AFROTC- graduate degree, how does educational delay work?

[airpower99]

I am currently a junior in college in the AFROTC program. I would like to pursue a graduate degree in a critical language after I graduate and I was wondering how I could achieve this.
I saw that there was educational delays but I'm not quite sure how that would work. Do you remain a cadet in the Air Force or do you still commission to pursue your master's degree? Are you on the reserves while doing this? Do you still advance in rank?
Are there any other ways I can pursue my degree? An officer told me once that since it's a critical language degree the military could assign me when I'm on active duty to pursue the a graduate in that language but another officer said that wasn't true. Can anyone confirm?

I appreciate any information or help on this topic. Thanks.

 

[Pima]

Here goes, if I miss anything I apologize

1. Do you remain a cadet in the Air Force or do you still commission to pursue your master's degree?

No, you are not a cadet, you are a commissioned officer. You will receive O1 pay, medical bennies, and BAH like any other officer. Your job is to attend grad school.

2. Are you on the reserves while doing this?

Not in the sense that you are thinking.
You may be required to spend the summers on casual status at wherever they choose if your grad school is not yr round, but most go yr round, so you are most likely not going to go reserves.

AFROTC cadets are all commissioned into AD AF, not AF Reserves, which is traditionally a guard unit.

3. Do you still advance in rank?

Yes, for the AF you will make O2 at 2 yrs just like every other officer.


4. Are there any other ways I can pursue my degree?

Yes, it is called Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).
Every base have satellite colleges through their education dept. ERAU, Webster, UMDCP, Troy, etc are just a few that offer not only undergrad degrees, but grad degrees too through a night/weekend school process.

AF will pay 75% of the tuition, HOWEVER, you will owe 3 yrs everytime you take TA. It runs concurrent with your commitment.

For example, if it takes you 2 yrs to complete, you would owe 5 yrs total because the last time you took the TA was at your 2 yr marker. You walk in with owing 4 yrs, so in essence you only owe 1 more yr.

This is true for ED also.

5. An officer told me once that since it's a critical language degree the military could assign me when I'm on active duty to pursue the a graduate in that language but another officer said that wasn't true. Can anyone confirm?

From what I have always understood if you ask to go into this program, it is for specific needs of the AF, so I would say that if you are asking them to pay, they will want a voice in your decision.

Look at HSSP, AF has a voice in your major when handing out that scholarship.

You may want to major in Russian, and they may say "No, if you want it you will major in Chinese or Farfsi".

Their dime, their needs.

The last thing to state, not necessarily for you yourself, but other posters and lurkers. If you also want to go rated, this can be an issue for you because now the AF may say we need you more in that field over flying. You risk closing a career field door.

Most ED's will have what is called a follow on assignment. In other words you will know what AFSC you will have after grad school prior to your commissioning.

One other thing, understand it is highly competitive, and I would ask your CC now about the chances of them supporting you for this as your number 1 pick.

Grad school is actually common for many posters here on this site, but most of the posters that are doing ED right now come from the AFA. Hornetguy (RAND) and Eagle (WP) are both in the grad program. Christcorps DS is a Firstie and applying now. I believe one of Fencers twins is also trying this route. You may want to PM them about how the process works, I don't think any of them are in the language program, but at least they can assist you in how it works to get into the ED.

Good luck

 

[OCDomer]

My Ed Delay Experience

1. Do you remain a cadet in the Air Force or do you still commission to pursue your master's degree?

No, you are not a cadet, you are a commissioned officer. You will receive O1 pay, medical bennies, and BAH like any other officer. Your job is to attend grad school.

I was an AFROTC Scholarship cadet many years ago, then attended law school on an educational delay. My experience was different than the response posted above. In my case I received my commission the same week as I graduated with my degree in Aerospace Engineering, and was then put into an inactive reserve status while I attended law school. I did not get paid or receive any benefits while in law school, nor did I have much contact with the Air Force at all with two exceptions:

1. I did have to send my grade reports to the AF regularly to show that I was making satisfactory academic progress.

2. During my second summer of law school I was brought back onto active duty as a 2LT to work as an intern in an AF base legal office for several weeks. At the end of the summer I went back into an inactive status.

Once I graduated from law school and passed the bar exam I notified the AF and was then brought back onto active duty as a 1LT to serve my ROTC active duty commitment as an Air Force Judge Advocate (i.e., a JAG).

Since I really wanted to go to law school and be a lawyer, I was very grateful the the AF allowed me to postpone my active duty service while I pursued my law degree. I had a blast as a JAG on active duty. But being on educational delay I did not get any help from the AF with tuition, books, salary, benefits, etc...

Maybe they work the ed delays differently today. And I am sure there are some programs available where the AF will assist you pursuing a grad degree. The AF had the Funded Legal Education Program, or FLEP, during my time. FLEP paid full salary PLUS tuition, books, etc... while in law school. Sweet deal. But that was a highly selective program only available to officers already serving on active duty. And it came with a huge active duty service commitment as well.

 

[Pima]

Law school is different than grad school or med school.

Law school for the AFA has 2 distinct paths.

1. Is go to law school like you and graduate. You than vie for a JAG slot. They pick up the bill, but not a lot more. There is no guarantee you will be selected for JAG.

2. Go to law school with a JAG slot as an AD commission and you will be in JAG.

Grad school you go and you are an O1. The issue is you may be selected for a different program than you wanted. I.E the OP's question about 2 different views regarding assigning.

There are a lot of grad school fellowships within the AF. MIT, Oxford, Harvard, Rand, WP, etc.

The OP needs to talk to his CC before he moves forward. If the CC will not support him for his AFSC board than this question is moot. As a C300 entering his spring sem. his command should have a strong pulse on how he racks and stacks within the cadre.

Command support is the bulk of the points for the AFSC board. My number 1 choice and 1 of my top choices will be seen differently by the board when they score the cadets.

Number 1 is Def. Select.
1 of my top choices is select, if possible.

Big difference.

We can hypothesize all day long, but the OP is a cadet in the system. His CC will be the game changer in his future.

Remember this cadet has given no info regarding his stats if he is even viable from a national perspective. It is his goal. However, if we were to be honest his gpa and his college will also be involved.

3.85 cgpa in non-tech from CU will be viewed differently than a 3.62 from UPenn as a non-tech.

Just like HS scholarships, grad will compete nationally and the candidates profile will be taken into account.

I agree there are very sweet deals out there, and as you stated the ones that pay for you as an officer to attend college instead of going AD are extremely competitive.

Talk to your CC now and inform them! Spring jobs in ROTC are being released now, if you do not tell them your intentions you may get a BS job which will hurt your profile/packet.

Success in the military is about being proactive not reactive.

 

[Neil Lupton]

It was many moons ago, but I can give my experience. I graduated and was commissioned from a good technical school. I had been accepted for a PhD program in chemistry that took 4 years. The AF approved my educational delay and off I went. I was in the inactive reserves. However, promotion did come at half the speed of active duty. So I became a 1st Lt at 3 years. I asked for a fifth year because my graduate work was finally going well, but that fifth year was declined. So I went on active duty as a 1st Lt over 4 and after a couple years became a Captain over 6. And I did get to do some rather remarkable chemistry in the AF dealing with rocket fuels and rocket plumes.
Don't assume anything. Ask, and if the first answer is "no", figure out another way to ask.

 

[unkown1961]

I am currently a junior in college in the AFROTC program. I would like to pursue a graduate degree in a critical language after I graduate and I was wondering how I could achieve this.
I saw that there was educational delays but I'm not quite sure how that would work. Do you remain a cadet in the Air Force or do you still commission to pursue your master's degree? Are you on the reserves while doing this? Do you still advance in rank?
Are there any other ways I can pursue my degree? An officer told me once that since it's a critical language degree the military could assign me when I'm on active duty to pursue the a graduate in that language but another officer said that wasn't true. Can anyone confirm?

I appreciate any information or help on this topic. Thanks.

For questions like this you should talk to your detachment for the most up to date range of options available to you. They'll be the right sources for you and that's what they're there for.

 

[Pima]

It was many moons ago, but I can give my experience. I graduated and was commissioned from a good technical school. I had been accepted for a PhD program in chemistry that took 4 years. The AF approved my educational delay and off I went. I was in the inactive reserves. However, promotion did come at half the speed of active duty. So I became a 1st Lt at 3 years. I asked for a fifth year because my graduate work was finally going well, but that fifth year was declined. So I went on active duty as a 1st Lt over 4 and after a couple years became a Captain over 6. And I did get to do some rather remarkable chemistry in the AF dealing with rocket fuels and rocket plumes.
Don't assume anything. Ask, and if the first answer is "no", figure out another way to ask.

FWIW, the OP asked this question 9 years ago.
For anyone that is currently looking for guidance now I agree with @unknown1961 that is best to ask your detachment for up to date options. Things change year to year.
~ IE look at SFT selection rates and how long SFT lasts from the yrs of 2012 to 2020.