Army ROTC pay issues

bb23

5-Year Member
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Sep 13, 2011
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I got involved with the "project go" program with ROTC and was told I could get an extension of benefits to pay for the cost of the language course. I was also told I would be getting paid for actually taking the class, just like anyone else taking a foreign language that is eligible for pay incentives. I'm now about 2 months down the line and still haven't recieved any pay having anything to do with the program. They also owe me about 5 grand for room and board that I paid upfront even though I am on a 4 year scholarship that covers everything. I know all of the proper paperwork was sent to higher with all the necessary info (or atleast I know I provided what I was asked for). I just now recieved my monthly stipen but no book money or anything else. This is crazy it's like you can't get in touch with anyone you have one POC which is your S1 and if they tell you they dont know you are basically out of luck and it's a waiting game. Is there someone else I can get in touch with without having my chain of command find out? Something, anything helps.
THANKS
 
I got involved with the "project go" program with ROTC and was told I could get an extension of benefits to pay for the cost of the language course. I was also told I would be getting paid for actually taking the class, just like anyone else taking a foreign language that is eligible for pay incentives. I'm now about 2 months down the line and still haven't recieved any pay having anything to do with the program. They also owe me about 5 grand for room and board that I paid upfront even though I am on a 4 year scholarship that covers everything. I know all of the proper paperwork was sent to higher with all the necessary info (or atleast I know I provided what I was asked for). I just now recieved my monthly stipen but no book money or anything else. This is crazy it's like you can't get in touch with anyone you have one POC which is your S1 and if they tell you they dont know you are basically out of luck and it's a waiting game. Is there someone else I can get in touch with without having my chain of command find out? Something, anything helps.
THANKS
I dont know about most of the other stuff but the 4 year scholarship covers tuition and fees OR room and board
 
my school pays for my room if you are on scholarship and we conduct a pt test to see who is competitive enough to get room and board and I made the list. The school told me they wouldnt wait for the army to pay and that I had to pay upfront and get reimbursed
 
My son, who is an MSIII this year, just had his scholarship funded to the university by the Army yesterday. Hopefully, that means it will be coming for everyone soon.
 
BB23 said:
my school pays for my room if you are on scholarship and we conduct a pt test to see who is competitive enough to get room and board my school pays for my room
BB23 said:
The school told me they wouldnt wait for the army to pay and that I had to pay upfront and get reimbursed
wait, what? Is it the SCHOOL that pays R&B for cadets, not the army, right?

So if the school reimburses R&B for qualifying cadets, why would they tell you they "won't wait for the army to pay"? The army doesn't pay.

If the school is willing to reimburse R&B, then there must be somebody in the school's finance office that knows how this works and will post any monies you paid for R&B back to your school account.

I'm not sure why it would be a problem for you to express your concern to your cadre... it's not like you're being trivial or selfish. If you are stretched financially waiting for the reimbursement, then that is a legitimate problem. Cadre are there to help their cadets with legitimate problems associated with participating in their program. Maybe the cadre have not yet given the list of qualifying cadets to the school's finance office? Without that list, the school cannot reimburse you for R&B. Or if they have, maybe the school takes 2-3 weeks to process the reimbursements to qualifying cadets' school accounts?

P.S. I have read a lot of posts here that indicate the school does not receive its tuition payment from the Army for several weeks after school has started... but that's tuition, not room and board, which appears to be your issue. I believe your issue is with the finance office of your school taking a long time to reimburse your R&B.
 
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I got involved with the "project go" program with ROTC and was told I could get an extension of benefits to pay for the cost of the language course. I was also told I would be getting paid for actually taking the class, just like anyone else taking a foreign language that is eligible for pay incentives. I'm now about 2 months down the line and still haven't recieved any pay having anything to do with the program. They also owe me about 5 grand for room and board that I paid upfront even though I am on a 4 year scholarship that covers everything. I know all of the proper paperwork was sent to higher with all the necessary info (or atleast I know I provided what I was asked for). I just now recieved my monthly stipen but no book money or anything else. This is crazy it's like you can't get in touch with anyone you have one POC which is your S1 and if they tell you they dont know you are basically out of luck and it's a waiting game. Is there someone else I can get in touch with without having my chain of command find out? Something, anything helps.
THANKS

Book money is sometimes slow in coming, a lot depends on how on top of things the HR person in your battalion is. At my son's school he talks directly to the HR, they are not part of the chain of command.

If the room and board incentive is being paid by the battalion it could take a while. Cadets receiving room and board incentives at my son's school have waited up to 3 months for repayment.

My son received $ for language classes last year, the way it was explained to him was that the $ was paid after the class was completed and passed with the required grade, the $ was not paid upfront.

You should be able to talk directly with the HR person in your battalion without concern of jumping the CoC, that's what they are there for.

dunninia,

I believe some battalions have extra money through either fund raising or alumni that they use for various incentives, that could be the case here. If that is the case it can take a while to get that money from them. The Army is not a speedy organization when it comes to finances.

My son was given 2K extra his first year as an incentive to attend that school, wasn't the reason he selected the school by the way, they also give 750.00 per year to the superior cadet and 1000.00 a year to the highest academic achievers. All of this money comes from the battalion through fund raising or alumni.
 
Book stipends usually start coming in around the mid-Oct/1st Nov time frame.

Scholarship money goes directly to the bursar, you would never see a dime of it, until the end of the yr when you would have a credit owed to you.

Realize the reason this lags is due to the pay system. It is an arrears system. When you are paid Sept 15th, it is actually for being contracted Aug 16th-31st. Their close out date for pay is traditionally the 5th and the 18th. Hence, that is why it is an arrears system.

Your R & B can take longer because it has to go up the chain, back down the chain and than to the Bursar. Your college is not going to take your word for it because this sound like it is a "specialty" scholarship, and were not notified. Your det., probably had to wait to make sure you are indeed taking those required classes, and will wait to see that you did not drop them before they pay it out. Check to see when is the last day of drop/add. If it is 4 weeks in than start the clock from there.

Some cadets have opted instead of paying the full amount to use the schools payment system which is 0% int. For our 2 kids at 2 different schools it would mean splitting the 5K into 8 payments. The school than would reimburse you the overpayment after they received it, and you would have not felt that big pain like you did with a lump sum.

The best thing to do is go to your NCOIC, because they are the ones, at least in AFROTC that handles the finance area for cadets, not the POCs. They will be the ones that know who to talk to and how the system works.
 
First off, you should never be hesitant to raise questions about pay. As a future leader you are going to learn that one thing you don't screw with is a soldier/employees pay. It sounds like you are a little confused though. You need to get with the HRA at your Battalion that handles cadet pay, and find out the real deal regarding who is paying your R & B and who is paying your tuition. Us crazy discussion board members can speculate all we want, but we don't know what school you go to, or what benefits are available to you. I think you may have gotten some bad information about project go also. http://www.rotcprojectgo.org/policies/army
 
Off topic, but reading that link it appears that AROTC cadets are not required to take foreign language in school. Is that correct?

I know for our DS in AFROTC he has to take 12 credits in foreign language, the school requires 1 which you can place out of, thus, he only took these classes for AFROTC.

I ask because our DS2 is still toying with AROTC, he wants to major in forensic science, is in AP Spanish IV, and has had his fill with foreign language. The thought of 2 more yrs in a foreign language when it has nothing to do with his major is a turn off. His top schools, allow the student to place out with a 3 on the AP. I know that sounds silly, but I do get where he is coming from. OBTW, we live in NoVA, and the FBI recruits heavily from this area, that is his ultimate goal (can you tell he is a Bones fan?:shake:). He understands going military and CIS would be a good option for him.
 
I think much depends on the school policy and how closely they work with the battalion.

In my son's case, the bill that was sent from the university started with the shock and awe numbers (it's one of the top 5 or 10 most expensive schools in USA), and every line below had itemization that had the word "exempted" attached to it. It boiled down to $100 freshman orientation fee. I told my son that this is bait and switch - because they initially built it up as a full ride :biggrin:

I think the school works very closely with the battalion. They know that he is a scholarship student and the money is coming, and they know that the school is giving free room and board. So, instead of billing the student anyway, they just take care of it internally. That was greatly appreciated.

Meanwhile, my son passed the APFT as soon as they administered it. They are backdating the stipend payment from the first day at school. But that money is not in his account yet. Nor the book expense yet.
 
Off topic, but reading that link it appears that AROTC cadets are not required to take foreign language in school. Is that correct?

I know for our DS in AFROTC he has to take 12 credits in foreign language, the school requires 1 which you can place out of, thus, he only took these classes for AFROTC.

I ask because our DS2 is still toying with AROTC, he wants to major in forensic science, is in AP Spanish IV, and has had his fill with foreign language. The thought of 2 more yrs in a foreign language when it has nothing to do with his major is a turn off. His top schools, allow the student to place out with a 3 on the AP. I know that sounds silly, but I do get where he is coming from. OBTW, we live in NoVA, and the FBI recruits heavily from this area, that is his ultimate goal (can you tell he is a Bones fan?:shake:). He understands going military and CIS would be a good option for him.

NOPE, no language required for AROTC. DS isn't looking forward to his School of Arts & Sciene required 2 years - no test out, start at your highest placement or start a new language requirement. I can see your DS2's pov completely - DS is now thinking French - the heck with Russian, Arabic etc... his girlfriend is fluent French so he's hoping for tutoring(yeah, the jokes have already started:wink:).
 
correct...no requirement. There is a lot of encouragement though, and financial benefits associated with taking and passing a strategic language. CULP and CLIP are part of the freshman curriculum
 
Clarkson,

However, when the HRA and Cadre at very small units (Cross Town) are not knowledgeable and control your next four years it is very difficult to correct pay issues. It is difficult for Freshman to go around them to the Host School Cadre. Travel Pay for example .....
 
This has nothing to do with OP's original post, but the subject of Tuition came up. Here is a link to the actual Scholarship Cadet Contract. Note the top of Page 2 there is a 45 day waiting period for the Army to reimburse the School for Tuition. http://www.missouristate.edu/assets/milcsi/DA597_3_Scholarship_Cadet_Contract.pdf As far as I've read here on this Board, this isn't a problem and the school is quite willing to wait for the payment from the Army.
 
Clarkson,

Did I miss something on the link? I saw Clip, but not Culp. What is the difference?
 
AROTC Parents,

If your cadet has still not received any stipend, have them check their account today. Today was a payday and after talking with some other cadets this morning, it seems like the pay train is finally rolling. ( I know I received my first two stipend checks today)

PIMA,
If I remember correctly, CLIP is the Cultural Language Incentive Program where you can receive an extra stipend each month for demonstrating proficiency in a certain language (more for strategic languages). CULP is the Cultural Understanding and Language (or Learning, not sure) Program. It is the program that sends cadets all around the world for 2-4 weeks learning about the local culture. You can either do a humanitarian CULP or an exchange CULP. One is more working with the locals and the other is an exchange with foreign militaries. Pretty much a paid vacation.
 
Thanks Bill.

That is very interesting and seems like a great program, because there is a difference from academically learning a language/culture and living it.
 
My AROTC son did the SLCP (Strategic Language Culture Program) beginning the summer before his freshman year at Indiana University. and again the next summer. Is this now Project GO? . (5 credits of foreign language at summer school)

Army paid for the summer program which included room and partial board, and then an extra $1000 for the following school year to continue his studies. Throw in an extra culture class and he's going to walk away with a minor in Russian.

His major is Chinese and it was a bit difficult to get the paperwork up through the system for language incentive pay, but last spring it all finally caught up with him, and he received the payments. It takes a lot of persistence.

Now, he's taking Finnish, but so far that's not a strategic language!

I think many schools pend scholarship funds differently. On son's Bursar account it shows the tuition charge and then pending financial support amount, with a balance of zero. It then all gets cleared a few weeks later.
 
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