I was with you Jcleppe until this:
"Realize the large amount of money that is given to civilian students for merit scholarships every year, a percentage of these students will never finish college or lose those scholarships after 1 year, they also took a scholarship away from another deserving student."
Many colleges, even state colleges use endowments, not tax payer dollars, esp. private colleges to pay for scholarships.
Colleges like VT, a state college with tax payer money, has 550 Million in endowment funds. Duke University has 657 Million. Notre Dame has 6.8 BILLION.
MNDad's POV was TAX DOLLARS, I selected these 3 colleges because they all have ROTC programs. Are you paying as a tax payer in CA to send a student in FL to attend Duke? No you really aren't. However your tax dollars are paying for that cadet from FL to attend Duke. Notice the key words... student and cadet.
You as a taxpayer in VA, and VA alone will pay to send that student to VT on scholarship, even as an OOS because that is a state school which VA residents pay to support. Yet, MNDAD from Minnesota pays no direct taxes for any kid going to VT on merit scholarship.
Big difference.
I do agree with everything else you were stating, esp. about WP commitments.
I personally think they should have that right to walk during the 1st yr. Let's flip this for a second and say they must stay, or owe time.
The fact that the military allows this, it also allows them to offer 3 yr scholarships. If they forced people to stay or owe back time enlisted, more would stay, and as kinnem stated you would not want your child serving with someone who stayed for the wrong reasons.
By allowing them to leave, that frees up money for 3 yr scholarships. These scholarships are given to cadets/mids that stayed even without the financial reward.
Now who do you really want your child standing next to when crap starts flying? The officer who stayed because at 17 he accepted a scholarship and was stuck or the officer who at 17 accepted that the military was not going to give him a dime for his college education, but he wanted to be an officer anyway?
Let them leave IMPO.
I also will add one more perspective, as stated it is a recruitment tool. There are many candidates that are unsure, but because they earned the scholarship and even if they do this for fiscal reasons they realize that this life is for them. That means the military has an asset that if they didn't let them opt out, they may have said no.
I wasn't referring so much to the money spent whether it is tax dollars or not. I was just comparing the two in regard of scholarships given to students that eventually drop out and the fact that the dollars could have been spent and the opportunity given to a student that would have stayed in school.
I agree tax dollars and private money is apples and oranges, I was just addressing the fact that he stated that those the drop the program or scholarship took that scholarship from someone that may have stuck with school or ROTC.
I get a little more testy when someone wastes my tax dollars as well.