ROTC Schol: Waiver not completed by May 1st

Here is the situation we are faced with:

DD has had her ROTC scholarship granted, she's been accepted into the college, but waiver is not approved. We are trying make decisions if the waiver is not approved by May 1st (Based upon her situation, it is very unlikely to be done by then, and who knows, it may be disapproved in the end) when school decisions have to be made.

DD's first choice of school is where the ROTC scholarship is granted to, but she will not be going to this school without the scholarship due to the school's cost. Yes, we have read ALL of the threads with concerns and guidance against this. For her plan B school, she has already been granted full-tuition plus merit scholarships. If the waiver is not approved by May 1st, she will be enrolling in the plan B school. In circumstances like this, has anybody ever had success in speaking with the administration at the school where the ROTC scholarship is granted to and telling them that you absolutely want to go to the school, but the only way it will be financially feasible, is if I am medically approved for my ROTC scholarship, and then the school still holds the spot open for you right up to the point of fall classes to see if the waiver comes through in time? Obviously, if you could put enrollment deposits in for two schools at the same time and then withdraw one at the last minute, then you wouldn't have this problem, but alas this is not allowable.

I know a student can still start the school pending the waiver, but the waiver must be approved, but the end of the 1st semester. We just won't take the risk of doing that, as then, if it is declined, we would be on the hook for the fall tuition, plus the other scholarships to plan B school would be gone.

Can anybody else who has experience this, chime in and let me know what happened?

On a side note, I will say that the issue that is causing this potential waiver or disqualification has come as a total surprise to us and was discovered during the medical review process. She is slated for her second round of remedial testing, and DD is still holding out hope, as she it not already disqualified, but frankly, I'm not feeling much hope for a good outcome. It POTENTIALLY could be a more serious cardiac issue, and if it is, I thank God it was discovered now vs. too late. While it may be the end to her dream of becoming a military officer some day, I am grateful that we will be able address the situation.

I also wanted to make another comment regarding all of this. DD had decided at the end of summer that she did not want to go to a service academy and only wanted to pursue the ROTC scholarship route. If she had not withdrawn her academy applications and had continued with them, all of the DODMerb stuff would have been ordered many, many months ago and I feel we would have had a much earlier resolution to this, especially now knowing there can be 6-7 months of the waiver process. Our DS is a junior this year and also has aspirations of serving. I guarantee you that he will have his academy applications done VERY early this summer, just so that he can get the medical stuff knocked out early, regardless of if he wants to go SA or ROTC!

I am sending you a PM with a suggestion that may help bring clarity to DoDMERB waiver

S/F

You can try throwing yourself on the "mercy" of #1 college admissions. It certainly can't hurt. I would suggest though that you make the necessary deposits at both schools if the situation is not resolved by May 1. You would need to be prepared to kiss this money goodbye (or try throwing yourself on the mercy of the school again) but it would reserve her slot at both colleges and keep your options open. Of course not everyone can afford to follow such a plan but I do know of folks with academy appointments and ROTC scholarships who do this with the ROTC scholarship school as an insurance policy against injury, etc.

I hope things work out for your daughter both school wise and health wise.

I would have no trouble putting the enrollment deposit down at both schools, even if we lost the deposit at once. However, Guidance Counselor and others have said it is unethical and not allowed. 2 housing deposits are okay, but not 2 enrollment deposits. That would be the real dilemma for us on May 1st.

USMAROTCFamily said:

I would have no trouble putting the enrollment deposit down at both schools, even if we lost the deposit at once. However, Guidance Counselor and others have said it is unethical and not allowed. 2 housing deposits are okay, but not 2 enrollment deposits. That would be the real dilemma for us on May 1st.

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Well, I certainly wouldn't ever want anyone to violate their own ethics. However:

1. How is this different from an appointment to an academy and placing a deposit at another college? There are two colleges involved.
2. I didn't know there are College Deposit Police to enforce this 'unallowed dual deposit' policy
3. Are you going to let a high school GC's take on ethics determine your daughter's future?

Again, I'm sure I cannot say what is ethical here, but I would have no problem pursuing dual deposits if that's what it came to for my kid.

We had a similar situation. DD accepted to OOS school. We were dependent on ROTC scholarship to attend. Some financial and DODMERB issues came up. She had been admitted ED to the OOS school. According to the rules you are supposed to withdraw all other admission requests when accepted for ED. Due to the uncertainties we contacted admissions at school #2 and they said we could keep her admission (they used rolling admissions) there until the situation was resolved. Everything did work out for her #1 choice. So, my suggestion is to be up front with both admissions departments and see what they will let you do. There is no harm in asking.

In speaking to my DS's Plan C (non-ROTC) school, they had no problem with us paying a deposit for him by May 1st. Admissions even said "we would love to be his back-up plan school", when we told them he had the AROTC scholarship to another school (no ROTC at this school, and their attempts to do cross-town have not been good as the colleges are at least an hour away). We have not yet paid the deposit, and not sure we will, but will figure that out by then.

Well, we are getting down to the wire, with no end in sight for resolution of DODMERB. We got the disappointing news today that the school where DD got her NROTC scholarship will not allow an extension of enrollment beyond May 1st and will not allow for her to enroll both there and at her plan B School. Guidance Counselor will not support the double enrollment, either and won't send the required final transcripts to 2 schools. We've talked with DoDMERB, DodMets, private physician, private DoDMerb consultant, etc. about finding a way to get this resolved within the next 2 weeks, but we're finally acknowledging the fact that DD needs to set her sights on her Plan B school. I think I could handle this better, if I knew she was simply just DQ and wouldn't be granted a waiver, and it was done. It's just hard when you're holding out hope that she will be medically approved and the scholarship to the top school will be thrown away, even if she is approved.

That is disappointing news. Will her plan B school give her an extension on enrolling? Then she could accept at Plan A and enroll in Plan B if the waiver is denied.

We are waiting on a waiver too. It's been 2 1/2 months with no end in sight. My son is trying to reach out to anyone who can help with this process. It's very tough on students when they have to make commitments, but something beyond their control is undecided.

USMAROTCFamily said:

I would have no trouble putting the enrollment deposit down at both schools, even if we lost the deposit at once. However, Guidance Counselor and others have said it is unethical and not allowed. 2 housing deposits are okay, but not 2 enrollment deposits. That would be the real dilemma for us on May 1st.

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this is where YOU need to start thinking creatively as is required of Officers. I would put down the deposit to the school you know you can afford... school #2. I would then phone the admissions office of School #1 and explain your situation. I would ask if I could put down a Deposit with the verbal understanding that if 1) the DODMERB waiver is not granted, OR, the school financial aid office is unable to come up with a solution to make it possible, then you will renege on the commitment to attend school #1.

Understand that students who put down deposits to attend fail to attend for many reasons. Each school builds that into their yield formula. Each school has a %... whether that be 0.5%,1%, 2%, etc. from historical data that they know will deposit bu then fail to matriculate. It's all built in, so nobody is hurt if your DS fails to matriculate to one of the two deposited schools. This is not so much the case with small schools... but I didn't get the feeling that School #1 was a very small school.

2018Class said:

That is disappointing news. Will her plan B school give her an extension on enrolling? Then she could accept at Plan A and enroll in Plan B if the waiver is denied.

We are waiting on a waiver too. It's been 2 1/2 months with no end in sight. My son is trying to reach out to anyone who can help with this process. It's very tough on students when they have to make commitments, but something beyond their control is undecided.

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We have #1 school that won't give an extension (NROTC), #2 that will work with us (AROTC) and #3 school that is the financial safety school, but won't give an extension for their full-tuition merit scholarship. Last ditch will be enroll in #3 and if the medical waiver ever comes through, then see if AROTC will transfer the scholarship. Unfortunately, #3 school doesn't have NROTC, so that scholarship opportunity would be gone....... If all else fails, then she goes to number #3 school, enrolls in AROTC and sees if she can win an on-campus scholarship after she loses the 4-year scholarship. Or finally, she may not be waived and it's all a moot point then.

USMAROTCFamily said:

We have #1 school that won't give an extension (NROTC), #2 that will work with us (AROTC) and #3 school that is the financial safety school, but won't give an extension for their full-tuition merit scholarship. Last ditch will be enroll in #3 and if the medical waiver ever comes through, then see if AROTC will transfer the scholarship. Unfortunately, #3 school doesn't have NROTC, so that scholarship opportunity would be gone....... If all else fails, then she goes to number #3 school, enrolls in AROTC and sees if she can win an on-campus scholarship after she loses the 4-year scholarship. Or finally, she may not be waived and it's all a moot point then.

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Bypass the counselor and pay for an official sealed transcript for pick up, then mail it to the school yourself. Idk why you have to go through the counselor anyways. Mine in HS was completely incompetent, almost screwed up one of my scholarships by not inputting the right numbers, forgot to bring my diploma on graduation day so I had to come back a week later to get it, always screwed up classes, late for everything dealing with colleges unless you reminded him constantly. Who cares what the counselor thinks about double enrollment, it's not his life so there's probably not much investment there.

When I was applying for colleges/scholarships and then sending final transcripts later, I requested several official transcripts be sent by my HS to whatever colleges and also requested a sealed copy for me to pick up myself. You pay the same amount for it either way, and it's none of the schools business why you request a copy of your own transcript anyways. Idk how it is at other high schools, but at mine you could either request a transcript to be sent by the counselor, OR you could go to the part of the office that actually sends and deals with transcripts and request it from them. You pay up front, mine were like $2 each, fill out a form, and pick it up in a day or two. I always took this route because I didn't trust my counselor would send anything per my request on time or at all.

Either way if you request a sealed copy of your transcript for yourself and pay whatever the fee is, they can't tell you no. And if he does bypass him and talk to someone else, they can't keep you from getting one for your own personal records.

dunninla said:

this is where YOU need to start thinking creatively as is required of Officers. I would put down the deposit to the school you know you can afford... school #2. I would then phone the admissions office of School #1 and explain your situation. I would ask if I could put down a Deposit with the verbal understanding that if 1) the DODMERB waiver is not granted, OR, the school financial aid office is unable to come up with a solution to make it possible, then you will renege on the commitment to attend school #1.

Understand that students who put down deposits to attend fail to attend for many reasons. Each school builds that into their yield formula. Each school has a %... whether that be 0.5%,1%, 2%, etc. from historical data that they know will deposit bu then fail to matriculate. It's all built in, so nobody is hurt if your DS fails to matriculate to one of the two deposited schools. This is not so much the case with small schools... but I didn't get the feeling that School #1 was a very small school.

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We already called to plead the case with school #1. The NROTC department talked with head of admissions about the situation, too. There are actually several scholarship winners in the same boat as we are, but they aren't making exceptions for anybody. Since it's a highly selective school, they have a waitlist that they want to be able to turn to, if necessary. Last year, they had more accept their enrollment offers than they had intended, so they we actually over-enrolled and took nobody from their waitlist. Perhaps, they are already seeing higher than anticipated enrollment numbers this year, as well, and would be happy if more aren't able to enroll. It's just a bummer since it's DD's dream school........ Luckily, though, she still really likes her backup school where she has full tuition scholarships to, so all is not lost.

Well, you never told me that #1 school was for a NROTC scholarship. That changes everything I said about that school.:big grin: I know that #2 school doesn't have NROTC so it's looking better all the time + that free room & board doesn't hurt either.

No matter what, it will all work out. Assuming she clears the medical, even if it's down the road, she she have no problem securing a spot at her #3 school with her obviously stealer resume.

Request a couple of weeks delay in decision from School

Most schools will give you a few weeks beyond the May 1 deadline if you ask and explain the circumstances.

We never imagined it would be possible, but our DD was medically qualified today!!!!! We are so overjoyed to find out that she is in fact healthy, and that it was determined and acted upon in time for her to be able to enroll at the school and utilize her ROTC scholarship. I guess we should never lose faith, but I admit that I had.......

Awesome news!! Go Irish but.......GO ARMY!!

k2rider said:

Awesome news!! Go Irish but.......GO ARMY!!

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K2rider - I know.....just saying the word Navy is hard for her dad and me, with both of us having been Army Officers. No, actually we are both fine with it. The more I have learned about the Navy, the more impressed I have become with them.

USMAROTCFamily said:

We never imagined it would be possible, but our DD was medically qualified today!!!!! We are so overjoyed to find out that she is in fact healthy, and that it was determined and acted upon in time for her to be able to enroll at the school and utilize her ROTC scholarship. I guess we should never lose faith, but I admit that I had.......

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Congrats to your DD!!! DoDMERB is such a grueling process and I know exactly the kind of relief you're feeling right now. I'm so glad that it worked out for you guys. I had my own problems with them but it all worked itself out in the end. God is good.