Citadel & ROTC Scholarship

Hopefull_in_NEFL

5-Year Member
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Mar 14, 2014
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My son has been academically accepted. Found out Friday that he was offered NO scholarships from Citadel. He still hasn't received word from NROTC Scholarship. Without it, we cannot afford for him to attend at $50K+ per year.

Questions:
1. Does Citadel get a NROTC Scholarship recipient every year? How many?
2. When will we find out?

We've visited The Citadel 3 times already and he is scheduled for his Pre-Knob visit in April. He also has a "Preview" of another Florida college where he has been accepted that same day. Of course, he still wants to go to the Pre-Knob visit. It just feels hopeless at this point that he will get to attend the Citadel.

Any words of wisdom appreciated.
 
I can't even claim to be a novice here, but are you sure they are not offering financial aid. From my perhaps incorrect reading of their web site it looks to me like they award financial aid in April. That would certainly conform to what most colleges do.

The only other words of wisdom I have is it ain't over 'til its over.
 
I can't even claim to be a novice here, but are you sure they are not offering financial aid. From my perhaps incorrect reading of their web site it looks to me like they award financial aid in April. That would certainly conform to what most colleges do.

The only other words of wisdom I have is it ain't over 'til its over.

His award status on the Gateway changed to Awarded $50,156 but when you click on the Award tab they are all approved LOANS. I called Financial Aid and they confirmed that they are LOANS and that all scholarship have been awarded at this time. She did say that when/if they get any ROTC scholarships, they would adjust the Gateway and would email the cadet. She said we would be getting an email next week about the award of the LOANS. I just can't see paying $200K for and undergraduate degree when his tuition is free at a Florida school. We would both love for him to go to the Citadel but doesn't look like it will happen without ROTC scholarship.
 
His award status on the Gateway changed to Awarded $50,156 but when you click on the Award tab they are all approved LOANS. I called Financial Aid and they confirmed that they are LOANS and that all scholarship have been awarded at this time. She did say that when/if they get any ROTC scholarships, they would adjust the Gateway and would email the cadet. She said we would be getting an email next week about the award of the LOANS. I just can't see paying $200K for and undergraduate degree when his tuition is free at a Florida school. We would both love for him to go to the Citadel but doesn't look like it will happen without ROTC scholarship.

I certainly agree with you. Just wanted to make sure you had the full skinny on it. I would be making the same decision. My DS would not have ended up at his #1 school without an NROTC scholarship if he hadn't gotten a merit scholarship from the college. It's so damned expensive these days.
 
Same here. If DS had gone to The Citadel, he would have gotten a $200k bachelor's degree in history, and been in an impossible college loan debt scenario for a very, very long time.

When we visited the school, and were in a large room full of parents, somebody started a discussion on this very topic, which became heated and loud, and a whole bunch of parents ended up leaving in disgust, meeting at a restaurant in Charleston, and discussing ROTC options.

It was like the SA forum, only in person! Can you imagine?!
 
Same here. If DS had gone to The Citadel, he would have gotten a $200k bachelor's degree in history, and been in an impossible college loan debt scenario for a very, very long time.

When we visited the school, and were in a large room full of parents, somebody started a discussion on this very topic, which became heated and loud, and a whole bunch of parents ended up leaving in disgust, meeting at a restaurant in Charleston, and discussing ROTC options.

It was like the SA forum, only in person! Can you imagine?!

Wait the parents were mad because there weren't enough scholarships to go around?
 
Wait the parents were mad because there weren't enough scholarships to go around?

Not exactly. Parents of students who were not awarded any scholarships were upset at the $200k pricetag for a bachelor's degree. The majority of students are not scholarship recipients.
 
Not exactly. Parents of students who were not awarded any scholarships were upset at the $200k pricetag for a bachelor's degree. The majority of students are not scholarship recipients.

DS chose not to go to the Citadel but I decided to check what they offered for his financial aid anyway....a big fat zero!! Just $50k in loans, lol :) DH, who was a little disappointed that DS opted for a different school, was all smiles last night, telling him what a great choice he had made (visions of a healthy, intact retirement fund dancing through his head) :)

* he would have used his AROTC scholarship there but it would not have covered (almost) everything like it does at Norwich
 
Not exactly. Parents of students who were not awarded any scholarships were upset at the $200k pricetag for a bachelor's degree. The majority of students are not scholarship recipients.

But how could everyone involved not understand that might be the outcome going in? :confused: I guess I understand because my wife would probably be one of the upset parents in that scenario but I just can't wrap my head around it.
 
But how could everyone involved not understand that might be the outcome going in? :confused: I guess I understand because my wife would probably be one of the upset parents in that scenario but I just can't wrap my head around it.

I'm sure I'd be pretty ripped too. To my mind, "need-based financial aid" implies a combination of grants and loans, not 100% loans. The size and composition of financial aid packages for a given student will vary depending on the school, but offering $0 in grants is only what you do when you've determined there is no financial need -- highly unlikely for the majority of out-of-state parents.
 
But how could everyone involved not understand that might be the outcome going in? :confused: I guess I understand because my wife would probably be one of the upset parents in that scenario but I just can't wrap my head around it.

You get wrapped up in the fact that a great school accepted you, and you think -- ok -- we'll plan a trip to check the place out. Everybody gets excited about the trip, and you're aware of the costs, but you're still thinking a scholarship is a possibility.

And then you get there and it hits you like a ton of bricks when reality sets in that there's not going to be a scholarship.

This scenario won't happen with DS2. We've learned our lesson.
 
I'm sure I'd be pretty ripped too. To my mind, "need-based financial aid" implies a combination of grants and loans, not 100% loans. The size and composition of financial aid packages for a given student will vary depending on the school, but offering $0 in grants is only what you do when you've determined there is no financial need -- highly unlikely for the majority of out-of-state parents.


Exactly!! DS applied to 6 schools and received very generous aid packages to all of them...except The Citadel :)
 
You get wrapped up in the fact that a great school accepted you, and you think -- ok -- we'll plan a trip to check the place out. Everybody gets excited about the trip, and you're aware of the costs, but you're still thinking a scholarship is a possibility.

And then you get there and it hits you like a ton of bricks when reality sets in that there's not going to be a scholarship.

This scenario won't happen with DS2. We've learned our lesson.

OK. Got it. Thanks.
 
Yes, we knew the costs going in. Trip #1 was to explore the college, trip #2 was to gather more details, trip #3 was a scholarship interview. We thought DS would be very competitive for scholarships.
 
Yes, we knew the costs going in. Trip #1 was to explore the college, trip #2 was to gather more details, trip #3 was a scholarship interview. We thought DS would be very competitive for scholarships.

Same here -- exactly. DS was competitive too, and Citadel was his dream school -- made three trips -- each of which was expensive for our family. Extremely disappointing to learn that all financial "aid" meant was $200,000 in loans because DS didn't make the "cut" for any scholarship money. A realistic chat with some recent grads made it seem like the possibility of a 3-year would also be remote.

Is there a bachelor's degree on earth that is worth going into that much debt for?

Kids out there reading this forum thinking you're going to a service academy or getting a military scholarship -- you better be doing your homework, studying hard, and putting in the time in leadership and sports because this military college thing is by far NOT the easy route to a "free" degree. Do yourself a favor -- whatever you're doing now -- work harder.
 
so my DS did receive an army ROTC scholarship but it is not showing up on his award package. we are going next week. would love some advice on what i should be looking for and questions to ask. the 50,000 was a punch in the gut. hoping the scholarship takes a nice chunk of that away.
 
Just a clarification since I see a lot of inaccurate numbers being thrown around. Expected cost for out of state freshmen for the coming year is 46K, 4 year cost 165K. That's a lot of money but on par with most other public colleges.
 
so my DS did receive an army ROTC scholarship but it is not showing up on his award package. we are going next week. would love some advice on what i should be looking for and questions to ask. the 50,000 was a punch in the gut. hoping the scholarship takes a nice chunk of that away.

You might have already discovered this in your research but there is an additional scholarship offered to ROTC scholarship winners who have a certain GPA and SAT/ACT score. It doesn't cover all the room and board (and I think it's just for knob year) but it is something!
 
Same here -- exactly. DS was competitive too, and Citadel was his dream school -- made three trips -- each of which was expensive for our family. Extremely disappointing to learn that all financial "aid" meant was $200,000 in loans because DS didn't make the "cut" for any scholarship money. A realistic chat with some recent grads made it seem like the possibility of a 3-year would also be remote.

Is there a bachelor's degree on earth that is worth going into that much debt for?

Kids out there reading this forum thinking you're going to a service academy or getting a military scholarship -- you better be doing your homework, studying hard, and putting in the time in leadership and sports because this military college thing is by far NOT the easy route to a "free" degree. Do yourself a favor -- whatever you're doing now -- work harder.


Wow! It's a good question Thunderhawk that each family has to exam. For me, the answer would be no. Also, don't want to 'stretch' to get there and then come home a year later because it is no longer affordable. How do you pay off $150k or more and build a life? If the goal is to be Army Officer a state school with ROTC will get him butter bars too. It's all what one makes of it.
 
This makes me sad.

I graduated from VMI in the 1990s as an out-of-state cadet. Tuition was fairly reasonable then, and my folks could manage it (I did get a small incentive scholarship from AFROTC during my last two years to help with a few thousand bucks).

It really is crazy now, and while I don't have kids at the moment, in 20 some years, it'll be impossible to afford full-freight. I couldn't afford it now...it's ridiculous.

There is no reason to go into $200K worth of debt (or $165K) for an undergraduate degree. When I was in high school, going to an out-of-state public college was not an uncommon choice. Sure, it was more than the in-state school, but it wasn't so much as to be out of reach for an average middle class family. That option seems to have evaporated unless you have scholarships or other grants.

Bums me out.
 
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