qualifying for in-state tuition for NROTC

rudyinok

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Ok, ds is filling out the NROTC app. He has five schools chosen, and as most of you know, the app requires him to indicate at which of the five he can get instate tuition. One of his five is TAMU where he knows he can get instate tuition- he was given a scholarship at JCAP that indicated this. It's obvious to me that the Navy might like to match you with schools which would be cheaper with instate tuition...

My question is: several of the other schools he's chosen indicate automatic scholarships for certain ACT scores. These scholarships would greatly decrease tuition - are these situations different because the fine print doesn't explicitly say they are qualifying him for in-state tuition like TAMU print says even if in effect they are?

What makes TAMU's offer different than other colleges's offers exactly?

All his schools are state public schools, btw. maybe it doesn't matter to little-ole-us, but I really want to know how say Iowa State's scholarship offers aren't as meaningful as TAMU. is it because you won't know their official offers until much later in the process or do their offers not matter - meaning the Navy would have to pay full tuition for you there. and if so, why not at TAMU also, because it is an SMC?

thanks for sharing your wisdom!
 
Ok, ds is filling out the NROTC app. He has five schools chosen, and as most of you know, the app requires him to indicate at which of the five he can get instate tuition. One of his five is TAMU where he knows he can get instate tuition- he was given a scholarship at JCAP that indicated this. It's obvious to me that the Navy might like to match you with schools which would be cheaper with instate tuition...

My question is: several of the other schools he's chosen indicate automatic scholarships for certain ACT scores. These scholarships would greatly decrease tuition - are these situations different because the fine print doesn't explicitly say they are qualifying him for in-state tuition like TAMU print says even if in effect they are?

What makes TAMU's offer different than other colleges's offers exactly?

All his schools are state public schools, btw. maybe it doesn't matter to little-ole-us, but I really want to know how say Iowa State's scholarship offers aren't as meaningful as TAMU. is it because you won't know their official offers until much later in the process or do their offers not matter - meaning the Navy would have to pay full tuition for you there. and if so, why not at TAMU also, because it is an SMC?

thanks for sharing your wisdom!

Not sure I can answer most of your questions but perhaps just my opinion on one. This seems to be a black and white question. Indicate which schools you know where you can receive in state tuition at the time you are filling out the application. And by in-state tuition they mean exactly that... not near-in-state tuition. Also note, some schools withdraw (or student loses it - it becomes null) merit scholarships for tuition once they have a ROTC scholarship. Hope this is helpful.
 
thanks kinnem, for your kind clarification. I went for a jog, cleared my head and realized why this seems foggy to me: when I was applying to college (seems like not that long ago!!), there was a pretty good chance one could actually completely qualify for instate tuition - from good ACT scores if my recollection is correct. today, it appears this is virtually unheard of. Something I had not reconciled completely to.

thanks:redface:
 
Kinnem's last point about merit scholarships being reduced when used with a ROTC scholarship is worth looking into in advance, we were not fully prepared for this situation. DS was accepted to 5 different schools with his NROTC & AFROTC scholarship. We had assumed the xROTC scholarship would be in addition to the merit scholarships. Some financial aid offices referred to this as "stackable" aid, and this wasn't always automatic. In fact, of the 5 schools DS was accepted to only one school (private) was fully "stackable." The other 4 schools were some lesser form of merit aid or a shift to some aid for room & board.
 
If I understand your question correctly, you may want to search for a post from P-Flying17 where she indicates schools where you can get in state tuition with a NROTC scholarship. There are a number of state schools where this rule applies.
 
we are in Oklahoma, so obviously the univ. of OK would be instate. and TAMU can be instate rate with his scholarship. Thanks for reading and responding P-flying!! are there other schools that offer instate rates with NROTC or qualifying ACT?
 
There is a link (sticky) on the top of the ROTC page.
http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/showthread.php?t=5429&page=2

It is old, so I would suggest you double check with the schools, but starting with post 15, SIngapore did a great job placing all of the colleges she knew of offering anything for ROTC.

For an ACT aspect I would go to www.collegeconfidential.com. Look at the schools he is interested in, and ask on their forums.

Merit aid usually is more about how they use their endowments at the school.
 
You should know that, at least anecdotally, it appears to be the case that it is relatively difficult to be assigned a scholarship to an OOS public school - even though the OOS tuition cost is likely to be significantly less expensive than most private schools. If you look back through some of the threads on this forum from earlier this year, you will find that some extremely well-qualified candidates were not awarded scholarships, and a common characteristic is that most of the schools on their lists were OOS public.

NROTC doesn't care if you can get a tuition discount at Iowa State, and they will probably not consider your ds for a scholarship at an OOS public if there is a qualified IS candidate they can give it to. Quite frankly, I think it is counterproductive to try to figure out how you can find a way to make the tuition at an OOS the equivalent of IS tuition, because NROTC is not going to get that deep into the weeds. In my opinion, the key to a successful application is to make it as easy as possible for NROTC to fit you into a slot. Your primary objective should be to maximize the possibility that your ds gets a NROTC scholarship somewhere, and secondarily to focus on particular schools. Even though TAMU will technically qualify as an in-state for you (and everyone else), I think that it is a practical necessity for you to put the University of Oklahoma on your list. Beyond that, I would only include an OOS public (like TAMU or Iowa State) if it is your ds' first choice of college and he really wants to go there.

For the remaining choices, you probably ought to list private schools that are a good match for your ds in terms of his academic profile, and which are not necessarily the most popular (everyone wants Notre Dame, for example). NROTC has to award enough scholarships to keep all of their units viable. The large state schools don't have any problem filling their slots with non-scholarship mids, so a significant percentage of scholarships are going to be assigned to high-cost private schools.
 
+1 Deskjockey.

The fact is the military is like many businesses, when times get tight, the wallets close fast and hard. They also find ways to stretch whatever money they can spend further.

I agree with Deskjockey, for this yr., especially A/NROTC, I saw a lot of 3 yr scholarships come down compared to even 2 or 3 yrs ago. AFROTC is not in that because all of their HSSP awards are at 1st 4 yr. Recipients that get a type 7 4 yr can convert to Type 2 3 yr.

You are looking at a tight budget, and the military will be working that budget for yrs to come because of the 1st budget cut, and than the latter sequestration cut.

I think TAMU from what I understand is an exception for IS, there maybe others, thus look at the link I provided earlier.

I wouldn't look at a college for the sake of the cost; merit, cheaper, etc. Too many kids go off to a college for that reason, and can become self-destructive....hate the school, don't go to classes, academic probation, kiss the scholarship. Some ROTC students also find that they don't gel with the unit, (ROTC dets have personalities), but love the school, and like Hewson's DS decide I want to stay at the school, but leave ROTC, causing issues.

P-flying 17 just posted a great thread about school choice. It ties in here. Don't fill your list with reaches.
 
Being from Oklahoma he is of course instate there, but also any public Texas school. University of Houston, TAMU, UT, Rutgers as well. Next year, maybe Minnesota. University of South Carolina is good about giving scholarships that reduce tuition to that of instate or close to it, but would have to have that documentation before applying it to instate tuition cost.
 
I maybe off the mark, but I would also look into the colleges from a residency perspective.

For example:

The schools p-flying 17 mention may for HSSP purposes offer IS, but the admissions dept may not see them as IS from a residency perspective.

Many state schools have a % mandated by their state regs regarding IS vs OOS. Check to see if that is a factor.
 
I just want to reiterate a few points.

First, NROTC requires that a candidate list one school within the first three choices for which he or she is eligible to receive in-state tuition. If you happen to live in a state that has one or more state universities which offer NROTC, you should definitely include one of them in your top three choices. I think it is unwise to list TAMU or Rutgers or some other OOS public school for which you may technically qualify for IS tuition if you don't have to. If you live in Nebraska, for example, NROTC will in all likelihood give you preference for a scholarship at the University of Nebraska over an equally qualified candidate from another state. You do not want to give up that advantage by using a school like TAMU or Houston as your top-3 IS-eligible school, even though you might be technically able to do so.

Second, there are a number of states that don't have public schools with NROTC units. All of the candidates from those states are going to have to use a handful of schools (like TAMU) as their top-3 IS-eligible choice, and NROTC is likely to give them preference over candidates who don't need to use that option. And TAMU is already a very popular choice for applicants anyway. You don't want to make the process any more competitive for yourself than it already is.

Third, unlike Army and AF ROTC, the Navy pays the full cost of tuition at the school for which you are awarded a scholarship. NROTC does not want to pay for OOS tuition if it can pay IS tuition for an equally qualified candidate. It may be relatively more difficult to get a scholarship to an OOS public than at a private school, even if the tuition cost is less.

Fourth, the NROTC asks you to list a particular school at a unit. There are a number of small private colleges that are cross-towns for units at much larger schools (for example, Macalester College for Minnesota and Union College for RPI). These are schools that don't typically fit the ROTC mold, but it suits the program's larger purposes to maintain a presence at a select group of liberal arts colleges. For the right student, it may well be advantageous to put a school like that on your list.
 
Third, unlike Army and AF ROTC, the Navy pays the full cost of tuition at the school for which you are awarded a scholarship. NROTC does not want to pay for OOS tuition if it can pay IS tuition for an equally qualified candidate.

When does Army pay less than the full tuition amount?
 
I apologize if I misstated the terms of the Army ROTC Scholarship. There used to be a cap on the amount, and only certain schools qualified as "high-cost" exceptions. Perhaps that has changed.
 
You could be right - it was a serious question? Do they, and under what circumstances?
 
Check with the ROTC at each school

We found out from tOSU AFROTC that they apply the merit first to reduce the amount of tuition paid by the ROTC scholarship. Good that they were honest because we were calculating by adding both amounts together. Keep asking too because initially we were told yes, you can use the merit for R & B and yes the two can be combined, both true. What you want to know is HOW they are combined, it made huge difference!
 
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