Since DS has only been under scholarship for two academic quarters I wonder if he can drop the GRFD scholarship, repay the tuition and continue on as a non scholarship ECP. If i'm not mistaken my DS's school pays for room and board for non scholarship ECPs. I think all ECPs also get the $10k educational assistance junior and senior year at the follow on school. The financial impact of paying tuition at the junior military college might be worth it if it means he could transfer to a SMC and still have AD on the table. Of course he's also SMP which might also be a barrier to AD. Thoughts?
Let me start by saying I am no expert on this so most of what I say is just an educated guess with a little research.
At DS's school if you are not a Scholarship ECP cadet you do not participate in SMP. I do not believe non-scholarship cadets get the schools room and board scholarship. Therefore, since your DS is participating in SMP he has sworn into the national guard which is I believe where the catch is.
Let's assume that you are able to null and void the scholarship with repayment, he commissions and goes onto an SMC to finish his degree. During those two years he is commissioned into the guard or reserves as an officer, he is just non-deployable. Since he is not on scholarship does the contract with the guard override the SMC graduate status? He signed his contract with the guard first. If he is still on an ECP scholarship it specifically states that he can petition to have his GRFD revoked and access with that years class. Without the ECP scholarship contract he does not have that written option.
Don't forget that he is still accessed based upon his OML score. Even at the SMC it is the PMS's decision whether cadets get AD or not, it is not 100% guaranteed.
As far as the follow up 2 yr scholarship for ECP cadets I just assumed it was only for those that were ECP scholarship recipients. I never really thought about it though, that would be something to look into. Some places state that for every year you use this scholarship it's an additional year of service requirement. When my son was looking at schools and making decisions we asked this question and the ROO at the school he chose said he had not heard of that. (Now that could be because we are in-state residents attending an in-state MJC and the congressman that created this scholarship was from our state so there may be something buried deep in the regulations in regard to that).
Nothing we have seen specifically states that the Army will not access ECP cadets anymore (there just aren't that many of them that try for active duty). There has been no official statement. My personal feeling is that they will keep doing it as they have in the past, and just like traditional ROTC cadets, AD slots are becoming more competitive so they will have to be at the top of their game. Also with fewer traditional cadets receiving active duty, there is not the shortage of junior officers in the guard/reserves as there was previously (that may vary by state). I read where our states guard is running at 110% man-power, I assume that is officer strength also not just enlisted. I know the unit he is doing SMP with has no openings for 2nd LT's.
I wasn't a 2LT very long on active duty either.