Very concerning AFROTC news

Akrogan

5-Year Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
204
Good evening folks,

Has anyone heard of how AFROTC is now not paying full tuition amounts starting in Spring? Essentially if you have any other scholarships paying for tuition, AFROTC will now only pay the difference.

Very very concerning because I've always used my refund to pay for housing and other expenses.

Anyone else know anything about this/what can be done? Also is the AF breaking its contract here?

Thanks, appreciated.
 
Quick question before I give my full response. Have you looked at your Bursar statement? Did it show AFROTC paying the tuition, and than your merit being applied?
~ In that scenario, it is not AFROTC cutting you a check. It is the Bursars office cutting it from your merit.

I am not sure why this is a shocker. If you read the fine print it has been there since at least 08. They state in their fine print for both type 2 and 7...UP TO...TUITION.
~ Using type 2 as an example. It never said 18K and keep the change. It always said UP TO.

Hence, I think this is them saying to colleges, cadets and candidates regarding your merit packages beware if the college is offering merit that can only be used towards tuition, than they get charged 1st and we will be secondary.
~ Sequestration is still alive and kicking. We have passed the look in the sofa for loose change to pinching pennies. Easiest way to pinch is the fine print for billing ROTC scholarships that also have merit.

My DS's merit was not tied at all to tuition, it was pure merit. AFROTC came off the top and when it was 15K for tuition, they only paid 15K, not 18. Merit picked up the rest, and the check cut back was from the balance....the college paid the difference, not AFROTC. He did not keep the 3K and the merit balance.

FWIW, this is their exact verbage from the AFROTC site. Has been for eons or at least for 7 years.
  • Type 2–Pays college tuition and most lab fees up to $18,000 and pays $900/year for books. Approximately 10 percent ofour four-year scholarship winners will be offered a Type 2 scholarship (mostly in technical fields). If a student attends an institution where the tuition exceeds $18,000, then he/she pays the difference. All three-year scholarships are Type 2.
  • Type 7–Pays college tuition up to the equivalent of the in-state rate and $900 per year for books.
Sorry, but are you seeing the trend? Tuition up to? If your merit from your college is true merit and not tied to tuition at all than your life will not change.
 
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The scholarship from the state pays for about 90% of my tuition.

Before this new rule, what would happen is the state would pay the 90%, then I'd pay the remainder, and AFROTC tuition money would be sent to my personal bank account. This would be the full tuition amount.

Always thought this was how it was supposed to work, and how it was explained to me. AFROTC will pay your full tuition, anything else is just another scholarship, good for you.
 
No offense, but I am now confused.

You agree that AF only pays tuition, correct? Everything is gravy.
~ OBTW AFROTC will pay full tuition for all type 1, or IS type 7.

Here is the simple way to determine who sent you that money...was the direct deposit or check from DFAS?
 
I am so confused on your angst.

You stated that you knew that the AFROTC scholarship was TUITION only. They did not break any contract at all.
You stated that any scholarship on top was good for you, but they would only pay for TUITION. Agreed?

Than you go onto say ...AFROTC dropped the money into your personal account? May I ask was it from DFAS? If not, than it was your college that went off and charged AFROTC the tuition, applied the other funds to your account, and in the end it is not AFROTC, and you should be fine. You just assumed it was AFROTC.

I see this differently than you. I see it stating that if Smith University gives you 100K in merit, but it can only be used towards tuition and you get a type 2 AFROTC scholarship, assume it costs 30K tuition. AFROTC is saying.. they will not pay the 18K and let the college pick up the 12K. Instead, they are stating that the college is offering 25K tuition per year, and now AFROTC will pick up that remaining 5K.

Just saying.
 
Oh, I do apologize for the confusing language and was not in any way upset at you or anything like that.

All money received in my account was from DFAS. The news I received was officially from AFROTC, not the university.

I'm just confused because in my contract, it doesn't say anything along the lines that I or my state scholarship are obligated to pay anything other than the AF money.

Honestly it's just rough because this is now a huge obstacle as I pay for school on my own, and the previous arrangement allowed me to do this. All this news just randomly came today, from the AF.

Thank you again, did not mean any offense whatsoever.
 
No offense but why go to a college that you can only afford with afrotc scholarship? After all, sft isn't guaranteed.
 
I get the angst, but this was not a bait and switch. You have even admitted you knew that it was for tuition only. If your college will not move the funds to r&b than impo it is your college, not AFROTC.

Sorry, but that is the facts as I see it. AFROTC did not change anything. You were fortunate that you fell into a loophole or maybe we got screwed. Like I said our DS never got that rebate check, it was UP TO and call it a day. Trust me I can promise you I would have had no problem cashing a 3K check.

I would be with you if they were like A/NROTC and allowed the option to use the scholarship for R & B, but they have never done that in recent history.

They didn't change their tune. It is up to IS tuition in your case (type 7) and they are still saying they will pay your tuition. They are just saying now that the way your merit scholarship works ...tuition only, they aren't going to cut you a check.

This may seem harsh, but I don't get how you feel they could even be near breach of contract when you acknowledge you knew when you entered it was tuition only. Getting a check from them should have never been in the equation if that is the only way you could afford attendance at the school.

I respect you and your goals. I feel for you financially, but it is what it is. Sequestration is still in effect. They are no longer at finding change in the sofa, now they are pinching pennies.
~ AFROTC.com has stated that SFT is now 24 days. Do you know the difference between 24 and 28 days...TDY pay for 2K cadets...that illustrates how hard they are pinching the pennies.
 
I can afford it; I have a scholarship from the state, grants, and work.

It just makes things much more difficult, as this just randomly came out of nowhere. Getting into SFT is in my control, and I do have plans if that doesn't work out. However this was very random to say the least.
 
Maybe I'm misreading or not following but the way I interpreted it: AFROTC deposits the lump tuition sum into your personal bank? That seems bizarre. I activated my ICSP late spring 12; I paid the $XK of tuition on my own, AFROTC followed up later in the same spring sem and paid said $XK of tuition (even though I already paid), what happened next, as Pima pointed out, was the bursars office cut me a check back (basically reimbursing me) the (again) said $XK that I paid out of pocket - if that makes sense? lol.

I can't imagine that they would just dump you with the entire amount (or up to $XK) unless they were just reimbursing you the difference b/t your state scholarship and the AFROTC one.
 
But it really wasn't random at all was it? You knew those key words "tuition only" when you accepted the scholarship last year.

Last time stating this. You acknowledge that when they offered the scholarship it would only pay for tuition.
Do you disagree with me when I state in the eyes of HQ AFROTC they are still paying for your tuition? They did not say that they would not pay for it. They stated that if you have merit that is designated tuition only than the AF will be the secondary.
If you do agree that they are still paying your tuition and any other merit that is not tuition only is gravy you get to keep, than nothing changed at all. Most importantly it should not be a shocker.

What is a shocker is that because impo your state U had a funky billing system, you were in a loophole that they now closed. If you truly have merit, grants, etc. that is not tied to tuition you will still get a check. IE Pell grant you will still get a check back. Work study, you still get it.

You need to talk to your financial aid dept tomorrow, and when you do have them pull up the bursars statement to see how that refund occurred.
 
I'm sorry, I have just always been under the impression that AFROTC pays the full tuition amount, and that that is their responsibility.

Yes I acknowledge it is just tuition, but I always thought that the Up to meant if the school is more expensive, and that outside scholarships didn't affect ROTC payment.

Again, sorry I was misinformed. It just came as a shock to my detachment and cadets at other detachments that I know.
 
The way it's always worked for me is like this: state scholarship covered the vast majority of tuition, then I paid the maybe 100 dollars out of pocket, and then the AF paid the full tuition bill before anything to myself and other cadets in my detachment.

Thank you again.
 
The difference was $100? So the way I would imagine it would work is AFROTC would pay the difference ($100 as you said) and $100 alone, not the entire tuition- especially not into your personal bank acct. Just very strange- I have never heard of that...ever.
 
I activated my ICSP late spring 12; I paid the $XK of tuition on my own, AFROTC followed up later in the same spring sem and paid said $XK of tuition (even though I already paid), what happened next, as Pima pointed out, was the bursars office cut me a check back (basically reimbursing me) the (again) said $XK that I paid out of pocket - if that makes sense? lol.

Thank you for a moment there I thought maybe it was HQ AFROTC that dumped it directly in DSs account and we had him write a check, instead of him endorsing a check that bursar cut.
 
I activated my ICSP late spring 12; I paid the $XK of tuition on my own, AFROTC followed up later in the same spring sem and paid said $XK of tuition (even though I already paid), what happened next, as Pima pointed out, was the bursars office cut me a check back (basically reimbursing me) the (again) said $XK that I paid out of pocket - if that makes sense? lol.

Thank you for a moment there I thought maybe it was HQ AFROTC that dumped it directly in DSs account and we had him write a check, instead of him endorsing a check that bursar cut.

Honestly I have no idea- maybe it used to be that way? The only payments from AFROTC I have ever received: scholarship book $, scholarship stipend/POC stipend, FT (when we got paid to go), CTA scholarship, and reimbursement for travel stuff... That's it. Never the scholarship lump sum/tuition up to. FWIW I'm on a type II so it would be up to the $18K, which is no where near my school's tuition. I don't get to keep the difference... sadly. But seriously, we still get physical copies of our stipend, even with direct deposit. Talk about the easiest way to save money...stop sending us them!

Edit: Also fall 13 approaching spring 14, the day tuition was due, AFROTC still hadn't paid it; fear of having all my classes dropped I went ahead and paid it myself. AFROTC sure enough came through at the very last minute and I was again reimbursed from the school.
 
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Update: It was the university paying out; what it looks like is that the University was billing the Air Force the full price, and not just the difference. I was just unaware, I legitimately thought that the Air Force was supposed to pay the full price/was blind to any other scholarships.

Sorry, I hope that cleared things up/my confusion made sense since this is what was "normal" to me. Thanks again folks, really do appreciate it.
 
I was joking in a way.

Our DS was also type 2 and in the beginning it was not close to the 18K, he too never got to keep a penny either, For him it was like you...up to 18K, not WILL pay 18K even if it cost you only a thousand out of pocket because the college gave you so much money... they were not going to give you 17K for the difference. You would only get that 1K.
 
I was joking in a way.

Our DS was also type 2 and in the beginning it was not close to the 18K, he too never got to keep a penny either, For him it was like you...up to 18K, not WILL pay 18K even if it cost you only a thousand out of pocket because the college gave you so much money... they were not going to give you 17K for the difference. You would only get that 1K.

HAha. You know, pretty hard to read sarcasm and jokes behind a comp screen.. I know it wasn't that long ago for you and your DS!
 
Update: It was the university paying out; what it looks like is that the University was billing the Air Force the full price, and not just the difference. I was just unaware, I legitimately thought that the Air Force was supposed to pay the full price/was blind to any other scholarships.

Sorry, I hope that cleared things up/my confusion made sense since this is what was "normal" to me. Thanks again folks, really do appreciate it.

SO again in the end nothing changed for you and AFROTC didn't change anything at all when it comes to scholarships.
 
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