AROTC Nurse cutbacks?

VMI82

VMI82

Room 131
5-Year Member
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Dec 2, 2013
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Hello all.

I am helping younger daughter complete research on Colleges for her AROTC Nurse application. I emailed questions to several POC at ROTC programs she was interested in that (seemingly) offered Nurse Corps track.

One school responded with following:

"We have been informed that starting this year the Army is cutting back on the number of nurses on active duty so they are cutting back on the number of scholarships offered to nurses.
We do offer scholarships in other areas that your daughter can compete for if she is interested.

Also, there is the reserve or national guard if your daughter is interested in that option because they have scholarships available for nurses."

This is disheartening as this school is one of the "Partnership Nursing Excellence" schools - one of 41 Nationwide.

Their website still shows they are 'open for business' and the AROTC application portal allowed DD to list the school as a choice.

I, in no way, am upset at the POC for this College. Thus I am not posting that school's name as the POC was super professional and in fact replied to my email at 11PM on a Sunday night. I will email and ask for permission to disclose the School in question.

This response begs my primary question:

Does anyone know the extent of the Army ROTC Nurse Scholarship Cutback?

I am praying it is nowhere near as draconian as Navy Nurse Corps near-extinction level cutbacks from last year.

If anyone has information on those Reserve or Nat'l Guard Nurse Scholarships we'd be grateful.

DD has her heart set on serving as a Nurse in uniform.
 
The Army as a whole is cutting back, so it's not surprising at all that their need for nurses would be reduced as well. If she wants to be a nurse, she should still apply. On that note, she should also be the one communicating with the battalions - not you.
 
My daughter was an AROTC nursing cadet and just graduated in May and was stationed at Brooke Army Medical Center effective June 28th.

When she first started the process way back in 2009, she was told that all nurses were guaranteed (or forced, depending on your perspective) to go active duty. During the 2nd semester of her sophomore year, the Army put out a notice offering nursing cadets an opportunity to opt out of the nursing program or take a regular line scholarship. Is was amazing how fast that window closed as many cadets took them up on the offer. My fuss is they were struggling with the difficult curriculum and saw a way out.

Fast forward to her senior year and staffing has chained again. There were supposedly 225 AROTC nursing cadets nationwide but they only needed 165 for Active Duty. The rest went the Reserve/NG route. Some by choice, some not. Like JCC stated, don't hesitate to apply and I'd apply for the Navy and Air Force nursing programs as well. You just never know what doors will be opening in the future....
 
k2rider said:
Like JCC stated, don't hesitate to apply and I'd apply for the Navy and Air Force nursing programs as well. You just never know what doors will be opening in the future....
Click to expand...
VMI82: At this point you can only hope that some doors will open in the future. The current state of affairs for nurses attempting to commission in the AF and Navy is not ANY better than the Army.

The good news is that WHEN the military needs nurses again....and IMHO....they will eventually NEED nurses again; those nurses that manage to commission during these "lean" times will be in a great position for promotion and career advancement. If your daughter does eventually commission Army she might want to pursue becoming a Nurse Practitioner. I think the advanced nursing degree nurses are in larger demand (and shorter supply).

Good luck to your daughter!
 
Thank you all for prompt replies.

JCC123 - DD is in driver's seat for communications.

What I have been doing is calling and ascertaining if the College even has slots for AROTC Nursing. So far 3 of the 7 on her list no longer do despite their websites and the AROTC application portal indicating they still do.

Helping in the background allows me, with my Parkinson's, to feel useful.

But I clearly understand and know that this is her journey and she is the pilot.
 
Are you reading his/her response to be that this school no longer is given a quota for Nursing ROTC scholarships there? If so, then I would clarify with the Cadre. I personally read it to say that there has been a big cutback across the board with Nursing Scholarships and that your DD may want to consider other options to improve her chance for an AROTC scholarship.......but that doesn't necessarily mean they get NO nursing scholarships anymore. I could be wrong, though.......
 
USMAROTCFamily said:
Are you reading his/her response to be that this school no longer is given a quota for Nursing ROTC scholarships there? If so, then I would clarify with the Cadre. I personally read it to say that there has been a big cutback across the board with Nursing Scholarships and that your DD may want to consider other options to improve her chance for an AROTC scholarship.......but that doesn't necessarily mean they get NO nursing scholarships anymore. I could be wrong, though.......
Click to expand...

1. some schools will no longer offer any AROTC Nursing Scholarships that used to - example Carroll College

2. and there seems to be big cutbacks across the board that lowers the total available scholarship slots.

I emailed the Brigade Nurse to clarify which schools are still participating in the Nurse program and asked how many slots, Nationwide, will be available this year

I may not get an answer to the later but suspect she'll get back to us stat on the former
 
The Army will continue to offer Nurse scholarships. There has been talk of focusing on 3 year advance designee scholarships.
 
partial list of Colleges no longer offering AROTC Nursing

thank you payitforward! +1 - excellent suggestion, I forwarded it to DD

FYI

here is a partial list of Colleges here in N'West that no longer offer AROTC Nursing scholarships (thanks to kindness of 8th Brigade Nurse)

Gonzaga
Pacific Lutheran
Univ. of MT
Carroll College
 
If your aspiring nurse cadet is focusing on PNW colleges, she might also consider Seattle University since it is not on the list above. It is a small but strong battalion - the just graduated MSIV class of 14 had four nurses.
 
Thank you Horseholder! - the ROO at Pacific Lutheran referred us to them too. DD is in process of checking them out

Thanks AROTC Parent
 
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