Breakdown of Cadet Pay

[USMA2016]

How is your cadet stipend broken down over all four years?

[GoArmyBeatNavy]

Originally Posted by USMA2016

How is your cadet stipend broken down over all four years?

You have probably seen this but:

q: How much pay does a cadet receive?
a: A first-year cadet earns more than $900 a month, and the amount increases each year.. A portion of that cadet pay is deposited into a personal checking account. Another portion of cadet pay is deposited to a "Cadet Account" that is used to help a cadet pay for expenses such as uniforms, books, a computer, activity fees, etc. Each cadet pays a standard amount for laundry, dry cleaning, haircuts, tailoring services and shoe repair. A cadet's gross salary is subject to federal and state withholding taxes and Social Security deductions.

Also:

US CODE - TITLE 37 > CHAPTER 3 > § 203

(c) A cadet at the United States Military Academy, the United States Air Force Academy, or the Coast Guard Academy, or a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy, is entitled to monthly cadet pay, or midshipman pay, at the monthly rate equal to 35 percent of the basic pay of a commissioned officer in the pay grade O–1 with less than two years of service.

[scoutpilot]

"You'll get nothing, and like it!" -Judge Smails

[filiberto2]

Originally Posted by USMA2016

How is your cadet stipend broken down over all four years?

I saw someone on the Yahoo answers page who said cadets get the same pay as an E-5, I think she was a little misinformed

[USMA2016]

Originally Posted by filiberto2

I saw someone on the Yahoo answers page who said cadets get the same pay as an E-5, I think she was a little misinformed

"65% of what you read on the internet isn't true" -Isaac Newton

[lotrjedi13]

Originally Posted by GoArmyBeatNavy

You have probably seen this but:

q: How much pay does a cadet receive?
a: A first-year cadet earns more than $900 a month, and the amount increases each year.. A portion of that cadet pay is deposited into a personal checking account. Another portion of cadet pay is deposited to a "Cadet Account" that is used to help a cadet pay for expenses such as uniforms, books, a computer, activity fees, etc. Each cadet pays a standard amount for laundry, dry cleaning, haircuts, tailoring services and shoe repair. A cadet's gross salary is subject to federal and state withholding taxes and Social Security deductions.

Cadet pay is complicated.

I'm sure they actually do pay us ~$900/month (35% of an 0-1's pay is $989), but that is not what we see in our bank accounts on pay day.

Plebes will have $225 direct deposited in their personal bank accounts every month, and yuks have $305/month. I'm not sure about what cows and firsties get 'cause I'm not there yet. However, my understanding is that by law, they have to pay everyone from plebes to firsties the same amount. The way that they can still say "the amount increases each year" is that they deposit more of the $900-whatever dollars we earn in our personal checking accounts.

Ah! But where does the rest of the $900 go? Excellent question. The rest of the pay is deposited in the ever-mysterious "cadet account" that every cadet has. The amount per month changes just about every month. This is probably because every New Cadet is given a sizable pay advance to cover the large amount of items they are issued during Beast. From this account, frustrating and undefined expenses like the "DCA Cadet Activities Fee", "Army Athletic Association Fee", and recurring "Personal Services" fee (haircuts, even for females who don't get 'em from the cadet barbers) and "Laundry & Dry Cleaning" fee (even if you don't use the optional laundry service) are deducted.

A week or two into yuk year, cadets are allowed to access the cadet account after expenses have been deducted (a pretty large amount, actually) for the first time and take out a certain amount of the extra money in there (called "top off"). They cannot take everything out, however. There is a minimum account balance (MAB) set for the account that you cannot withdraw past. The treasurer changes the MAB periodically for each class based on projected expenses for that particular month or year.

So, basically, even cadets aren't really sure how the pay breaks down.

Here's a link which could be helpful for you, though:

http://www.usma.edu/dcomm/club/2014_...es_summary.pdf

Also, I have no idea what this alleged "shoe repair" service is.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by lotrjedi13

Cadet pay is complicated.

I'm sure they actually do pay us ~$900/month (35% of an 0-1's pay is $989), but that is not what we see in our bank accounts on pay day.

Plebes will have $225 direct deposited in their personal bank accounts every month, and yuks have $305/month. I'm not sure about what cows and firsties get 'cause I'm not there yet. However, my understanding is that by law, they have to pay everyone from plebes to firsties the same amount. The way that they can still say "the amount increases each year" is that they deposit more of the $900-whatever dollars we earn in our personal checking accounts.

Ah! But where does the rest of the $900 go? Excellent question. The rest of the pay is deposited in the ever-mysterious "cadet account" that every cadet has. The amount per month changes just about every month. This is probably because every New Cadet is given a sizable pay advance to cover the large amount of items they are issued during Beast. From this account, frustrating and undefined expenses like the "DCA Cadet Activities Fee", "Army Athletic Association Fee", and recurring "Personal Services" fee (haircuts, even for females who don't get 'em from the cadet barbers) and "Laundry & Dry Cleaning" fee (even if you don't use the optional laundry service) are deducted.

A week or two into yuk year, cadets are allowed to access the cadet account after expenses have been deducted (a pretty large amount, actually) for the first time and take out a certain amount of the extra money in there (called "top off"). They cannot take everything out, however. There is a minimum account balance (MAB) set for the account that you cannot withdraw past. The treasurer changes the MAB periodically for each class based on projected expenses for that particular month or year.

So, basically, even cadets aren't really sure how the pay breaks down.

Here's a link which could be helpful for you, though:

http://www.usma.edu/dcomm/club/2014_...es_summary.pdf

Also, I have no idea what this alleged "shoe repair" service is.

I saw this quote in the new cadets information packet from last year, "The Treasurer becomes the custodian of the Cadet Account and acts on behalf of the cadet ensuring that only authorized purchases are charged against the Cadet Account". Does this hold true for the personal bank accounts also, or do the cadets control this account.

[Dixieland]

Originally Posted by scoutpilot

"You'll get nothing, and like it!" -Judge Smails

Classic Judge Smails! I also like "Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too."

[America's Finest]

Originally Posted by RSR

I saw this quote in the new cadets information packet from last year, "The Treasurer becomes the custodian of the Cadet Account and acts on behalf of the cadet ensuring that only authorized purchases are charged against the Cadet Account". Does this hold true for the personal bank accounts also, or do the cadets control this account.

Your PERSONAL bank account is your own private account.

Also, Cows get paid $450/month.

[SimpleMan]

All this brings to mind a question: Does anyone have a sense as to what extent the current administration's planned cuts to funding for DOD, and the Army in particular, have the potential of causing an increase in the amount deducted from the Cadet Accounts going forward? I know this is probably calling for speculation, so I guess an easier question would be: does anyone know if such a causal link even exists, or is WP somewhat shielded from wider cuts? Just wondering if we'll be asked to pick up our brass at the range for reloading/reuse?