Scholarships and USMA?

mikebravo

5-Year Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
10
Hi everyone,

I'm a class of 2018 candidate from Oregon. I have received some merit scholarships recently, but as West Point is my first choice, is there really any benefit to scholarships if I get accepted? Or will I have to forfeit them? Ideally, I would love to be able to put them into an account to pay for airfare for my family and me, because obviously going to and from New York from Oregon is really expensive.

thanks,

MB
 
I believe it depends on the terms of your scholarships. Some of them have restrictions on what they can be used for and/or where. (eg "tuition (only) at a public university").

If your particular scholarships do not have such restrictions, there are still education (not travel) costs associated with the Service Academies you might apply them towards...

Things like books, activity/lab fees, laundry, etc, etc all costs to you that come out of your account and are offset against your monthly pay. If you apply scholarship money to your account at an SA, you will pay off those debts that much faster and net more of your pay in the end.
 
My cadet is in the Class of 2017. His scholarships, sports and academics, did not come with restrictions. He was allowed to keep them even though he was entering West Point. The funds were deposited into his personal account. He uses the funds for various things.
 
Hi everyone,

I'm a class of 2018 candidate from Oregon. I have received some merit scholarships recently, but as West Point is my first choice, is there really any benefit to scholarships if I get accepted? Or will I have to forfeit them? Ideally, I would love to be able to put them into an account to pay for airfare for my family and me, because obviously going to and from New York from Oregon is really expensive.

thanks,

MB
lol, glad to see someone living in the same area as I am! yay Oregon.
 
Thanks for the responses, everyone! The scholarship form states "The scholarship is an award of $xxxx and is not renewable. The scholarship must be used in the 2014-2015 academic year and applied to educational expenses at an accredited, nonprofit college, university, or vocational/technical school in the United States." Does this mean I could use it for various other expenses, even if that is laundry/various other expenses?
 
It'll go into your cadet account and by extension be used to purchase your books, computer, internet access, etc. Make sure you check the fine print. Usually they'll want confirmation of enrollment which won't come until A-Day. Might need to communicate with them about your unique situation at WP.
 
It'll go into your cadet account and by extension be used to purchase your books, computer, internet access, etc. Make sure you check the fine print. Usually they'll want confirmation of enrollment which won't come until A-Day. Might need to communicate with them about your unique situation at WP.

One additional consideration is what happens to the money in the cadet account after you graduate. You get it back. Had a classmate of mine that received a lot of scholarship so ended having something like $10,000 in cadet account when he graduated. So, how do you differentiate which portion was the scholarship and his personal contribution from his cadet account?
 
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