NROTC Scholarship Question

AppealToHeaven

5-Year Member
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Dec 29, 2010
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About half of the students in my son's NROTC program at Iowa State are on scholarship. Several of these scholarshiped students already have dropped out after the first week - do those scholarships remain with the school and become available to others in the college program, or do they simply go back in the pool for next year?
 
Those funds do not become available to college programmers. The system of awarding scholarships is broken in my opinion.
 
^ if what you say is true, that implies the Budget office already builds into its model the assumption that x% (lets say 15%) will drop out... and that if nobody dropped out the Budget would be blown right out of the water. Therefore, if 1,800 scholarships are budgeted for a school year, they actually award 1,800 + 15% = 2,070, expecting the dropout rate to bring it back to 1,800, on budget. It would be similar to how colleges have to deal with students who say their coming in the Fall, pay their deposit, yet don't show up. Estimating drop-out rate affects many kinds of organizations.
 
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That is true. It is like the SA's. They have an expected attrition rate. They have a historical model of how many leave prior to commission, not only overall, but per yr in the system, and use that as their guide. If they expect 25% to leave prior to commissioning, they will offer more slots with the fact that they want X number in 4 yrs.

With this economy in the tanks, that is why you are seeing the attrition rate actually increase, because it is a way to pay for college with a guarantee job at graduation. When the economy is rolling people bail at a higher rate!

It also explains why there are less IS scholarships. Cadets aren't bailing at the rate they were and thus, the commissioning yr group doesn't need more from the 3 yr IS pool compared to the HSSP that were awarded in the same yr group and maintained the scholarship.
 
Appeal to Heaven

My DD is considering NROTC at Iowa State. She is a rising junior, but I would still love to hear your impressions of the unit there. She fell in love with the school when we visited with her older brothers who were there for a national Boy Scout event several years ago. How big is the unit? How many females? How are they received by other students on campus? Do most of them live together? What is the leadership like? Any possibility of room and board scholarship? Anything else you would like to share?
 
My DD is considering NROTC at Iowa State. She is a rising junior, but I would still love to hear your impressions of the unit there. She fell in love with the school when we visited with her older brothers who were there for a national Boy Scout event several years ago. How big is the unit? How many females? How are they received by other students on campus? Do most of them live together? What is the leadership like? Any possibility of room and board scholarship? Anything else you would like to share?
kpmom2013,

Still trying to figure things out with this forum, but maybe a pm is better and I'm still trying to figure out how to do tht (and THANKS! to anyone who can help me figure that out). Have some info to pass on that might be of use to your DD and you.
 
MNDad2015 - to send a PM just click on the receipients name in a post header (it will be underlined) and a set of options appears. One will be to send a PM.
 
AppealToHeaven,

Do you know why "several" Midn's dropped out so soon? I'm hoping to be there next fall (waiting on a transfer). Also, any other info about the unit would be great!

Thanks
 
AppealToHeaven,

Do you know why "several" Midn's dropped out so soon? I'm hoping to be there next fall (waiting on a transfer). Also, any other info about the unit would be great!

Thanks

Different unit but ours also lost several MIDN during freshman orientation, some on scholarship. Orientation is no cake walk. Everyone will question whether or not its really for them. I'm sure its designed to do just that. And if you can't handle the stress of freshman O, you certainly don't need to be leading others in battle. At the same time you won't be asked to handle more than is possible, but you will be pushed to your limits. Hard to believe that can happen in just 5 days, huh?
 
kinnem,

I am taking a wild guess here, but I bet the reason why is they had to get up at O'dark thirty to exercise and failed the PT test!

They than asked why am I getting up at 4:30 to be yelled at? Screw that, I am 18, my 1st class is at 10, I'd rather sleep in!

Many enter ROTC thinking that they have an extra class, and PT, what could be so hard? They learn week one theory did not meet reality, and they didn't like the reality of the next 4 yrs.

Shining shoes, buckles, lint rolling uniforms, running in the rain, etc. and being told you are not the best in the world is not fun.

It is the same, not to the % at the SAs during BCT. 5% of SA cadets leave the SA's during BCT, but probably for the same reason; the illusion in their mind did not meet the reality in their life.
 
kinnem,

I am taking a wild guess here, but I bet the reason why is they had to get up at O'dark thirty to exercise and failed the PT test!

They than asked why am I getting up at 4:30 to be yelled at? Screw that, I am 18, my 1st class is at 10, I'd rather sleep in!

Many enter ROTC thinking that they have an extra class, and PT, what could be so hard? They learn week one theory did not meet reality, and they didn't like the reality of the next 4 yrs.

Shining shoes, buckles, lint rolling uniforms, running in the rain, etc. and being told you are not the best in the world is not fun.

It is the same, not to the % at the SAs during BCT. 5% of SA cadets leave the SA's during BCT, but probably for the same reason; the illusion in their mind did not meet the reality in their life.

Pima,

I think you're absolutely right. Same thing... more details. You have to have a penchant for being anal about your uniform and appearance, being on time (meaning early), getting up at 0'Dark:30, standing fire watch, and handling the yelling when you mess up. And some folks decide this is not for them
 
Thanks for the heads up, cuz I have no intention of dropping (but i'm guessing neither did they). I know the early mornings won't be too much of a problem for me. I'm a swimmer and wake up 4:30 for practice most mornings now. I'm doing as much running and stuff as possible to get ready for the PT.
 
I also imagine some parents may push their children towards the ROTC option. They may never be committed.
 
Cy12 - Iowa State is a good unit. They did have a few mids drop at the beginning of the year, but I think that the program has been quite stable. If you make it, look for my DS midshipman Mann as a sophomore next year! Good luck!
 
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