AFROTC Disenrollment

caracas

5-Year Member
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Feb 29, 2012
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8
This is kind of a weird question but i imagine many ask it. What are the chances nowadays be being calledto involuntary active duty if disenrolled?
Does it depend on the offense? How many years does the Air Force make you serve?

Just want to hear other's thoughts
 
This is kind of a weird question but i imagine many ask it. What are the chances nowadays be being calledto involuntary active duty if disenrolled?
Does it depend on the offense? How many years does the Air Force make you serve?

Just want to hear other's thoughts

Its all handled on a case by case basis at the Holm Center. It doesnt happen often, but I did know a couple cadets who did it during my time in AFROTC.

Both times it was a case of the cadets being unable to keep up their grades. They weren't bad kids, but they simply couldnt meet academic standards. They lost their scholarships, and the Air Force decided to have them serve out their time. I can't remember how long their active duty enlisted commitment is. It was somewhere between 2-4 years IIRC.

Two things I know for sure... 1) The decision on paying it back monetarily vs. serving it out as enlisted DOES NOT lie with the cadet. The Air Force will make that decision. 2) If the cadet is disenrolled due to something like a DUI or cheating, then he/she will definitely NOT be allowed to serve out their commitment as enlisted. They will be paying it back monetarily.
 
^ I haven't heard or read about ANY Air Force, Army, Navy, or Marine Option Navy ROTC disenrolled mids/cadets being allowed to pay their obligation via enlistment in the past two years.

We are in a period of downsizing in all Services. The odds are 95+% that Disenrollment means you pay back all Scholarship, Fees, and Book money paid up to that date by the ROTC to you/your school. Now, Air Force ROTC is different...of you are disenrolled b/c you were a cadet in good standing, but don't qualify for Summer Field Training after your 2nd year (sometimes 10% don't, sometimes 40%, depending on year), several people have posted here that in that case, there has been up to this time no reimbursement or active duty service obligation.
 
^ I haven't heard or read about ANY Air Force, Army, Navy, or Marine Option Navy ROTC disenrolled mids/cadets being allowed to pay their obligation via enlistment in the past two years.

We are in a period of downsizing in all Services. The odds are 95+% that Disenrollment means you pay back all Scholarship, Fees, and Book money paid up to that date by the ROTC to you/your school. Now, Air Force ROTC is different...of you are disenrolled b/c you were a cadet in good standing, but don't qualify for Summer Field Training after your 2nd year (sometimes 10% don't, sometimes 40%, depending on year), several people have posted here that in that case, there has been up to this time no reimbursement or active duty service obligation.

Can't speak for the Navy or Air Force but enlistment is still a possibility for AROTC.

A MS4 cadet at my son's school made a stupid mistake last year and blew a .08, the charges were later reduced but still resuted in disenrollment from AROTC. The cadet was on a 4 year scholarship, he was allowed to enlist and is now serving his 4 years Active Enlisted. I agree it is becomming harder to get the enlistment option but it did happen last year for this cadet, although he had to sweat it out until May of 2012 before they decided and offered enlistment.
 
Can't speak for the Navy or Air Force but enlistment is still a possibility for AROTC.

A MS4 cadet at my son's school made a stupid mistake last year and blew a .08, the charges were later reduced but still resuted in disenrollment from AROTC. The cadet was on a 4 year scholarship, he was allowed to enlist and is now serving his 4 years Active Enlisted. I agree it is becomming harder to get the enlistment option but it did happen last year for this cadet, although he had to sweat it out until May of 2012 before they decided and offered enlistment.

Same thing at my son's school. AROTC. DS said that within that enlistment period there was no chance of any promotion.
 
Same thing at my son's school. AROTC. DS said that within that enlistment period there was no chance of any promotion.

Ouch! So in that case they are sort of paying it back by enlisting AND financially.
 
These scholarships are more like forgivable loans. That is the way I have come to view them. This is fine, a mutually beneficial agreement, but caveat emptor :eek:
 
These scholarships are more like forgivable loans. That is the way I have come to view them

I don't think Gojira would agree with you, nor would our DS's friend.

Our DS's friend opted to dis-enroll as a POC, he was told to pay the 40K+ scholarship back. He was not offered enlistment. This was a great cadet, no problems, but he went to SFT and decided this was not the life for him. Due to the fact they wanted their money back, they were also able to have the college put a lock on his account for registering until it was paid.

Gojira's DS also was handed a bill of 143K and not the ability to serve out the time in the Navy.

I also know of someone from another AF forum that was dis-enrolled, this time because of a DUI. He was handed a bill, no enlistment option.

Of course there is also the NROTC mid at PSU that was disenrolled due to the riots. He too is on the hook for $$$$, no enlistment option.

Again, I don't think anyone would say it is a forgiveable loan.

As nick4060 stated don't assume you will be given the option to serve the time. They decide and in this day and age, serving is the rarity for AFROTC.

That is the thing to understand if you accept the scholarship, be prepared if dis-enrolled to pay the money back and it is not a 10 yr loan like FAFSA. Do not assume you can do your time AD as enlisted member.

A couple of yrs ago when it was really tight, @09 AFROTC allowed cadets to walk free and clear because it was the AF that separated them due to manpower reasons. This was when they were also RIFing and SERBing AD members. However, those days are long gone.
 
I don't think Gojira would agree with you, nor would our DS's friend.

Our DS's friend opted to dis-enroll as a POC, he was told to pay the 40K+ scholarship back. He was not offered enlistment. This was a great cadet, no problems, but he went to SFT and decided this was not the life for him. Due to the fact they wanted their money back, they were also able to have the college put a lock on his account for registering until it was paid.

Gojira's DS also was handed a bill of 143K and not the ability to serve out the time in the Navy.

I also know of someone from another AF forum that was dis-enrolled, this time because of a DUI. He was handed a bill, no enlistment option.

Of course there is also the NROTC mid at PSU that was disenrolled due to the riots. He too is on the hook for $$$$, no enlistment option.

Again, I don't think anyone would say it is a forgiveable loan.

As nick4060 stated don't assume you will be given the option to serve the time. They decide and in this day and age, serving is the rarity for AFROTC.

That is the thing to understand if you accept the scholarship, be prepared if dis-enrolled to pay the money back and it is not a 10 yr loan like FAFSA. Do not assume you can do your time AD as enlisted member.

A couple of yrs ago when it was really tight, @09 AFROTC allowed cadets to walk free and clear because it was the AF that separated them due to manpower reasons. This was when they were also RIFing and SERBing AD members. However, those days are long gone.

Pima, I think he meant if you commission and serve, they'll forgive it. Otherwise you're on the hook for the money. But I certainly agree the repayment terms are nothing like any load I've ever seen... legal loan anyway.
 
My bad, it is just I think many candidates don't read the fine print and assume it is like a merit scholarship from a college. Worse yet, because AFROTC has that SFT issue, it can become an issue.

SFT boards meet after 3 semesters, mess one semester up and you could be in the dis-enrollment world as a jr in college.

The avg cgpa for SFT as a non-tech is 3.3-3.4; 3.1 for tech majors. That is not the easiest cgpa to carry when you also in add being in AFROTC, and being a typical college kid carrying 18-21 credits per semester. Colleges don't hand out A's for the most part as easily as they do in HS. Plus, for some classes you mess up one test and your gpa will take a huge hit to a point that you are just hoping you can pull out a B at the end. Our DS on scholarship, both merit and AFROTC was stressing a couple of times because he had that additional weight on his shoulders, he had to meet both mins...merit was higher cgpa,(3.2) and probably why he pulled the 3.3-3.4 range. We fell into the fine print group, because all he needed for AFROTC was 2.5. Had he met just their min. even his 1st semester, he would probably not have gone to SFT. He would have need a 3.7 for the next 2 semesters to get to 3.3.

It is not that I want to be Janie Raincloud, I am only trying to stress that the candidates talk to the folks about how will you pay for 2 yrs at the college if you lose the scholarship. Or how will you pay it back if you are dis-enrolled.

Honestly, I think the dis-enrollment rate will drop for AFROTC because they are finally back at the numbers they need for manpower regarding their commissioning yrs. Nick and our DS's yr group, plus 13's were too big for their needs, thus, the 3 strike you are out rule, went down to 1 or 2 strikes. It was you have been warned, fix it now.

If you look at even AFA 10 grads that had rated slots, if they busted UPT they were not washed back, they had to fight for a non-rated slot that was not guaranteed. Granted they were going to stay in as an officer...maybe... but the point that it was only a maybe after the AF invested so much money in them to attend the AFA was a huge wake up call to many posters.

People will tell you and it is true...timing is almost everything in the AF. Again, like Gojira's DS, had he commissioned a yr later or earlier he might not be on the hook for 143K.

None of us are on the AFROTCHQ's committees, nor AFMPC to know where their budget and numbers are landing, nor where they might be in 1,2,3 or 4 yrs.

Thus, the only control you have from a financial perspective is to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.
 
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