Are you interested in taking a foreign language?

[Informedsource]

First to clear up some confusion. US Army ROTC Cadets are not "required" to take languages to be commissioned. They are highly encouraged to take language classes in order to make them a better officer. To provide incentive, Department of the Army ROTC offers Cultural and Language Incentive Program Bonus to all CONTRACTED US Army ROTC Cadets if they take a "strategic" language. Strategic languages are defined by regulation and policy so contact the CULP program to find out if the language you are considering is covered. English, Spanish, German, and Italian are not covered but most others are. The program pays the Cadet a bonus ranging from $250 up to $500 per credit hour with a $3000 per year cap based upon the difficulty of the language if the Cadet passes with a B or above grade. It must be applied for before the class is taken but won't be paid until a passing grade transcript is presented. Often, the reason the Cadet doesn't get paid in a timely manner is because 1) they didn't apply before enrolling for the course or 2) they didn't present the required transcript after completing the course. If you are interested in finding out more about the program, contact the International Programs Branch of the US Army ROTC Cadet Command or goggle the Cadet Command website.

Second, Project Global Officer is a Department of Defense language program that applies to all enrolled but not necessarily contracted Cadets. It applies to all three services, Army, Air Force, and Navy. It is also restricted to strategic languages and is organized in a completely different way. If you are interested in Project GO, go to their website.

 

[Vista123]

so if son has a 4 yr scholarship and will start as a freshman n the upcoming fall and is taking Russian, does this apply?

 

[Non Ducor Duco]

Can't speak for Navy, but for AF and Army definitely, if you are contracted and take a foreign language, you get paid for every language class you complete. How much you get is dependent on how critical the language is and what your grade is in the class. You submit a form and turn in your grade to the cadre member that deals with that at the end of the semester. I think you can get some compensation for non critical languages like Spanish, but the big 4 languages that are worth the most and are allotted study abroad scholarships through Project GO are Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Russian. How much you are paid varies by service, army offers the most per class, but the higher you go in your studies, the more you get paid for each class (i.e. the AF may pay you $75 per credit hour for a 1000 level language class and pay $150 per credit hour for a 3000 level class).

If you are studying a critical language (Arabic, Chinese, Korean, or Russian), I highly recommend taking advantage of the Project GO program. It's a great way to enhance your language skills in country and have it 90%-100% paid for by the DoD. I used it this summer and it paid for everything, all $10,000 of it. I would have never been able to afford it otherwise and I learned so much from it. Went from being able to read and write but barely being able to speak or understand the locals to having lengthy, full fledged conversations with people who couldn't speak a lick of English. It's difficult, but I feel like the best way to learn a language is by doing it in country

Vista123,

Tell your DS to look into Project GO if he has any wide open summers, you can even study abroad the same summer as LDAC, there were 2 army cadets in program I went on this summer who were also scheduled to go to LDAC after they got back to America. He'll also need to be sure to fill out what he needs to after every language class to get paid for it, idk how army is about this, but AF doesn't automatically submit it or request it from you. It is known that you can get paid for it, but if you aren't active and submit the paperwork, the AF won't seek it out and you will not be paid.

 

[nofodad]

Project GO/CULP

Vista if your DS contracts first semester he should apply to CULP and Project GO I believe the deadline for CULP is October, I think it's a little bit more competitive than project GO. There should be a cadre in his battalion who is the advisor and can guide him through the process. DS is taking his third year of Russian and has gotten CLIP money each year. DS did project GO as an MSI and CULP as an MSII.

 

[Vista123]

Test group

Thanks for the tips, He is VERY interested in CULP (an GO)

He did get word a while back (and things seem to change by the second) that his battalion will be part of the new CIET (????) program that comes after MS1 yr so I'm not sure how that will affect summer opportunities.

This board is so helpful! Thanx!