Sununu signs bill expanding state’s free tuition benefit for children of disabled veterans

Gov. Chris Sununu signed a bill Monday to expand the state’s free tuition benefit for state colleges and universities to children of deceased veterans who were disabled – as long as they were New Hampshire residents when they died.

House Bill 1575 would enhance the state’s existing free tuition benefit for children of disabled veterans, which the Legislature passed in 2020. That benefit did not apply to children of disabled veterans who had died, said Rep. Terry Roy, a Deerfield Republican and the bill’s sponsor. 

The new law would waive tuition at both the University System of New Hampshire and the state’s community college system for children of veterans who were “totally and permanently disabled” from a “service-connected disability.” 

The veteran must have been domiciled in New Hampshire at the time they entered military service, or at the time the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs determined that they were disabled, the bill states. The free tuition may go to a biological child, adopted child, or stepchild of the service member. 

Students receiving the tuition waiver may do so until they turn 27, according to the statute.

HB 1575 passed the House and Senate with unanimous support this year.