Ask the ROO (Army ROTC Scholarships and Enrollment)

Indianapolis ROO

5-Year Member
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Mar 19, 2010
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Ask a Recruiting Operations Officer (ROO) about Army Scholarships and Enrollments! There are as many options for Army ROTC as there are young men and women interested in becoming Army Officers. What I will tell you will be fact and I will make every attempt to provide you a Cadet Command reference and/or a point of contact. Please bear with me, I have a day job and I am the ROO of a great program with 7 Universities and Colleges in the Indianapolis area!
 
I have been selected for a 4-yr AROTC scholarship and I have accepted. But, I have great interest in the Reserve SMP program and I'm wondering if I turn in my scholarship after 1 year at school and enter the reserves (returning to school after basic and AIT), will I then need to pay back the Army for any monies I received in that freashman year?
 
Based on experience the answer is no. You will not need to pay the Army back. However, there may be pros and cons to this and you'll want those questions answered by the recruiter.
 
Reference

Please read below from CC Reg 145-11 Reserve Officer Training Corps Simultaneous Memebrship Program (SMP) - Rev: 10-02-06.

4-3. SMP Cadet Ineligibility. The following guidelines are provided to assist in determining a cadets ineligibility to participate in SMP:

a. Cadets who are recipients of a two-, three-, or four-year Green to Gold Scholarship, two- or three-year Campus-Based Scholarship, or four-year National Scholarship.

b. Two- and three-year Campus-Based and four-year National Scholarship recipients can convert to the 2-YR GRFD USAR or the DedARNG Scholarship to become eligible for the SMP Program through the GRFD Scholarship Program (CC Reg 145-10).

As always, the best advice comes from an ROTC program. Feel free to contact me directly or please contact the ROO or HRA at your ROTC program. BE AWARE! As a rule, if you are medically qualified with a DODMERB physical for the National Scholarship, you will have to take a second MEPS physical when you join the Guard/Reserves for the SMP program. However, ROTC will accept a MEPS physical (within 2 years) for contracting under the Fast Track policy.
 
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Additional Info

CC PAM 145-4 Enrollment, Retention and Disenrollment Criteria, Policy and Procedures, Section IX, Re-enrollment , para. 2-65. Re-enrollment Eligibility.

k. Former obligated scholarship Cadets who desire re-enrollment must repay all financial assistance expended on their behalf prior to contracting, in addition to meeting all of the above stated re-enrollment criteria. The Battalion Commander/PMS will not conditionally contract or fully contract any former obligated scholarship Cadets until they ensure that repayment has been made and all other re-enrollment criteria are met. Requests for exception to this policy will be forwarded to the CG, USACC, for consideration.

If you are dead set on Basic Training and AIT, your best bet is to not take a scholarship and go SMP from the beginning. There will be different immediate and long term incentives.
 
Welcome aboard and thanks for lending the expertise!

My daughter (referred to as goaliegirl) has accepted a 4-year campus scholarship and declined another 3-year AD campus scholarship this week, but we were quite surprised to find that schools had them this year after hearing word that cadets on campus weren't seeing them this year.

Is this situation actually the case and do you have an explanation for this? Did the units have a large yield on scholarship offers last year, limiting the need for additional officers 2 and 3 years out? For example, I think you mentioned having campus scholarships available in your unit. Are they for incoming freshmen only (4-years until commission) or are they also available for rising sophomores and juniors as well?

Thanks again.
 
Welcome aboard and thanks for lending the expertise!

My daughter (referred to as goaliegirl) has accepted a 4-year campus scholarship and declined another 3-year AD campus scholarship this week, but we were quite surprised to find that schools had them this year after hearing word that cadets on campus weren't seeing them this year.

Is this situation actually the case and do you have an explanation for this? Did the units have a large yield on scholarship offers last year, limiting the need for additional officers 2 and 3 years out? For example, I think you mentioned having campus scholarships available in your unit. Are they for incoming freshmen only (4-years until commission) or are they also available for rising sophomores and juniors as well?

Thanks again.
Each school has allocations for 4 yr scholarships and some have 3 yr. AD. What is unique with the 3 AD is the fact that the student is in essence proving themselves the first year before the scholarship is awarded. If they do well and are qualified, they are awarded the scholarship.

There are such things as 2 and 3 year (non-AD) scholarships for applicants entering the academic sophomore/junior year. However, currently, these scholarships are not being funded until further notice. We are being more fiscally responsible and balancing our budget as resources have become more scarce. There are still other 2 and 3 yr. scholarship options (GRFD, dedicated National Guard/ dedicated Reserves) available.

As an Army, we have had much success meeting elistment/commisioning requirements and expect to see this success continue. Both the quantity and quality of our applicants has gone up so the process is quite competitive. Congratulations to your daughter! That is no small accomplishment.

At Marian University (small, private in Indianapolis), the school offers 5 housing grants for scholarship recipients. As long as they stay in student housing, the grant is good regardless of academic standing. It is a individual University incentive, not a Cadet Command incentive. Many Universities have them and the ROTC program ROO/PMS/HRA will be able to tell you if they are offered. Hope that helps!
 
Each school has allocations for 4 yr scholarships and some have 3 yr. AD. What is unique with the 3 AD is the fact that the student is in essence proving themselves the first year before the scholarship is awarded. If they do well and are qualified, they are awarded the scholarship.

There are such things as 2 and 3 year (non-AD) scholarships for applicants entering the academic sophomore/junior year. However, currently, these scholarships are not being funded until further notice. We are being more fiscally responsible and balancing our budget as resources have become more scarce. There are still other 2 and 3 yr. scholarship options (GRFD, dedicated National Guard/ dedicated Reserves) available.

As an Army, we have had much success meeting elistment/commisioning requirements and expect to see this success continue. Both the quantity and quality of our applicants has gone up so the process is quite competitive. Congratulations to your daughter! That is no small accomplishment.

At Marian University (small, private in Indianapolis), the school offers 5 housing grants for scholarship recipients. As long as they stay in student housing, the grant is good regardless of academic standing. It is a individual University incentive, not a Cadet Command incentive. Many Universities have them and the ROTC program ROO/PMS/HRA will be able to tell you if they are offered. Hope that helps!

Thank you for the feedback. I know that there are many candidates here who are waiting on the last boards but may not have any options at the schools they have been accepted to (academically). It is good that there are options available to them once they arrive on campus even if they don't get a national or local scholarship this year.

Goaliegirl is very happy with her situation. :thumb: We have become very aware of how competitive it is this year. :eek: There are schools that have been out of scholarships for months and others that are still have slots available. We were just lucky that some had campus scholarships to offer.

Best wishes in finding great candidates to fill your unit this fall.
 
Thanks for posting online! My older son is an AROTC cadet at Indiana University and I am a big fan of their program. Younger son recently declined his AROTC scholarship to IU; he's heading to USNA.

IU has a great program and my son is very happy there. Thanks for all that you do!
 
CC PAM 145-4

k. Former obligated scholarship Cadets who desire re-enrollment must repay all financial assistance expended on their behalf prior to contracting, in addition to meeting all of the above stated re-enrollment criteria.


To clarify, what about a cadet who has only completed freshman year? I was under the impression that cadets are not obligated until the first day of their sophomore year.

Just playing devil's advocate, not actually thinking of doing this. :wink:
 
Thanks! We are doing well in the process and are very impressed with the young men and women that are applying this year. Good luck to you and yours!
 
To clarify, what about a cadet who has only completed freshman year? I was under the impression that cadets are not obligated until the first day of their sophomore year.

Just playing devil's advocate, not actually thinking of doing this. :wink:
Thanks Rolling Thunder

What you said is accurate. The Army recognizes this as the cost of doing business because it recognizes the fact that not everyone can or should be an Army Officer.

The Army spends a lot of time and effort to select highly qualified applicants for schoalrships and we encourage them to fulfill their comittments. You see, when a schoalrship recipient quits his or her first year, it really doesn't hurt the program. Most programs are doing extremly well these days and quality is much more important than quantity. Who it really hurts is the young man or woman (maybe like yourself) who genuinely has the desire to lead America's young men and women and need that scholarship to accomplish their goals. That is who gets robbed of opportunity.

Be careful in you advocacy. This option is intended for cadets that cannot complete the program due to extenuating circumstance so that can move on without predudice. It is not intended for those who are trying to 'game the system'. I have only heard of one case where a cadet who resigned a scholarship was allowed to return to a program and contract. That cadet required a waiver from Cadet Command (GO level) and had extremely good cause. Read the regulation quoted - it's easy to quit. It is extremely hard to quit and then re-contract.
 
Thanks for posting online! My older son is an AROTC cadet at Indiana University and I am a big fan of their program. Younger son recently declined his AROTC scholarship to IU; he's heading to USNA.

IU has a great program and my son is very happy there. Thanks for all that you do!

Congratulations on your son getting into USNA! That is great. While that may be a loss to our southern brethren at IU (fantastic program down there!), the fact that your son is willing to serve and has the opportunity to go to an Academy is awesome! You have a lot to be proud of!:smile:
 
Captain Rapp: Have you known of many ROTC cadets that have switched from one branch to another after their first year? For instance a NROTC midshipman that realizes the Navy is not right for them after the first year and applies for an Army ROTC scholarship?
 
The Army spends a lot of time and effort to select highly qualified applicants for schoalrships and we encourage them to fulfill their comittments. You see, when a schoalrship recipient quits his or her first year, it really doesn't hurt the program. Most programs are doing extremly well these days and quality is much more important than quantity. Who it really hurts is the young man or woman (maybe like yourself) who genuinely has the desire to lead America's young men and women and need that scholarship to accomplish their goals. That is who gets robbed of opportunity.
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Thanks for the great response sir
I am looking forward to joining ROTC and then becoming an Army officer.
 
IndianapolisRoo -

We keep hearing that ROTC scholarships are very selective and competitive this year. What exactly does that mean? Can you provide any stats or data to help me difuse my in-laws misconception that "everybody who applies for ROTC gets ROTC."? :rolleyes:

I'm particularly interested in Army, but will take info about any branch. For example...

How many scholarship apps were received by Cadet Command this year?
How many scholarships will be awarded?
What's the average profile of this year's recipient? GPA, SAT, etc.
Any other info would be great. Thanks.
 
Can someone please explain the process to me. I emailed the PMS at my sons school of choice and asked about Campus based scholarships and National scholarships.

The answer I received was this "I know that the March board results are to be released from cadet command any day. I also know that I offered him a 4 yr scholarship through cadet command. That is all the information that I have at this time. I hope this will help your decision. "

I spoke with Cadet command and she informed me that she did not have anything on my son and a scholarship from Cadet Command. Can someone please explain the process to me.
 
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