2011 Room and Board Dispersal

Is anyone else from last year still waiting for Room and Board to be paid as part of the AROTC scholarship? I'd seen a thread on this in November so I knew we were not alone. And the cadet leadership is asking questions of my son to see if he has recieved payment. So it seems they are looking "into it".

But since he started classes yesterday I've had to front the the money for a whole year of R&B. Not sure if this is normal. A school by school thing, or just lifes little challenge just for us? It may be something for next year's group to at least prepare for as it does seem to happen.

Thanks and Good luck to those waiting for the January Boards.

Same with our DS. We have not seen any of his R&B monies as of yet and we have started the spring semester as well.

My DS schools doesn't pay Room and Board so that is on him. His 4 year schoarship picked up fees and tuition. His tuition was paid for along with all fees back in Sept. the first week. He just passed his PFT in Dec. so he just started getting his stipen. Only got partial for Dec and nothing for Jan. so we are confused about that money and why it was prorated. Also he got a deposit for what looks like book money but don't know if its for last semester or this semester. Very confusing isn't it?

jagabiti said:

My DS schools doesn't pay Room and Board so that is on him. His 4 year schoarship picked up fees and tuition. His tuition was paid for along with all fees back in Sept. the first week. He just passed his PFT in Dec. so he just started getting his stipen. Only got partial for Dec and nothing for Jan. so we are confused about that money and why it was prorated. Also he got a deposit for what looks like book money but don't know if its for last semester or this semester. Very confusing isn't it?

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Sounds like he should be normal now. They do prorate the stipend for the first month based on the exact day he contracted and the end of the pay period. The stipend is paid on the 15th and the 30th of the month. So technically you haven't recieved January yet. Our DS Book money got paid pretty quickly after contracting. In fact the first deposit lumped the $600 books with the prorated stipend. If that is what he got I assume that was last semester's book money. I'm new so don't know how the second semester works after contracting but it seems quicker than the Room and Board funds. I'm guessing the end of January.

jagabiti said:

My DS schools doesn't pay Room and Board so that is on him. His 4 year schoarship picked up fees and tuition. His tuition was paid for along with all fees back in Sept. the first week. He just passed his PFT in Dec. so he just started getting his stipen. Only got partial for Dec and nothing for Jan. so we are confused about that money and why it was prorated. Also he got a deposit for what looks like book money but don't know if its for last semester or this semester. Very confusing isn't it?

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Are you referring to AROTC, if your son did not pass the APFT until Dec. how did he get the tuition paid in Sept. The Army does not pay anything until the cadet contracts which means passing the APFT. I was just curious.

Now if your son is not AROTC then please disregard the ramblings above. Either way it looks like he is set now.

Wow, lots of Information but I understand now. He is AROTC and they did pay for tuition back in September even though he wasn't contracted yet. The $180 he got paid must have been prorated for Dec. From when he passed his PFT on the last possible day. He did get his book money but from what you are saying is from the first semester. That'ts more then he thought be cause he thought he lost that money. Anyone else get their stipen late due to late passing of their PFT?

NewCollegeParent said:

Is anyone else from last year still waiting for Room and Board to be paid as part of the AROTC scholarship? .

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Hmm... as I think I wrote back on that other Thread, AROTC doesn't pay R&B, so to be more specific, the SCHOOL has an arrangement with ROTC to pay R&B for all or selected cadets. It doesn't hurt to ask AROTC cadre if they get involved in that SCHOOL policy, but really, it is the SCHOOL that needs to be contacted.

I would assume the school (that being their policy) would ask ROTC for a list of contracted scholarship cadets. However, I think I read something abut 45 days into the school year for such determinations to be made (a list). I would imagine it then takes 3-4 weeks for ROTC to produce an contracted cadet list, submit that to the school (assuming ROTC does this proactively or the school remembers to ask), and then for the school to process that credit to your DS account. If I were a school with a "free room & Board for contracted scholarship cadets", I certainly wouldn't release any money to a student until I had confirmed the students was contracted and on scholarship in good standing.

jagabiti said:

Anyone else get their stipen late due to late passing of their PFT?

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not sure what "late" is, but stipends come only after a cadet is contracted, and are not paid after the fact for months in which the student wasn't contracted.

dunninla said:

Hmm... as I think I wrote back on that other Thread, AROTC doesn't pay R&B, so to be more specific, the SCHOOL has an arrangement with ROTC to pay R&B for all or selected cadets. It doesn't hurt to ask AROTC cadre if they get involved in that SCHOOL policy, but really, it is the SCHOOL that needs to be contacted.

I would assume the school (that being their policy) would ask ROTC for a list of contracted scholarship cadets. However, I think I read something abut 45 days into the school year for such determinations to be made (a list). I would imagine it then takes 3-4 weeks for ROTC to produce an contracted cadet list, submit that to the school (assuming ROTC does this proactively or the school remembers to ask), and then for the school to process that credit to your DS account. If I were a school with a "free room & Board for contracted scholarship cadets", I certainly wouldn't release any money to a student until I had confirmed the students was contracted and on scholarship in good standing.

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AROTC Scholarship cadets can choose to have their scholarship pay either tuition and fees or room and board. If you choose room and board the check comes to you and you pay the school. If you choose tuition and fees the check goes directly to the school. My DS is has choosen the room and board option since its is the higher cost of the two.

R&B is taxable income. Tuiton and fees are not.

You can use the AROTC scholarship for either tuition or room and board. each year the cadets state which they wish to use it for. Room and board is more of a reimbursement situation and the money gets paid directly to the Cadet.

As far as room and board, that seems to get paid very late for the Fall semester. Both last year and this year my son was finished with the semester prior to getting paid. The spring semester was paid at some point in Feb if I remember correctly.

jagabiti said:

My DS schools doesn't pay Room and Board so that is on him. His 4 year schoarship picked up fees and tuition. His tuition was paid for along with all fees back in Sept. the first week. He just passed his PFT in Dec. so he just started getting his stipen. Only got partial for Dec and nothing for Jan. so we are confused about that money and why it was prorated. Also he got a deposit for what looks like book money but don't know if its for last semester or this semester. Very confusing isn't it?

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I'm not sure how your son got his tuition paid with the AROTC scholarship if he hadn't passed his APFT. The scholarship doesn't fund until this is passed. I know cadets who actually never had the scholarship fund a dime because they never passed the APFT by December and thus they lost the scholarship.

As far as not getting a stipend in Jan., they are paid twice per month and the first payment in Jan. will be on the 15th.
The book money your son received if he just got it is for the spring semester.

Are you sure his tuition was actually paid back in Sept or did the school give him credit on his financial aide in anticipation of the ROTC scholarship?

FAS said:

AROTC Scholarship cadets can choose to have their scholarship pay either tuition and fees or room and board. My DS is has choosen the room and board option since its is the higher cost of the two.

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Oh, OK. I had not conceived of the fact that a school's tuition+fees could actually be less expensive than room+board, given that room+board is taxable income. But I can see easily how in some cases, Room+Board would be $12,000 (with reimbursement capped at $10,000 appently per another post) and tuition+fees could be $6,000, or less.

cjs said:

I'm not sure how your son got his tuition paid with the AROTC scholarship if he hadn't passed his APFT. The scholarship doesn't fund until this is passed. I know cadets who actually never had the scholarship fund a dime because they never passed the APFT by December and thus they lost the scholarship.

As far as not getting a stipend in Jan., they are paid twice per month and the first payment in Jan. will be on the 15th.
The book money your son received if he just got it is for the spring semester.

Are you sure his tuition was actually paid back in Sept or did the school give him credit on his financial aide in anticipation of the ROTC scholarship?

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I was wondering the same thing.

There were 2 Scholarship MS1 cadets at my son's school who did not pass their APFT, one has since left the program and the other is going through a review to see if they will stay. Neither cadet received any stipend, book money, or tuition for the first semester. The schools accounting office shows the scholarship as a credit for the semester and then markes it paid once they receive the Army Scholarship money, if they don't receive it by the end of the semester it is billed back to the student. It sounds like the tuition for this cadet was held as a credit until payment was made. The cadet was lucky he passed the APFT before the end of the semester or he would have received a suprise tuition bill at the end of the semester.

Since he did pass the APFT during the first semester, the book money could be for the first semester, I wouldn't count on that though. Your son should talk to the HR people in his battalion and get a clear picture of hoe the funds were dispursed and whether the book money was for last semester or this coming semester. You don't want to be counting on next semester's book money if it won't be coming.

Jagabiti,

Congrats to your son for passing the APFT, had he not he could have faced removal from the program and loss of the scholarship. Tell him to keep working out and stay in good shape, if a cadet is unable to pass the APFT in any semester it can be a problem for them, loss of scholarship, and required to payback that semester's tuition. Good luck to him, sounds like he is moving in the right direction.

Tax stuff

I posted this back in October. Its corect that R&B is taxble, but don't let that scare you too bad. Unless your cadet has a big trust fun or an outrageous job from a rich uncle, the tax burden should be minimal. Everyone makes there own decisions and some of us have other merit based scholarships that can only be used for tuition. So the Army's flexibility is appreciated.

Good News, we all have time to contact an accountant. However, this is what I've been advised.

** Georgia Hope (Merit) scholarship is not taxed but can only be used for tuition
** Army Room and board is taxable
** Books and Stipends not taxable (Need reciepts for books and school supplies including computer)

Now, I will claim my son as a dependent which hurts him but helps me. Depending on your view you can reimburse them if you want. Here is my reaoning

Some TAX facts

Federal Dependent Exemption is $3650
Federal Standard deduction for 2011 is $5800
Single tax rate 10% 0-$8500 of TAXABLE income (After deductions)
Single tax rate 15% for TAXABLE income between $8501-$34,500
Married tax rate of 25% for Taxable income 69,000- 139,350

Let us say son gets $10,000 for room and board from ARMY
He takes the standard deduction of $5800 and owes taxes on the remaining $4200.

$4200 is his TAXABLE income

Now since he does not make alot of other money, his tax rate is 10% therefore he will owe a total of $420.00 to the federal IRS.

I take the depedent deduction which lowers my taxable income by $3650. Now I am blessed to have married taxable income greater than 69,000 (NOte after deductions). This is taxed at 25%. So it works out that If I claim him I DO NOT PAY $912.50 BUT he DOES pay $365. A tax savings to the family of $547.50

As you see, you could pay his taxes with this savings and still have some left over.

Of course if your married taxable income is less than $69,000 then the differnce is much less (5%or $182.5) Also state taxes will likely cause a greater overal difference.

I don't know about you, but my son has not totally left our payroll (Insurance, Car, Phone, vacation uncovered college expences) so I personally feel I should claim him.

Hope this did not confuse the issue

Great post NewCollegeParent, a very simple easy to understand explaination for those looking at using the scholarship for R & B.

As a non-Georgian, let me congratulate you, newcollegeparent for being one. The Hope scholarship is a heck of a deal and good reason why UGA and especially Ga Tech can attract awesome candidates. If you even get into GA Tech in-state you'll qualify for Hope. Compare that to the price to Duke if your Mom or Dad is a cardiologist.

Every chance I get, I warn parents and kids away from lure of the Ivies and other super-selects. Can one really justify the extra $20-40k/yr? Organic chemistry is organic chemistry.

We were super impressed by the Ramblin' Wreck and its ROTC unit.