4 year Army National ROTC Scholarship

Michael Nolan

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Question my Daughter was fortunate enough to win a 4 year National Scholarship and has been accepted to UCLA. I believe this particular scholarship covers Tuition as well as Room and Board. My question is is there anyone in this group that their child has the same scholarship that has any experience with this process?
 
Question my Daughter was fortunate enough to win a 4 year National Scholarship and has been accepted to UCLA. I believe this particular scholarship covers Tuition as well as Room and Board. My question is is there anyone in this group that their child has the same scholarship that has any experience with this process?
The Army will only pay for Tuition or a certain amount for Room and Board (Most pick Tuition unless they have a preexisting tuition-based scholarship with the university). However, many schools offer room and board incentives along with the National scholarship, but that is up to the specific ROTC program and the school. For example, my national scholarship just covers tuition at UConn, but when I am a sophomore-senior I will get a certain percentage of my room and board paid for by the ROTC battalion and the school. It would be best for your Daughter to look on the ROTC website at UCLA and/or contact someone at the battalion to get a better understanding of how it works at UCLA. Hope this helps!
 
In rare cases today, a school’s room & board costs exceed the tuition, or as stated above, the student may have been awarded a tuition waiver as a merit scholarship by the school. This may make choosing the option for room & board worthwhile. However, I understand choosing room & board will make the payment taxable by the IRS. Tuition is not taxable. Some colleges award room & and board full or partial waivers to attract national ROTC scholarship awardees. Be advised, however, that some colleges that have awarded a full or partial tuition waiver as a merit scholarship before the student informs the school of the AROTC scholarship award, will reduce the tuition award. You need to talk to the school financial aid office to understand that school’s policies. The financial aid office will have experience dealing with these issues.
 
We're going through a modified version of the above scenario.

Kid was awarded a 3AD. Was also awarded merit-based scholarships from the school, itself.
After the dust settled, the school reached out and informed my boy that 3AD winners would now have freshman year tuition AND sophomore-senior year room/board covered by the university. Was also informed that the merit-based scholarships would disappear. No problem....the tuition is more than the merit-based stuff, anyway.

OUR problem is that this is a new twist....as in, brand new program, this year. We're sitting around, waiting for that new program to kick in, so we know what balance remains.

Semper Gumby!
 
The scholarship pays either full tuition and fees or Room & Board up to $10k. However, that $10K is no longer considered a "scholarship" by the gov't and will be taxed as income. The cadet will make a selection each year as to what they want the scholarship to cover.
 
I highly recommend that your DD reach out to her ROO to find out if UCLA AROTC offers any room and board assistance.
 
Question my Daughter was fortunate enough to win a 4 year National Scholarship and has been accepted to UCLA. I believe this particular scholarship covers Tuition as well as Room and Board. My question is is there anyone in this group that their child has the same scholarship that has any experience with this process?
Following closely. My son is a rising senior and UCLA is in his top 5. He is getting ready to submit both applications to schools and application to ROTC for board review. The possibility of merit scholarships to go along with ROTC would be a large determining factor so I'd be interested in you experiences. My son would be a Fall 2022 Freshman.
 
Most Army ROTC programs at public universities follow what @MohawkArmyROTC said. Some select public and private colleges with solid endowments may offer free R&B to augment the tuition scholarship. Unfortunately, I cannot recall ever reading where UCLA was mentioned on this forum as one of them.

However to be sure, I would recommend that you reach out to the UCLA Army ROTC Recruiting Operations Officer (ROO).
Currently it is listed as Mr. Romeo Miguel. Phone (310) 493-0749

Reference: https://milsci.ucla.edu/people/
 
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The scholarship pays either full tuition and fees or Room & Board up to $10k. However, that $10K is no longer considered a "scholarship" by the gov't and will be taxed as income. The cadet will make a selection each year as to what they want the scholarship to cover.
I am confused. YOu said it isn't considered a scholarship and it will be taxable. Is this correct?
 
To my knowledge:

Army scholarships are NOT taxable when applied toward tuition and mandatory fees.
Army scholarships ARE taxable when applied toward room and board as per IRS Topic 421 and IRS publication 970

Source: IRS Topic 421: Topic No. 421 Scholarships, Fellowship Grants, and Other Grants | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)
Source: IRS pub. 970: Publication 970 (2020), Tax Benefits for Education | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

From Publication 970:
"A scholarship or fellowship grant is tax free only to the extent:

  • It doesn't exceed your qualified education expenses;
  • It isn't designated or earmarked for other purposes (such as room and board), and doesn't require (by its terms) that it can't be used for qualified education expenses; and
  • It doesn't represent payment for teaching, research, or other services required as a condition for receiving the scholarship. For exceptions, see Payment for services, later."

Humey, I know you are a CPA, do you have other info?
 
That is correct in regards to taking the $10k for room and board.

Yes if you use a scholarship for room and board, it has always been considered taxable. I think I know understand what you were saying. If you use it for room and board its no longer considered a scholarship and is therefore taxable. I read it as Rotc is no longer considered a scholarship and therefore its taxable.
 
Question my Daughter was fortunate enough to win a 4 year National Scholarship and has been accepted to UCLA. I believe this particular scholarship covers Tuition as well as Room and Board. My question is is there anyone in this group that their child has the same scholarship that has any experience with this process?

Hello! Glad to hear that your daughter got into UCLA! I'm currently a rising senior in the Bruin Battalion in a satellite campus. One of the biggest components for your daughter to complete first is the 104R (they'll show her how to fill it out), which is essentially a 4 year plan of all the classes she needs to take to graduate. The scholarship only covers tuition OR room and board, not both. We are starting to integrate into a new system for the CPR (cadet payment request) so I'm not too sure how the details will work out this upcoming school year; but everything will be explained.

And yes, our ROO is Romeo Miguel and the phone number listed in previous replies is correct. The Bruin Battalion is a great program and I've truly enjoyed my time so far! In case you/your daughter want to check us out more, here's our Instagram @ucla.army.rotc
 
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