My son was accepted to 3 Universities that are ideal for his intended major. One has a nationally renown reputation which would help his chances of securing a good job. We’d love for him to go there and our finances after the financial-aid offerings for each of the three are not enough for us to attend any. He could go to his safety which will cost us $4k/y which we can afford, but understand me when I say no one has heard of it outside of our state. His safety is a small technology institute about the size of a small community college. I suggested at one time that he take the safety and then do a masters at a more reputable school but there are many negative aspects to this decision. Some of the problems with this line of reasoning is that-
*He won’t receive the on-par education that he would at one of the other 3 schools.
*He won’t have the rigor after 4 years to be able to handle the rigor-level of a renown masters school.
*We would have outstanding out of pocket cost for the master’s that we cannot afford.
And these are only a few of the more important reasons why I now think his safety is a bad idea.
In my desperation to find some method of paying for one of the other 3 colleges I came across the ROTC. I have ADD and find it hard to read but I tried my best to understand whatever I did read. From what I understand, he could attend ROTC during his time at the school and they will pay 100% of all costs, as well as $900 a year extra money, as well as a “stipend” which I have no idea what that is. One of the benefits with having a learning disability all my life is that I have been rolled over by unscruptulous people enough that I learned to ‘not trust anyone’. For that reason there MUST be a catch. The ROTC paying $240k for the four years total for merely appearing for exercises and physical training 2 or 3 times a week for a couple of hours?? I believe there are clearly things that I’m missing.
In some of my readings and scannings of the articles I got the impression that perhaps there is some sort of contractual thing where if after you sign up for ROTC, that you will be required to do a few more years of real armed-forces. I can’t but believe that this sounds about right; it sounds fair that after all the money that they’ve paid, that you pay them back by becoming a soldier in return. I’m not against it, in fact if it were me, I’d do it if I had the incredible opportunity of going to college.
So can someone very concisely explain what is ROTC? In case more information is required for you to explain, we are middle income, NJ, US citizen, hispanic, first generation and the first choice school is Carnegie Mellon in PA, school of science.
Thank you
Reserve Officer Training Corp is a program whereby a student can have their education funded for which they will serve time in the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines). It is HIGHLY competitive to get a scholarship. You need grades, scores and ECs to get one and I believe get interviewed.
Most ROTC cadets do not receive scholarships. The ones who get the full tuition scholarships have to compete for those very few scholarships. If they take the money, they have to do a certain number of years on active duty after graduation and commissioning per the contract. I would think that they have already selected the recipients for the scholarships for the upcoming class. It can’t hurt to contact the ROTC detachments of the services that are at those schools to get more information.
“*He won’t receive the on-par education that he would at one of the other 3 schools.
*He won’t have the rigor after 4 years to be able to handle the rigor-level of a renown masters school.”
What is the intended major that makes you think either of these statements are true?
There is a service requirement after graduation for ROTC students. I can’t remember exactly, but it is either 4 or 6 years. ROTC is more for people who want to be career military officers after college.
Have you looked into the National Guard? My son joined the Air National Guard for our state. We looked at ROTC as an option, too, but ANG is a better fit for him.
Once he is done with his military training (which also happens to be the field he plans to study in college), he will get 100% tuition reimbursement (this varies by state, though) and most of the courses he takes with the Air Force will transfer as credits to University. Plus, he will get paid while he is in training and for his guard time (one weekend/month & 2 weeks/year), which will help with his room, board, books, etc… The commitment is 6 years active that starts as soon as you join (my son will have about 6 months done when he graduates from HS this spring) and then 2 years inactive and then you are done. All the time you are in training & college counts towards your years of commitment. Air Force info is goang.com, but you could also check out the Army Reserves or the Navy. It doesn’t hurt to talk to a recruiter, either. The National Guard recruiters are generally more laid back than the regular enlistment recruiters, so there won’t be a lot of pressure if he talks to them & decides not to do it.
I know that West Virginia offers their Army and Air National Guard members free tuition at the University of West Virginia. You don’t have to be a resident, just be a member of their state guard.
First, your son is too late to apply for the coming year. If ROTC is of interest, he can join at the school he chooses (if they have a unit), and then apply for a scholarship next year. Some info on ROTC:
It only covers tuition, books, and a stipend (the stipend is a monthly spending amount). I don’t know where you’re getting the $900.
All services offer ROTC. A scholarship will require 4 to 5 years of service afterwards.
Air Force has 3 different levels of scholarship. Navy offers full tuition.
Not all colleges have ROTC units.
There is much more to cover, but if your son is interested, he needs to go to the Air Force, Navy and Army ROTC website and research this. As a mom or dad, you shouldn’t be doing his research work.
While the National ROTC scholarships have been awarded - there is still hope! I intently researched armed services educational funding for a young man recently. I went so far as to meet with a Missouri National Guard recruiter and the ROTC Commander at Truman University (the young man’s school preference).
There is most certainly a financial means for your student to go to school thru the funding provided by the armed services!
Unfortunately each service branch is different and so is the ROTC office at each college. There is also a huge difference between reserves and active duty (both have funding benefits affiliated with students and each have different service time commitments).
I STRONGLY suggest that you MEET (in-person if possible or by phone appointment) with the ROTC Officer at your student’s desired school. I urge you not to talk with the actual service recruiting offices (either active duty or national guard) as I found them to be pushy as well as less informed about the act of going to school while in the armed services than the campus ROTC officer.
The Truman University ROTC officer I talked with was fabulous. We had two phone meetings and he answered every one of my many questions. You will get the best info from the school’s ROTC person about how to maximize funding thru enlistment while in college from him/her as that is a key component of the person’s job.
You need to know that colleges have different service branches represented on campus through ROTC. The best deal comes from being enlisted in the reserves or National Guard to receive tuition benefits AND being enrolled in campus ROTC program on a scholarship (not as hard as the national scholarships). The stipends from ROTC funding combined with duty pay will cover room/board and spending money.
I learned each situation is different. In my mind it is critical to work with the campus ROTC person to understand options.
Later, I’ll post more on the benefits the young man I mentored would have received (he did not choose ROTC or National Guard).
I can also post the questions I asked (lots). You’ll absolutely need more than one conversation to get it all understood as you’ll be working with the actual armed services benefits and then the ROTC benefits.
ROTC is designed to produce commissioned officers who wish to serve in the US Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. National scholarships are about as competitive as college admissions, if not even more…
In reading up on ROTC programs, I found that some schools share a unit and combined courses and training is held at a nearby school. For example, University of Houston hosts one branch ROTC for Rice, Houston Baptist University, and other Houston area universities. (I don’t remember which branch.) Rice may be the area host school for a different branch.
The Coast Guard does not have ROTC but does have a split-training program leading to a reserve position. Also, I had a friends who switched later in life, well post-college, from Navy reserve to Coast Guard reserve.
Is your son’s #1 goal in life to serve as on officer in the U.S. military? If so, great! ROTC is designed for just that. It tests and prepares the college student for life in the military.
Would he be doing it for the scholarship? He won’t make it. I’ve seen it dozens of times. The ROTC process does a great job weeding out those students. The few that get by don’t make it through the program. And if they have contracted they have to pay the money back! If they do make it they are contracted to serve anywhere from 4 to 8 years depending on branch and MOS. And they will be put in harm’s way!
ROTC scholarships are some of the most competitive in the country. You need top grades, top rigor, demonstrated leadership preferably in varsity sports, excellent physical fitness to even be considered.
My son’s unit started with 24. 4 were commissioned. Grades, misconduct, physical issues, not really wanting to serve got the rest.
When I was young and dumb or should I say naive years ago my parents allowed me to attend an expensive school at the time. I still remember them leaving me the checkbook to pay my semester tuition bills. When I wrote the biggest check of my life reality hit and I met the ONE ROTC student at my school! I joined the program and applied for the scholarship next year and got it. Now I come from an Army family so knew what I was getting into and missed military life but yes they paid my tuition plus stipends and I served as an Army engineer mostly overseas for 7 years. Best years of my life and where I met my husband. I am the confident and fearless (almost) person I am today because of the experience!
I don’t know a lot about ROTC, but believe most scholarships have already been awarded. I was a volunteer at my S’s former HS. I advised one young man to go with a decent college that offered him a great scholarship and would allow him to graduate dept free vs taking out max loans to attend his dream school.
Most people think of military service as some kind of near-slavery. I had the time of my life during 11 years of active duty. Work was immensely rewarding, traveled to places no one else ever got to see, did incredible things. Those were the best days of my life.
I mean, sure, but it’s still a very serious commitment and not something you can get out of easily (at least not without paying the money back, iirc).
And ROTC is an enormous time commitment and stressor for many students. Additionally, many of the scholarships go to engineering and other hard STEM majors, which makes it very hard to balance both your school commitments and ROTC commitments. My school has a huge ROTC presence, I think only behind the academies, and those kids have to work HARD. I’ve honestly never seen a ROTC kid at a party, or at many social gatherings. You have to give up a lot to be successful.
My experience mirrored Novadad’s. Did it not for the money nor to make it a career, but because I felt I needed to.
Never regretted it for a minute, and never wished I’d stayed longer than I did.
Always planned on 4-8 years and that’s exactly how it worked out.
There are ROTC scholarships for which the student would need to apply in their Junior year of high school and others for which they can apply as an enrolled college student. It is possible to do ROTC without receiving a scholarship.