was discharged from foster or other residential care, date student graduated from high school or received equivalency degree or student's 21st birthday.
- Required Documentation: Student must provide proof of having been in foster care or other residential care under the conservatorship of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on or after the day preceding the student's 18th birthday, the day of the student's 14th birthday, if the student was also eligible for adoption on or after that day; or the day the student graduated from high school or received the equivalent of a high school degree.
Texas National Guard Exemption
If you are military personnel stationed in Texas, or a spouse or child, you can find details on this waiver’s eligibility and documentation requirements below.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts tuition not to exceed 12 semester hours per term per individual
- Eligibility: Members in good standing of the Texas National Guard. This includes TXARNG, TXANG and the State Guard.
- Required Documentation: Adjutant General's Office approval to the Coordinating Board. Fall deadline is June 15. Spring deadline is Nov. 15. All applications are to be mailed directly to the Adjutant General's Office.
Employee Scholarship Program
If your family has relocated to Texas as part of the state’s economic development plan, you may qualify for this waiver. Here’s how to apply and what documentation you’ll need.
- Contact Financial Services
- Exempts tuition up to 6 credit hours per term
- Eligibility: East Texas A&M employee for at least six months in a full-time budgeted position.
- Required Documentation: Employee Scholarship Application indicating approval of Department Head and signed promissory note for the cost of tuition in case course is dropped or employee receives a grade lower than C.