DAN MORALES 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

@ffice of tty !Zlttornep 

&date of IEexae 

July 21, 1995 

@eneral 

Mr. Ray Farabee 

Vice Chancellor and General Counsel 

The University of Texas System 

201 West Seventh Street 

Austin, Texas 78701-2981 

Opinion No. DM-359 

Re: Eligibility of certain individuals, 

enrolled as students at the University of 

Texas at Austin, to claim exemption 

from payment of various fees and 

charges @Q-787) 

Dear Mr. Farabee: 

You have requested our opinion regarding the eligibility of certain individuals, 

enrolled as students at the University of Texas at Austin, to claim exemption from 

payment of various fees and charges. Section 54.203 of the Education Code provides, in 

pertinent part: 

(a) The governing board of each institution of higher education 

shah exempt the following persons from the payment of all dues, 

fees, and charges, including fees for correspondence courses but 

excluding property deposit fees, student servtces fees, and any fees 

or charges for lodging, board, or clothing, provided the persons 

seeking the exemptions demonstrate financial need as defined by the 

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board,’ were citizens of Texas 

at the time they entered the services indicated, and have resided in 

Texas for at least the period of 12 months before the date of 

registration: 

(3) all honorably discharged men and women of the armed 

forces of the United States who served during the national 

emergency which began on June 27, 1950, and which is referred 

to as the Korean War; and 

(4) all persons who were honorably discharged from the 

armed forces of the United States after serving on active military 

‘Senate Bill 114, enacted by the current session of the legislature and signed into law by 

Governor Bash on May 23, 1995, removes the financial need requirement from section 54.203. See AU 

of May 9, 1995, 74th Leg., RX, ch. 159, 8 1, available in Westlaw, TX-Legis data base (copies available 

at Howe Document Distribution Office). The amendment will take effect beginning with the 1995 fall 

semester. Id. 8 2. 
Mr. Ray Farabee - Page 2 (DM-359) 

duty, excluding training, for more than 180 days and who served 

a portion of their active duty during:* [Emphasis and footnotes 

added.] 

(A) the cold war which began on the date of the 

termination of the national emergency cited in Subdivision 

(3) of this subsection; 

(B) the Vietnam era which began on December 21, 1961, and ended on May 5, 1975; 

(C) the Grenada and Lebanon era which began on 

August 24, 1982, and ended on July 3 1, 1984; 

(D) the Panama era which began on December 20, 1989, and ended on January 21, 1990; 

You suggest that the term “Cold War” referred to above in subdivision (4) refers 

to “the time period between the Korean conflict and the beginning of the Vietnam Era 

(l/31/55 to S/5/64)” and that “[e]ven though the provisions of Section 54.203 fail to 

provide a specific date for the ‘Cold War,’ apparently it is now conceded by ah public 

officials that the Cold War period has ended.” 

Subdivision (4) of subsection 54.203(a) was first enacted, in a slightly different 

form, in 1967. Act of May 25, 1967, 60th Leg., R.S., ch. 506, 5 1, 1967 Tex. Gen. Laws 

1141, 1142. Although section 54.203 was amended as recently as 1993, Act of 

May 14, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 435, $ l(a)(l), 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 1744, 1744, the 

legislature has never specified a termination date for the Cold War. Had the Cold War 

ended on August 5, 1964, as you suggest, surely the legislature would have noted that fact 

in its 1993 amendment of section 54.203. 

Neither is federal law useful in establishing such a date. A brief submitted to us by 

Ms. Mary Lou Keener, general counsel for the federal Department of Veterans AtTairs, 

indicates that title 38 of the United States Code, “a codification of veterans’ benefits laws 

primarily administered by the Department,” does not even use the term “Cold War.“3 

ZThe “national emergency” declared by President Truman on June 27, 1950, in response to the 

invasion of the Republic of Korea (“South Korea”) by forces of the Democratic People’s Republic of 

Korea (“North Korea”), was not officially terminated until January 31, 1955, even though an armistice 

had been agreed upon in June, 1953. 38 U.S.C. 8 101. See infm note 3. 

3TiUe 38, section 101, of the United States Code recognizes the following periods of 

wartime: (1) Spa&h-American War: April 21, 1898, to July 4, 1902; (2) Mexican Border Period: 

May 9, 1916, to April 5, 1917; (3) World War I: April 6, 1917, to November 11, 1918; (4) World War 

II: December 7, 1941, to December 31, 1946; (5) Korean Conflict: June 27, 1950, to January 31, 1955; 

(6) Vietnam Em: August 5, 1964, to May 7, 1975; (7) Persian Gulf War: August 2, 1990, to a yet-tobe-determined date. Thus for purposes of federal veterans benefits, military service after May 7, 1975, 

and before August 2, 1990, a period of more than 15 years, is not included. 

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Mr. Ray Farabee - Page 3 (DM-359) 

Certain recent federal laws seem to impZy that the Cold War has ended, without naming 

any particular date for its termination. For instance, in the Defense Conversion, 

Reinvestment, and Transition Assistance Act of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-484, 1992 

U.S.C.C.A.N. (106 Stat.) 2658, enacted on October 23, 1992, Congress made “the 

following findings”: 

(1) the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the 

dissolution of the Soviet Union have fimdamentally changed the 

military threat that formed the basis for the national security policy of 

the United States since the end of World War II. 

(3) As the United States proceeds with the post-CoZd War 

defense build-down, the Nation must recognize and address the 

impact of reduced defense spending on the military personnel, civilian 

employees, and defense industry workers who have been the 

foundation of the national defense policies of the United States. 

Id. 5 4101, at 2658-59 (emphasis added). In the same statute, Congress used the 

following language: 

(1) On February I, 1992, the President of the United States and 

the President of the Russian Federation agreed in a Joint Statement 

that ‘Russia and the United States do not regard each other as 

potential adversaries’ and stated further that, ‘We will work to 

remove any remnants of cold wur hostility, including taking steps to 

reduce our strategic arsenals.’ 

Id. 5 1321, at 2549 (emphasis added). 

These statutes, while apparently demonstrating that Congress, as of October, 

1992, believed the Cold War to be a past event, do not specifically so state; and, 

furthermore, they recognize the possibility of lingering “remnants of Cold War hostility.“” 

Id. In any event, these pronouncements fail utterly to designate a precise date for the 

termination of the Cold War, and thus may not properly be cited as evidence of such a 

4Section 1031(e)(2) of Public Law 103-337, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 1995, defines “unaccounted-fir Cold War POWML4” as “a member of the Armed Forces or civilian 

employee of the United States who. as a result of service during the period from September 2.1945, to 

August 21, 1991, was at any time classilied as a prisoner of war or missing-in-action and whose person or 

remains have not been retuned to United States control and who remains onaccounted for.” AU of 

Oct.5, 1994, 1994U.S.S.C.A.N. (108Stat.)2839(emphasisadded). 

p. 1929 
Mr. Ray Farabee - Page 4 (DM-359) 

termination for purposes of subsection 54.203(a) of the Education Code.J We are thus 

obliged to conclude that, as of the date of issuance of this opinion, the legislature has not 

determined the termination date of the Cold War, and as a result, all active military service 

from June 27, 1950, until the present may be applied to the purpose of qualifying a 

“veteran,” as described in section 54.203, for the tuition and fee exemptions granted 

therein.6 

You also ask “[w&t fees and charges are included in the statutory exemption.” 

Specifically, there seems to be confusion regarding the meaning of “student services fees” 

in section 54.203. Section 54.513(b) of the Education Code provides that 

[s]ubject to Section 54.514 of this subchapter’ and subsections (j) 

and (k)s of this section, the board of regents of The University of 

sAccording to Bar&r’s Familiar Quotations, the tem~ “cold war” was first used by Bernard 

Bamch in 1947. BARTLE~T’FAMLMR S QUOTATIONS 729 (15th Ed. 1980). In a speech before a 

wmmittee of the United States Senate in 1948, Mr. Bamch declared that “[w]e are in the midst of a cold 

war which is getting warmer.” Id. 

The oxford English Dictionary defines “cold wax” as 

hostilities short of armed con&t, consisting in thteats, violent propaganda, 

subversive political activities, or the lii spec. those between the U.S.S.R and 

the western powers tier the 1939-45 war. 

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 462-63 (2d ed. 1989). Ms. Keener, referred to on page two above as 

general counsel for the Department of Veterans AtTairs, explains in her brief the impediments to relying 

on such an amorphous term: 

We suggest that the term is one of media creation which, through usage, became commonly associated with the ideological contlict and economic, political, 

and military rivalry between the United States, as well as other Western 

democracies, and the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries. It roughly 

covers the period be#ming with Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s famous 

‘Iron Curtain’ speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri on 

March 5, 1946, and ending with the fall of the so-called ‘Berlin Wall’ on 

November 19 [sic], 1989. As such, it may be seen to overlap this century’s more 

recent ‘hot war’ periods designated above. 

Letter from Mary A. Keener, Esq., United States Department of Vet- Affbiin (Apr. 28, 1995) (on file 

with this Offke). 

6Subs&ion (a) of section 54.203 applies to military service during the “Cold War,” that is, since 

January 31, 1955, only if the individual has served for more than 180 days, exclusive of training; no 

minimum period of service is required if the penon served during the “national emergency” that existed 

from June 27, 1950, until January 31, 1955. Educ. Code $ 54.203(a). 

‘Section 54.514 establishes a “student fees advisory committee,” whose purpose it is “to advise 

the administration of The University of Texas at Austin on the type, level, and expenditure of compulsory 

foes for student services collected at the university under Section 54.513 of this subchapter.” Id. 5 54.514. 

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Mr. Ray Farabee - Page 5 (DM-359) 

Texas System may charge and collect from students registered at The 

University of Texas at Austin fees to cover the cost of student 

services that the board considers necessary or desirable in carrying 

out the educational functions of the university. [Footnotes added.] 

“Student services” is defined in subsection (a) of section 54.5 13 to include 

textbook rentals; recreational activities; health, hospital, and other 

medical services; group hospitalization; automobile parking 

privileges; intramural and intercollegiate athletics; artists and lecture 

series and other cultural entertainment; debating and oratorical 

activities; student publications; student government; student fees 

advisory committee; student transportation services; and any other 

student activities and services specifically authorized and approved 

by the board; the term does not include services for which a fee may 

be charged under the specific authority of any other section of this 

code. 

Clearly, a fee for any of the services or activities listed in subsection (a) constitutes 

a “student services” fee, and under the terms of section 54.203(a), an eligible veteran is 

not exempt from payment of such fee. Section 54.513(c) authorizes the board,of regents 

to determine whether “fees for a particular student service [are] voluntary or 

compulsory.“9 With regard to compukory fees, subsection (j) provides that their total 

“charged under this section to students for any semester or summer session may not 

exceed $150.” 

Finally, you suggest that the exemption for veterans provided bp section 54.203(a) 

does not include fees authorized under chapter 55 of the Education Code. That chapter 

relates to permissible methods for financing permanent improvements to a public 

university. Section 55.17 authorizes a board of regents to pledge “building use fees” 

toward the payment of bonds, and section 55.16 allows a board to impose “charges” upon 

“students and others for the occupancy, services, use, and/or availability of all or any of its 

property, buildings, structures, activities, operations, or other facilities.” In Attorney 

General Opinion H-37 (1973), this office declared that the exemption for veterans created 

by section 54.203(a) includes those fees and charges imposed under chapter 55. In a 

subsequent opinion, that result was atiirmed. Letter Advisory No. 59 (1973). Thus, 

veterans are exempt from all charges authorized under chapter 55. 

(footnote continued) 

8Sobsection (k) permits the ose of general revenue funds, under particular cinxmstances, “to 

support the services and activities provided for in this section.” Id. 5 54.513(k). 

gSection 54.5 13 defines “compulsoxy fee” as “a fee that is charged to all students enrolled in the 

university.” Id. $ 54.513(a)(Z). A “voluntary fee,” on the other hand, is “a fee that is charged only to 

those students who make ose of the student service for which the fee is established.” Id. 8 54.513(a)(3). 

p. 1931 
Mr. Ray Farabee - Page 6 (DM-359) 

In summary, we conclude that veterans qualitjing for the various fee exemptions 

under section 54.203 are not exempted from the payment of (1) property deposit fees; 

(2) charges relating to lodging, board, or clothing; (3) compulsory student services fees 

as described in and limited by section 54.513(a)(2) and (j), that is, up to a maximum of 

$150 per semester or summer session; and (4) all voluntary student services fees as 

described in section 54.513(a)(3). Qualifying veterans are exempt from all other fees and 

charges. 

SUMMARY 

All persons honorably discharged from the armed forces of the 

United States since January 3 1, 1955, who served on active duty for 

more than 180 days, exclusive of training, are entitled to exemption 

from the payment of all fees and charges imposed upon students by 

The University of Texas at Austin, except (1) property deposit fees; 

(2) charges related to lodging, board, and clothing; (3) voluntary 

student services fees as described in section 54.513(a)(3) of the 

Education Code; and (4) compulsory student services fees as 

described in and limited by section 54,513(a)(2) and (j) of the 

Education Code. 

DAN MORALES 

Attorney General of Texas 

JORGE VEGA 

First Assistant Attorney General 

SARAH J. SHIRLEY 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by Rick Gilpin 

Assistant Attorney General 

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