Repayment of Scholarship Money

chud182

5-Year Member
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Jun 23, 2014
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I had a generic request about scholarship payback. My understanding is that if you have a 4 year ROTC scholarship that you basically have your Freshman year to decide if it is a good fit or not. You can opt to end your contract at the end of your Freshman year and part ways with the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines with no penalty.

If however, you complete your Sophomore year and decide for whatever reason that something has changed and you no longer wish to continue, what happens? Do you pay back the entire two years or only the 2nd year? This is purely hypothetical situation but I was curious as to how this would work.
 
In our son's experience, now a senior, the 'repayment' (if you will) commitment kicked in the moment he walked into his very first class of his Sophomore year, NOT the completion of that year. Hope that helps...
 
Agp312 is correct, if you step foot onto campus as a sophomore the repayment kicks in. Actually, I believe that you need to notify them at the end of your freshmen year of the intention of disenrolling.
~Not sure if that is correct because I have heard two different things.
~~ 1 is that it is the end of the school year which would be the last day of spring semester. 1 is as long as you do it before the 1st day of school, thus you can do it over the summer.

Our DS friend disenrolled out of AFROTC during the summer after his sophomore year and was handed a 43k bill for the 1st 2 years by the first week of college from the AF.

Beware they want their money back immediately. It is not like a student loan where you can defer it until after graduation. They will usually allow a payment plan, but it will include interest and repayment schedule is 4 years, not the ten years for Fafsa unless you fight for them to spread over ten.

Think of the scholarship like a loan, except the repayment is military service not money. If you took the Fafsa, but dropped out after 2 years they would require the repayment of the two years since you signed for it to start with.
 
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I think OP wanted to know what happens after DS completes sophomore year. He understands the commitment to repay begins day 1 of sophomore year.

It's my understanding that if a four year scholarship cadet drops at the end of sophomore year they would be obligated to repay 2 years of scholarship. That first year is only "free" if you drop prior to start of sophomore year. Hope that's helpful.
 
Actually, I believe that you need to notify them at the end of your freshmen year of the intention of disenrolling.

Nope. I am quite sure it is the start of classes in the sophomore year. I can't put my hands on the contract right now, but that is how it reads. I am sure it can be found via an internet search.

Certainly things may have changed in the last couple of years - my research on this goes back 2 years.
 
I think OP wanted to know what happens after DS completes sophomore year. He understands the commitment to repay begins day 1 of sophomore year.

It's my understanding that if a four year scholarship cadet drops at the end of sophomore year they would be obligated to repay 2 years of scholarship. That first year is only "free" if you drop prior to start of sophomore year. Hope that's helpful.

Yes, I agree. After completion of sophomore year, the repayment would be for two full years.
 
That is why I said I was unsure. I have read both, but it also might be if they attended any training over the summer. I personally would hope they would allow them to leave up to the first day of school because sometimes all the cadet needs is to step away for a little bit to rethink and realize that overall they enjoyed the lifestyle.

Kind of like seeing the forest for the trees.
 
That is why I said I was unsure. I have read both, but it also might be if they attended any training over the summer. I personally would hope they would allow them to leave up to the first day of school because sometimes all the cadet needs is to step away for a little bit to rethink and realize that overall they enjoyed the lifestyle.

Kind of like seeing the forest for the trees.

Sorry if my post came across as rude. I was multi-tasking and just sent a quick correction without too much commentary.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I understand now that if you do not complete ROTC you have to pay all the scholarship money back including the first year. The only exception would be if you leave before the start of your 2nd year. Actually, I'm sure there are other exceptions but they are more than likely out of the hands of the cadet (ie. medical or scholastic issues that get them disenrolled). So it sounds like you had better be good and sure that the service is for you before you start that 2nd year.
 
I didn't see your post as rude at all. I saw it as giving the facts to chud and every other poster/lurker.

We all need to remember that you cannot read intonation on forums, thus it can come across differently than the posters intention. I have been here long enough to not jump to the that read rude. I always read it at first as how the forum works, it takes several repeated posts that makes me rethink if I was wrong.

Have a great day.
 
Chud, if you get disenrolled for academics in your sophomore year they can come and collect the money.

There are exceptions and medical is one of them. For AFROTC if not selected for Field training they typically won't collect the money.
 
Couple of details found by reading the ROTC Scholarship Cadet Contract carefully http://www.rotc.pitt.edu/forms/da597_3.pdf:

- When a cadet reports to his/her duty station at the beginning of the MSII year, the repayment obligation becomes active.

- It is not just scholarship/fees money that must be repaid. Per the Contract, it is all money the Army gave to the cadet specified in the Contract. The money specified in the Contract includes not only Tuition and Fees, but also Subsistence pay ($300/mo for MSI, $350/mo for MSII). Since the $600/semester book stipend is not specified in the Contract, I'm not sure if that falls under the repayment obligation in the Contract. Also not sure about any money reimbursed to the cadet for transportation cost to his/her first duty station on campus (first day of AROTC), since that is also money paid outside the Contract provisions.
 
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Chud, if you get disenrolled for academics in your sophomore year they can come and collect the money.

There are exceptions and medical is one of them.
This assumes the disqualifying medical condition was not purposely withheld in the cadet's original Medial Questionnaire. If the cadet withheld information about the disqualifying condition, then the Army has the right to collect the money the cadet fraudulently received.
 
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