ACE Loan
- Thread starter browse25
- Start date
The ACE loan is used to cover all of the uniforms, computers, and other stuff that everyone gets issued on I-day. You'll find out later that a lot of the stuff is stuff that you don't want or need, but you still have to pay for it. Welcome to the Navy. The amount changes each year, but it is usually somewhere between $8,000-$9,000. I believe everyone is required to take the loan to pay for everything. Certain scholarships can be applied to the loan to decrease the amount however.
The loan is automatically paid back during your time at the Academy. By the end of your 2/C year the loan is entirely paid off.
The loan is automatically paid back during your time at the Academy. By the end of your 2/C year the loan is entirely paid off.
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2013
- Messages
- 93
From the USNA site . . .
"Midshipmen are not charged an entrance fee to attend the Naval Academy. Each Midshipman will receive a mandatory pay advance known as the Advance for Clothing and Equipment (ACE) loan to aid in the funding of issued uniforms and supplies. This loan is $8,500 for the class of 2017. The ACE loan is an interest-free government loan that is repaid through monthly deductions from Midshipmen pay accounts. Midshipmen will not be permitted to graduate indebted to any government or non-appropriated organization."
It gets paid back out of the Mids' monthly pay/stipend/whatever it is called. It is my understanding that scholarship monies can be used to pay it down (unless prohibited by the individual scholarship) or the mid or parents can pay it down or off, thus freeing up a bit of the pay.
I'm just the mom of an incoming Plebe, though. I'm sure if I have misspoken, someone will correct me.
"Midshipmen are not charged an entrance fee to attend the Naval Academy. Each Midshipman will receive a mandatory pay advance known as the Advance for Clothing and Equipment (ACE) loan to aid in the funding of issued uniforms and supplies. This loan is $8,500 for the class of 2017. The ACE loan is an interest-free government loan that is repaid through monthly deductions from Midshipmen pay accounts. Midshipmen will not be permitted to graduate indebted to any government or non-appropriated organization."
It gets paid back out of the Mids' monthly pay/stipend/whatever it is called. It is my understanding that scholarship monies can be used to pay it down (unless prohibited by the individual scholarship) or the mid or parents can pay it down or off, thus freeing up a bit of the pay.
I'm just the mom of an incoming Plebe, though. I'm sure if I have misspoken, someone will correct me.
Odd
This is one of the oddest loans I have ever heard of. The government loans you $9000, then the Government takes out money from the loan to pay for your books uniforms and so on. The loan is no interest. So essentially the gov't is loaning itself zero interest loan. Correct me if I am wrong, but why don't they just take the money out of their pay and skip the loan part. That sounds like what they are doing anyway. Confusing.
This is one of the oddest loans I have ever heard of. The government loans you $9000, then the Government takes out money from the loan to pay for your books uniforms and so on. The loan is no interest. So essentially the gov't is loaning itself zero interest loan. Correct me if I am wrong, but why don't they just take the money out of their pay and skip the loan part. That sounds like what they are doing anyway. Confusing.
There is $8500 worth of stuff that is issued to plebes on I-Day. The Academy doesn't want to make plebes front $8500 on I-Day, so they use the ACE loan. If you don't like it, you can go ahead and give $8500 to the financial office during the ac year; the Academy doesn't care. It's zero interest though, so there is nothing to be gained from doing that.
Pay is held month to month mostly for those few months out of the year where the $700 - $800 of remaining midshipman pay is not enough to pay for the expenses for that month (engineering majors during book issue, plebes during SDB jacket, O-Coat, and Reefer issue). To ensure midshipmen are still paid something month to month, any deficits are rolled over to the next month and paid off with excess held pay. Held pay is released in January and August.
We're the only academy that does this. Other academy cadets can get a lot more money per month, but other academy cadets will also have months where they are not paid because there is nothing left after deductions (my understanding from a conversation with an USAFA cadet, anyway). So no matter how much I buy in the bookstore, uniform store, or Mid Store, I can count on getting that $100 as a plebe and the debt is just rolled over and paid off with a future month's pay.
I used to think the held pay system was pretty dumb, but there's benefits to it.
Pay is held month to month mostly for those few months out of the year where the $700 - $800 of remaining midshipman pay is not enough to pay for the expenses for that month (engineering majors during book issue, plebes during SDB jacket, O-Coat, and Reefer issue). To ensure midshipmen are still paid something month to month, any deficits are rolled over to the next month and paid off with excess held pay. Held pay is released in January and August.
We're the only academy that does this. Other academy cadets can get a lot more money per month, but other academy cadets will also have months where they are not paid because there is nothing left after deductions (my understanding from a conversation with an USAFA cadet, anyway). So no matter how much I buy in the bookstore, uniform store, or Mid Store, I can count on getting that $100 as a plebe and the debt is just rolled over and paid off with a future month's pay.
I used to think the held pay system was pretty dumb, but there's benefits to it.
Last edited:
JShawshank
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2013
- Messages
- 256
browse25 - The link to the list of gear (in the budget book) is above in Canihas's post (the "here's" is a hyperlink to the book).