How to Select Room/Board Option for AROTC Scholarship

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Future2LtMom

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I'm looking at the award letter that uploaded into DS application portal and it says, "Scholarship Tuition: Full Tuition". If we want to use it for Room/Board, which I know has monetary limitations placed on it, how do we do that?
 
Our oldest son is a 4 yr scholarship winner. He says that he checked the tuition vs room/board option when he contracted. That occurs after the beginning of the school year when they take their PFT and PASS it.
 
txpotato said:
Our oldest son is a 4 yr scholarship winner. He says that he checked the tuition vs room/board option when he contracted. That occurs after the beginning of the school year when they take their PFT and PASS it.
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That makes sense. I guess they don't care what you want until you actually pass the last hurdle to getting the money (the APFT)! Thanks!
 
Future2LtMom said:
That makes sense. I guess they don't care what you want until you actually pass the last hurdle to getting the money (the APFT)! Thanks!
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They will base the amount paid for R&B on what the college charges, if he at some point decides to move off campus they will use this same formula.

Just remember a couple things. The money the Army pays for R&B is taxable income, money paid for tuition is non-taxable. The stipend and book money is non-taxable no matter which way you go.

The money paid for R&B is not paid in advance or directly to the school, it will come as a reimbursement directly to thae cadet's account, you will need to make the payment to the college.

R&B payment are usually made pretty late in the semester, sometimes the payments do not come until the second semester has started. Just be ready to make the R&B payment out of pocket and then wait a while before getting the money from the Army.
 
Jcleppe said:
They will base the amount paid for R&B on what the college charges, if he at some point decides to move off campus they will use this same formula.

Just remember a couple things. The money the Army pays for R&B is taxable income, money paid for tuition is non-taxable. The stipend and book money is non-taxable no matter which way you go.

The money paid for R&B is not paid in advance or directly to the school, it will come as a reimbursement directly to thae cadet's account, you will need to make the payment to the college.

R&B payment are usually made pretty late in the semester, sometimes the payments do not come until the second semester has started. Just be ready to make the R&B payment out of pocket and then wait a while before getting the money from the Army.[/QUOTE

So why would someone choose to use the scholarship for R&B? Are there other pros/cons/considerations?

Now that DS has been awarded the scholarship (and he's already been medically cleared) we have to make a decision between the three schools and that has led to a whole new set of questions!

DS's dilemma is that he has only visited one of the three schools, and he loves it, however, that school will not notify us of financial aid/merit money until March. The other two schools, because of matching funds (that I do need to verify) and merit awards already given, will be very close to free. But I want him to go to the school that he believes will be the best fit.

I'm frantically trying to make arrangements to visit the other two schools (across the country from us) so that he will have a good comparison, but the deadline is so very close.

Any and all financial guidance/opinions would be so appreciated.
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One might choose to use the scholarship for R and B if he has other merit-based money that has to be used for tuition.
 
meh126,

Deciding whether to use the scholarship for tuition or R&B comes down to cost.

The school my son attends IS Tuition cost is less then the R&B so many IS cadets elect to use the scholarship for R&B. For us the school is OOS so it made more sense to use the scholarship for tuition.

As you wrote in your post, Financial aid and merit scholarships can sometimes cover all or most of the tuition, in which case using the AROTC Scholarship for R&B make more sense.

The nice thing is that he will not have to decide how to use the AROTC Scholarship until he starts school and signs his contract. Not knowing the financial package from one of the schools does make it a bit tough to make a decision, the best advice is to make sure your son selects a school he feels is the best fit and one he sees himself being successful.

I can relate to the school visits, I remember those last minute campus visits. We made the trip from Washington State to Florida to visit a school once the scholarship awards came out, he ended up staying in the nortwest, go figure.
 
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