Education & Employment
Nebraska Waiver of Tuition for Dependents of Veterans
All tuition, and the fees left after federal and state grants, waived at the University of Nebraska, the state colleges and the community colleges. Permanent individual unemployability counts; a temporary total rating does not.
Also called: 80-411, waiver of tuition, dependent, spouse, stepchild, permanent and total, individual unemployability, missing in action, prisoner of war.
For: Spouse, child, survivor.
Where it applies
Written for the jurisdictions listed here.
- NebraskaState
Section 80-411 is Nebraska's dependent education benefit and it is written more carefully than most. Two things in it are usually reported wrongly.
What is waived. The University of Nebraska campuses, the state colleges and the community colleges shall waive all tuition, and all fees remaining due after subtracting awarded federal financial aid grants and state scholarships and grants. The order of operations in the second half matters: federal and state grant money is applied to fees first and the waiver covers what is left, so a student with a large Pell award is not in a worse position but the state is not paying twice. Housing, food, parking, books and materials, and fees that are not tuition related, are not covered.
The veteran side, in subsection (2)(b). The student must have a parent, stepparent or spouse who was a member of the armed forces of the United States and who died on active duty; or died of a service-connected disability; or died subsequent to discharge as a result of an injury or illness sustained while a member of the armed forces, which may or may not have resulted in total disability; or is permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service; or, while a member of the armed forces, is classified as missing in action or as a prisoner of war during armed hostilities.
The third of those routes is broader than a service-connected death finding. A death after discharge from an injury or illness sustained in service opens the waiver whether or not the condition was ever rated, and the statute says so in terms.
The fourth route carries the sentence that this catalog exists to surface. "Permanent and total disability does not include total ratings or other temporary ratings except total ratings based on individual unemployability if permanent." Read it in two halves. A temporary total rating does not qualify, which aligns with the ordinary meaning of permanent and total. But a total rating based on individual unemployability does qualify, provided it is permanent, and the statute takes the trouble to say so.
That last point is worth insisting on, because the Department of Veterans' Affairs describes this route on its website as the veteran being "rated 100% permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service". A reader with a permanent individual unemployability award and a combined schedular rating of seventy percent could easily conclude they are outside the program. The statute says otherwise. The rating decision date must be before the start of the term applied for.
The student side, in subsection (2)(a) and (c). The student must be a Nebraska resident and must meet the institution's own requirements for in-state tuition under 85-502. A child or stepchild must be under twenty-six, with one extension: where the student served on active duty after their eighteenth birthday and before their twenty-sixth, eligibility runs until five years after the first discharge or release from that duty, and in no event past the thirty-first birthday. A spouse has no age limit. The department applies the relationship test as a current one, so a spouse is eligible while still married to the veteran and a stepchild while their biological parent is still married to the veteran.
Subsection (5) is the limit that ends the benefit, and it is absolute. The waiver is valid for one degree, diploma or certificate from a community college and one baccalaureate degree, and receipt of the community college credential shall precede receipt of the baccalaureate degree. A student who takes the bachelor's degree first has spent the whole entitlement. The department states there are no extensions or exceptions to this rule, and that the waiver is not available for master's, doctoral or professional degrees.
Administration runs through the Director of Veterans' Affairs on a prescribed form. Subsection (4) makes the director's decision final and binding on the applicant and on the institutions, absent fraud or misrepresentation by the applicant, which means there is no appeal to the university.
A student who is also using federal Chapter 35 Dependents' Educational Assistance should use both. This waiver removes the tuition charge; Chapter 35 pays the student a monthly rate. They do not offset each other.
Thresholds
| Gate | Rule |
|---|---|
| A parent, stepparent or spouse who died on active duty or of a service-connected disability | Section 80-411(2)(b)(i) and (ii). No rating is involved on either route. |
| Or died after discharge from an injury or illness sustained in service | Subdivision (2)(b)(iii) adds "which may or may not have resulted in total disability", so a rating was never required. |
| Or permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service | Subdivision (2)(b)(iv). The statute excludes temporary total ratings and expressly includes total ratings based on individual unemployability where permanent, so a permanent IU award qualifies whatever the combined schedular percentage behind it. |
| Permanent individual unemployability is inside the definition | The Department of Veterans’ Affairs describes this route as a 100 percent permanent and total rating. The statute is wider and names permanent individual unemployability in terms. |
| Or missing in action or a prisoner of war during armed hostilities | Subdivision (2)(b)(v), while a member of the armed forces. |
| Nebraska resident meeting the institution’s in-state tuition requirements | Section 80-411(2)(a) and 85-502. A student who has not yet met the institution’s residency standard experiences a delay rather than a refusal. |
| A child or stepchild under twenty-six, extendable to thirty-one after service | Where the student served on active duty after eighteen and before twenty-six, eligibility runs to five years after first discharge, never past the thirty-first birthday. A spouse has no age limit. |
| One community college credential and one baccalaureate, in that order | Section 80-411(5). Receipt of the community college award must precede the baccalaureate. Once a bachelor’s degree is earned the entitlement is spent, with no exceptions, and it never covers graduate or professional study. |
Sources
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Disclaimer
VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.