ROTC 3-year AD Scholarship

mariner116

5-Year Member
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Last week my daughter's account on Army ROTC was updated to inform her that she had been awarded ROTC scholarships at two of her selected schools, including her #1 pick. Lots of celebrating.

Today we received the written package from AROTC and it listed the #1 school award as a "Advance 3-year Designee" scholarship. This is then described as a scholarship that does not include the freshman year. Her other schools were listed with 4-year scholarships.

Our daughter never applied for a 3-year scholarship and we have never even heard of such a thing for high school students. We thought she had a 4-year offer when the web site at AROTC listed the schools she had been awarded at.

Is anyone else having this issue come up or have any insights for us?
 
I have not heard of that, but contact #1 school scholarship officer or PMS. Maybe they will have insight.
 
3 Year Advance Designee

I never heard of it either and it is not prominent on the goarmy website. I found numerous references to it on Google changing the AD to Advance Designee.

From the Arkansas ROTC website below. Many other schools have similar entries.

"The University of Arkansas ROTC unit based upon quotas allocated by Cadet Command awards the four-year and three-year advanced designee scholarships.... Three-year Advanced Designee scholarships are awarded like four-year scholarships, except that the benefits will commence with the student’s sophomore year (limited university freshman scholarships are available for three-year winners), if the student continues to meet eligibility requirements."

It might be a reasonable option if the University has scholarship $ that pay for freshman tuition or Room and Board 4 years.
 
If your daughter has to do a year of pre-requisites before actual admittance into the pre-vet program that might account for the three year scholarship at the #1 college beginning in the sophomore year. The other schools may offer direct entry beginning the freshman year. Just an idea....
 
That's a new one on me. Heck she might as well do SMP, if she is at a state school.
I think you need to contact the PMS or enrollment officer at the battalion.
I am curious to know if the #1 school is a private school.
 
Mariner116: Did you get any answers about why this happened?
 
This happened to one of my sons back in 2003. He received a call from his first choice school and was told they'd already given out all of their 4-year scholarship allocations. But, they apparently had a 3-year advanced designee scholarship left and they offered it to him on the phone. I'll never forget that phone call - we were eating dinner at the time and the ROTC officer who called wanted to know if I could cover the cost of freshman year, since the scholarship wouldn't kick in until sophomore year. I tried hard not to choke as I blurted out, "Heck yeah, take the scholarship!" So, I'd say that receiving either a 4-year scholarship offer or a 3-year offer is based on the number of allocations a school has left at the time a scholarship is awarded. However, it now looks as though Cadet Command is coordinating all this with the schools first, rather than having schools spring it on students/parents over the phone at dinner time.
 
Thanks btexino.

Our case was even a bit more convoluted than the dinner call. The ROTC website said my daughter had been awareded a 4-year scholarship. Then we received a formal letter saying it was a 3-year AD instead. So, quite a bit of confusion. We are still trying to sort it out with the battillion.

In your case, did your son take the 3-year AD? Did he receive it? Is there a contract the Army signs at this stage that commits them on honor the 3-year AD? I ask because I'm hearing input that the Army pulled budget $ from 3-year scholarships this past summer and some students who had been promised the 3-year scholarship did not get them. I'm trying to assess the risk of accepting the 3-year scholarship.
 
mariner116 -you are confusing two completely different things -

The Army didn't pull budget $$ from any scholarships. What happened is that non-scholarship cadets were told by their PMS they would be able to have a scholarship - based on past practice. The scholarships had already been given out since the yield was so high and the budget $$ were already used up.
The kids who did *not* get scholarships were not kids who applied and awarded scholarships.
 
mariner116 -you are confusing two completely different things -

The Army didn't pull budget $$ from any scholarships. What happened is that non-scholarship cadets were told by their PMS they would be able to have a scholarship - based on past practice. The scholarships had already been given out since the yield was so high and the budget $$ were already used up.
The kids who did *not* get scholarships were not kids who applied and awarded scholarships.

What is confusing about this situation is that the 3-year scholarships offered on campus to freshmen were campus scholarships that were not activated until the first day of sophomore year. IIRC there were several stories about freshmen who were supposed to get these scholarships this year who did not, as the units seem to have lost those scholarships (probably due to overenrollment at you mentioned).

Mariner's situation may or may not be the same thing. If it is indeed a Cadet Command offered scholarship, I would think that it would be safe. However, the only 2 or 3-year scholarships that I've seen advertised anywhere are campus scholarships, which are subject to funding availability at the time of contracting (i.e. first day of school year).

I'll be interested to hear the details once Mariner gets hold of the unit.
 
Thanks to both for your comments. I hope to have this better clarified next week. I am encouraged by Just_A_Moms explanation that the 3-year AD sounds like it is a formal offer/obligation and could not be removed due to future budget issues. However, I will certainly confirm exactly what the level of committment is, as well as the implications of this being a CC-based scholarship offer. I'll post back when I know more.
 
mariner116 –

Yes, my son took the 3-year advanced designee scholarship. (He’s now in the 2nd Infantry Division at Camp Casey, Korea – my own “home” at one time, hoo-ah!!)

As I recall, he did sign paperwork, (I don’t think it was the actual “contract”), when he started his freshman year that locked him into the scholarship for his sophomore year and beyond. As expected, he didn’t receive any ROTC payments during his freshman year. At the start of his sophomore year he signed the actual ROTC “contract” and became a contracted cadet. The ROTC payments went into effect in his sophomore year and went right through to senior year. So, based on that experience, I’d say you don’t have to worry about the Army taking away scholarship money after you accept the 3-year deal and your student signs the initial paperwork at the start of freshman year.

Regarding your comment about the website, the information on my younger son’s website page only says he’s being offered an Army ROTC scholarship and lists his approved schools. There’s nothing on the website that refers to either 4-year or 3-year deals. The only place I see that is on the paperwork sent by Cadet Command in the mail.
 
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goaliedad - the kids I know who were *told* they would get a scholarship and did not, did not apply from high school. They were "walk-ons" who a year or two ago would have been offered a scholarship since so many were going unused.

mariner116 - right. this is a formal offer. I seriously don't think you have to worry about future budget issues. The demand for jr Army officers is still very high. I heard the other day that a lot of units are running at about 50%. There continues to be a very serious shortage of Captains and Majors and this is resulting in 1Lt's being promoted very rapidly, the expectation is for this to continue for a few years.
 
Just_A_Mom and btexino, thanks for the further understanding of the 3-year offer. It sounds like a solid committment. That addresses part of my concern (the other is how to pay for the first year...).

btexino, the web site is called the "4-year scholarship status site". That is why I interpreted all schools listed as offering a 4-year scholarship. The ROTC site makes no mention that I can find of the 3-year AD (we had never heard of it). In my view, if ROTC is going to offer 3-year ADs to students applying for a 4-year scholarship, they should make that potential outcome known from the beginning -- and certainly note it on a web site labeled as 4-year scholarship awards.

Thanks again to both of you for the information.
 
I'm certainly hoping that this is a formal, binding offer.

It just seems strange that on all of the Army websites they never mention this type of scholarship. The only reference to 3-year scholarships are for current college students. I guess these AD scholarships are a small part of the program, but with btexino's son's experience, it does sound promising.

I guess I can chalk this one up to the things that the Army doesn't tell you up front.
 
One more question. During the freshman year, do students have to buy uniforms? If so, are uniforms and other equipment items paid for by ROTC, or does the freshman student on the 3-year AD have to purchase these items? I guess my question also applies to 4-year scholarship winners as well. It just occurred to me that I have never thought about the costs of uniforms or who pays for them.
 
In my view, if ROTC is going to offer 3-year ADs to students applying for a 4-year scholarship, they should make that potential outcome known from the beginning -- and certainly note it on a web site labeled as 4-year scholarship awards.

I hear ya, mariner116! There are lots of changes Cadet Command should make to the “Army ROTC Scholarship Application Status System,” such as maybe saying:

“Your application is complete and ready for review by the next board”

instead of telling us:

“You have been selected for an interview. Please contact the PMS …”

when we’ve already been through the interview process and we’re actually wondering if our students’ packets are complete. That had me very confused, because I thought my son needed a second interview for some reason.

And, I loved the cryptic “DoDMERB” status that appeared right after the “interview” business mentioned above. Ah, well, it is what it is. We live and we learn.
 
mariner116-

No, my 3-year scholarship son didn't have to pay for any ROTC uniforms or equipment, not even in his freshman year when he wasn't yet a "contracted cadet."
 
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