ROTC is different than an SA because as a ROTC cadet/mid from 1 big aspect....medical insurance. As a ROTC cadet you are not covered by Tri-Care, the cadet must carry or not carry their own private health insurance until AFTER they commission.
~ ROTC cadets have no military bennies even on scholarship. They don't get medical coverage. They don't get military housing. The very best they get is space A (below priority of AD, bottom of the list) and shopping on base if they have a CAC
~~ I am not even sure if they can USAA as a GMC (freshmen/soph yr for ROTC) be it on scholarship or not.
Why is this important in this aspect, because as the parent on the birth certificate at an SA that child would be deemed a military dependent and they would have to be covered by Tri-Care. The child's mother would automatically be given access to any military installation, including the BX/Commissary, space A, etc., just like the cadet.
There are many married ROTC on scholarship, one of our DS's closest friends decided to get married the summer prior to his senior yr in college, no pregnancy issue, just wanted to start their life together. There was a poster on here that found out she was pregnant her sophomore yr. and gave birth her junior yr in college.
~The one thing that they may have to submit in paperwork once the child is born is a family plan. IE if they are sent for training and they have joint custody, than who will take care of the child while they are on the training deploy
OBTW, I can tell you that over the course of the 21 yrs my DH served ADAF we met many SA grads where the math did not add up and you 1st think, oh that must be a stepchild, bc the child is 2-3 yrs older than the amount of years they have been married, however, the reality is they were the biological parent, but bc of the SA rules they did not claim them until the day they got married (Usually for SA grads they commission in the a.m. and the weddings start being booked 30 minutes apart that afternoon for the entire weekend at the base chapel...hahaha!)
