Military & Veterans

Moira Plantier, Associate Registrar
moira.plantier@bagmakerblog.com
325-670-1930

At HSU, we’re honored to serve those who’ve served our country. Our Office of Veteran Student Affairs helps veteran students and eligible family members take advantage of your education benefits.

HSU is a recognized military-friendly school and a participating institution in the Department of Defense Voluntary Education Partnership of Understanding.

Tuition Assistance Program

HSU participates in the Military Tuition Assistance Program.  This program is available to active duty, National Guard and Reserve Component services members. Service members should speak with their Educational Services Officer (ESO) or counselor within their military service prior to enrolling at HSU.  Approved courses are eligible for assistance up to $250/semester credit hour. Learn more about the Tuition Assistance Program.

We have a veterans’ benefits coordinator on campus who will help you complete the VA forms required for you to start your academic experience at HSU, as well as provide guidance on choosing the right academic program. For information regarding the return of funds withdrawal policy please visit the Business Office page.

Veteran Student Support Group

At HSU, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with other veteran students through an active group.

Veteran Student Resources

Military Leave of Absence and Readmission Policy

Hardin-Simmons University recognizes that students who serve in the U.S. armed forces may encounter situations in which military obligations force them to withdraw from a course of study and that this can sometimes happen with little notice. This policy applies to all University schools and programs and is intended to recognize and make appropriate allowances for students who find themselves in such situations. Notice of the student’s military service1 and intention to return to school should be made to the university’s Office of the Registrar.

Student Responsibilities

Notification of Military Service

The student (or an appropriate officer of the armed forces or official of the Department of Defense) must give oral or written notice to the University of the need to leave school for military service as far in advance as is reasonable under the circumstances. This notice does not have to indicate whether the student intends to return to the University. Alternatively, at the time of readmission, the student may submit an attestation of military service that necessitated his or her absence from school. No notice is required if precluded by military necessity, such as service in operations that are classified or would be compromised by such notice.

Notification of Intent to Return to the University

The student must also give oral or written notice of her intent to return to the University within three years after the completion of the period of service. A student who is hospitalized or convalescing due to an illness or injury incurred or aggravated during the performance of service must notify the University within two years after the end of the period needed for recovery from the illness or injury. A student who fails to apply for readmission within these periods does not automatically forfeit eligibility for readmission but is subject to the University’s established leave of absence policy and general practices.

A student who submits an application for readmission to Hardin-Simmons University shall provide documentation2 to establish that the cumulative length of the absence and of all previous absences from Hardin-Simmons by reason of service in the uniformed services, including only the time the student spends actually performing service in the uniformed services, does not exceed five years, and that the student’s eligibility for readmission under this policy has not been terminated by a separation from the Armed Forces with a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge or as the result of a sentence of a general court-martial.

University Procedures

Every effort is made to assist service members in deciding whether to withdraw or pursue Incomplete grades for course work to be completed by a later date. Tuition charges will be refunded in accordance with the University’s refund policies (see Refund Policy and Department of Defense Return of Funds Policy at http://3rg9.bagmakerblog.com/tuition-aid/business-office/refund-policy/).

Readmission of Service Members

Hardin-Simmons University will promptly readmit3 any student who, because of military service, must be absent from the University for more than 30 consecutive days, or for fewer than 30 days if the absence results in a withdrawal from the University, with the same academic status4 as when last attending the University or accepted for admission.  If the student is readmitted to the same program, during the first academic year in which the student returns, the student will be assessed the same tuition and fee charges that the student was or would have been assessed during the academic year in which the student left the University. However, for the first academic year in which the student returns, the University may assess an amount up to the amount of tuition and fee charges that other students in the program are currently assessed for that academic year if the student’s veterans’ education benefits or other service member education benefits will pay the amount in excess of the tuition and fee charges assessed for the academic year in which the student left the University.

If, in the judgment of the University, a student is not academically prepared to resume a course of study in which he or she was previously enrolled, or is unprepared to complete a program, the University will determine whether reasonable means are available to help the student become prepared. The University may deny the student re-enrollment if it determines that reasonable efforts are not available, or that such efforts have failed to prepare the student to resume the course of study or complete the program.

1Military Service is defined as “voluntary or involuntary service in the armed forces, including service by a member of the National Guard or Reserve on active duty, active duty for training, or full-time National Guard duty under federal authority, for a period of more than 30 consecutive days under a call or order to active duty of more than 30 consecutive days.”

2Acceptable documentation includes, but is not limited to the DD (Department of Defense) 214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, a copy of duty orders prepared by the facility where the orders were fulfilled carrying an endorsement indicating completion of the described service, a letter from the commanding officer of a Personnel Support Activity or someone of comparable authority, a certificate of completion from military training school, a discharge certificate showing character of service, a copy of extracts from payroll documents showing periods of service, or a letter from National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Team Leader or Administrative Officer verifying dates and times of NDMS training or Federal activation.

3 “Promptly readmit” means that the institution must readmit the student into the next class or classes in the student’s program beginning after the student provides notice of his or her intent to reenroll, unless the student requests a later date of readmission or unusual circumstances require the institution to admit the student at a later date.

4 “With the same academic status” means that the University admits the student to the same program to which he or she was last admitted by the institution or, if that exact program is no longer offered, the program that is most similar to that program, unless the student requests or agrees to admission to a different program; at the same enrollment status that the student last held at the institution, unless the student requests or agrees to admission at a different enrollment status; with the same number of credit hours or clock hours completed previously by the student, unless the student is readmitted to a different program to which the completed credit hours or clock hours are not transferable; and with the same academic standing (e.g., with the same satisfactory academic progress status) the student previously had.