Simply put the demands of the reserves may outweigh the
As far as your son is concerned
@AROTC-dad has a son who did not get the Navy options he wanted, picked an affordable school for AROTC, received a 3.5 year campus based scholarship and has not looked back! I am sure he would be more than happy to share the story and give some insight for your son.
My DS applied two years ago to USNA, receiving a nomination but getting TWE'd very late in the game. He was accepted to The Citadel, but at $50K out of state and having been turned down for the NROTC/MO scholarship, it would have been a financial challenge to attend El Cid.
My ended up choosing to attend a local State University (Nevada) where he received reduced tuition but only had access to Army ROTC.
There were three reasons for choosing Nevada:
- MUCH less tuiton...we could afford to pay out of pocket all four years.
- Closer to home....3 hours drive away.
- He had access to the Sierra Nevada mountains where he could snowboard. (Became an instructor)
He enrolled into AROTC as a "walk-on" cadet. He busted his rear (academically, fitness and EC's) and ended up earning a 3 year AD scholarship by November of his freshman semester. By February, they extended it to 3.5 year and paid for his spring semester as well.
Overall, my DS feels he made a great choice, because of a variety of reasons. One reason I suspect is that he wanted to be closer to home to see his girl friend at the time. Of course he broke up with her anyways, so a lesson to note is that the criteria and motivation will morph over time! In general, he is thriving at the college because he enjoys the school, has earned the respect of his battalion and he was able to start school with minimal worries about money.
The chances of earning a campus based AROTC scholarship are substantially higher than a "side load" NROTC/MO scholarship. This certainly worked in his favor as well.
@MohawkArmyROTC, who is a ROO has stated on the board that there seemed to be a fewer number of AROTC applicants this year. That would seem to reinforce the chances of earning a campus based award as well.