AROTC Prorated Stipend?

ATL2012

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Once a scholarship cadet is contracted are stipend payments prorated for subsequent semesters when the semester is less than 5 full months?

According to the Scholarship Cadet Contract (DA Form 597-3):

b. PAY MONTHLY SUBSISTENCE. Pay a subsistence allowance for participation in the scholarship program for 10 months of any academic year (or the actual duration of the academic year, whichever is shorter)
at the rate of $___ per month for MS I cadets ...

So assuming a cadet contracts in the fall semester, if the spring semester runs from Jan 8 - May 8:

1. Will the stipend payments on Jan 15th and May 15th be prorated to reflect the actual start and end dates?
2. Will the cadet only receive 4 months of stipend payments in this example since the spring semester is shorter than 5 months - running from Jan 8 to May 8?
 
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Your cadet should get a full stipend payment for any full month he is in school, and a prorated payment for any partial months. Not to exceed 10 months per year i.e. no pay during summer school.
 
Thank you for the clarification. Important for cadets to plan accordingly.
 
I have also read that partial months in school result in partial Subsistence Allowance (official language for Stipend) payments.

So, August would be partial, and May would be partial, in Semester schools. I believe they take the monthly allowance, divide by 30, and then multiply by the number of days school was officially in session that month.

I believe the way it works out in practice is that September - April are full months, with August and May getting pro-rated. Technically they don't have to pay for part of December, and part of January, when school is not in session the entire month, but I've never read that they've ever done that.
 
My son's school ended on May 10th, he received his entire stipend amount of $175.00 on May 15th.

When he started school on August 20th his first stipend was paid Sept. 15th and included a prorated amount for August.

Not sure why the end of school stipend was not prorated.
 
Jcleppe, that May 15 payment was not for May 1-10, it would be for 15 April-1 May. If I understand it correctly. Ask him if he gets a partial check on 1 June.

Then again I could be wrong
 
I agree with -Bull-. The pay periods are actually weeks behind, same as AD.

IOTW
1st paydate is actually 1st-15th of the prior month.
15th paydate is actually 16th-30/31st

They pay in arrears.

I bet come June he will have a check for around 100 bucks because they are now paying him for May 1-May 10th. It is also why he did not get his stipend until Sept 15th, when he entered Aug 20th. He was too late for the Sept 1st pay period.

Most importantly for the OP is to remember you cannot contract until you pass the PFT. Don't walk in thinking 15 days later you will get paid. Every yr., especially for freshman there are threads regarding how they didn't pass the PFT. Enter with the mindset that this is a bonus. Have money set aside to survive as a freshman.

I don't know how the book allowance works for AROTC, but for AFROTC you pay it out of pocket and they reimburse you. Again, you must be contracted, bust PFT, you can't contract, no stipend, and in AFROTC no book allowance either until you contract.
 
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I agree with -Bull-. The pay periods are actually weeks behind, same as AD.

IOTW
1st paydate is actually 1st-15th of the prior month.
15th paydate is actually 16th-30/31st

They pay in arrears.

I bet come June he will have a check for around 100 bucks because they are now paying him for May 1-May 10th. It is also why he did not get his stipend until Sept 15th, when he entered Aug 20th. He was too late for the Sept 1st pay period.

Most importantly for the OP is to remember you cannot contract until you pass the PFT. Don't walk in thinking 15 days later you will get paid. Every yr., especially for freshman there are threads regarding how they didn't pass the PFT. Enter with the mindset that this is a bonus. Have money set aside to survive as a freshman.

I don't know how the book allowance works for AROTC, but for AFROTC you pay it out of pocket and they reimburse you. Again, you must be contracted, bust PFT, you can't contract, no stipend, and in AFROTC no book allowance either until you contract.

Not really sure about that. Our son's first stipend payment was always the next pay period after school started. If they started on the Aug. 20th the first payment was on the following Sept. 15th, it would include the last 10 days of Aug. plus the stipend amount for Sept. 1st through the 15th. It did not seem to be paid 2 weeks in arrears. The last stipend was paid on May 15th usually about 4 or 5 days after school let out, there was no payment on the 30th. Maybe the Army does the stipend payments differently then the AF.

Book money payments are very different for the Army. The Army pays $600.00 to the cadets account each semester, it is up to the cadets to but their books, sometimes they need to purchase their books before the book money is deposited. The cadets do not need to show receipts. If the books cost less then $600.00 they just keep the extra, if the books cost more then they pay the difference themselves. It is the same as far as needing to be contracted before you receive any book money or stipend.
 
Jcleppe, the book stipend is why I caveated for AFROTC, but it seems the same for AROTC as AFROTC it is paid out of your pocket 1st and than be reimbursed. Difference is AFROTC you submit the bill, and they only give 900 a yr.

I was only saying that don't expect to show up at college and have a credit at the book store the day you arrive. It is an out of pocket expense at 1st.

IMPO, if a cadet is looking at the stipend, which for freshmen is small compared to books, I would assume they are also looking at determining how much is needed come Aug/Sept.

As far as the stipend the Army may indeed do it differently. However, -Bull- is also AROTC, and he was on the same page as me, thus I am not sure. Maybe Clarkson or Marist can shed light on this subject.

OBTW, if your DS started on the 20th, it was not the next pay period since the next would have been the 1st, not the 15th. That was my point when I said it is in arrears. Sept 1st pay period would be Aug 1st to 15th. Sept 15th would be Aug 15th -31st. If a cadet contracts on the 8th, they would not see a stipend on the 15th, but instead it would be a partial (per diem) paid on the 1st.
 
Planning

Thank you for the clarification. Important for cadets to plan accordingly.

FYI, DS contracted first week of September and tuition did not pay until mid December; if you are a planner might want to ask Student Accounts/Controller/Bursar how they would deal with a situation like this as every school is different regarding payment/reimbursement, possible holds to limit enrollment and other processes.
 
Jcleppe, the book stipend is why I caveated for AFROTC, but it seems the same for AROTC as AFROTC it is paid out of your pocket 1st and than be reimbursed. Difference is AFROTC you submit the bill, and they only give 900 a yr.

I was only saying that don't expect to show up at college and have a credit at the book store the day you arrive. It is an out of pocket expense at 1st.

IMPO, if a cadet is looking at the stipend, which for freshmen is small compared to books, I would assume they are also looking at determining how much is needed come Aug/Sept.

As far as the stipend the Army may indeed do it differently. However, -Bull- is also AROTC, and he was on the same page as me, thus I am not sure. Maybe Clarkson or Marist can shed light on this subject.

OBTW, if your DS started on the 20th, it was not the next pay period since the next would have been the 1st, not the 15th. That was my point when I said it is in arrears. Sept 1st pay period would be Aug 1st to 15th. Sept 15th would be Aug 15th -31st. If a cadet contracts on the 8th, they would not see a stipend on the 15th, but instead it would be a partial (per diem) paid on the 1st.

I understood the point about the first payment not being on the first, the thing is when he received his payment on the following 15th it included both the remaining prorated stipend from Aug 20th to Aug. 30th as well as the amount for Sept 1st through Sept. 15. The payment was on Sept. 15th.

As far as the book money it really depends on the Battalion and how together the HR dept. is, for the four years my older son, and the two years for my younger son, the book money has always been deposited prior to the 1st day of the semester. Your right about the freshman, they didn't get theirs until they contracted.

The biggest difference between the AF and the AROTC other then the amount and reimbursement, is that the AROTC cadet is simply given the $600.00 per semester, they don't give receipts, last semester my son borrowed books that he needed, didn't need to buy any, he was able to just keep the $600.00. If I read you correctly the AF cadets buy their books, submit receipts, and are reimbursed for the exact amount up to $900.00 per year.

I guess no matter how stipends are paid, the cadets get the correct amount one way or another, so not really an issue.
 
FYI, DS contracted first week of September and tuition did not pay until mid December; if you are a planner might want to ask Student Accounts/Controller/Bursar how they would deal with a situation like this as every school is different regarding payment/reimbursement, possible holds to limit enrollment and other processes.

I know that the Army waits 45 days minimum to pay tuition for freshman cadets, but waiting until December seems a bit extreme. Great tip for new cadets to make sure they plan ahead and keep the school informed.

Just a question, have the tuition payments for your son been made earlier since then, or is his battalion usually this late with tuition payments?
 
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