AROTC scholarship vs GI Bill

K

Klone

Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2014
Messages
32
Good afternoon all,

I am currently about to sign my contract for AROTC going into my 2nd semester of my ms3 year.
Presently, I was informed I will be receiving backpay from last spring for a medical waiver as well. I was informed that if I take the scholarship, I will owe 4 years before my GI Bill time will begin to accumulate. Whereas, if I do not take the scholarship my GI Bill would begin accumulating after I start my service time.

I have another scholarship that is already paying for room and board and tuition for my 4 years of college, so any money I am receiving from the ROTC scholarship would go into a savings account.

Another thing I am considering is that I plan on attaining a masters degree in nursing in the future. At this point I am not 100% sure if I will be pursuing this through the army or through a public school. As a result, if I wanted to pursue this graduate degree through a public school I would be able to utilize my GI Bill. However, I could also apply for the graduate program through the Army after 2 years of initial service as a nurse as well.

Therefore with these pending decisions in mind, which choice would financially make more sense for me to make at this time? Would the GI bill, after 4 years of service cover a graduate level degree 100% of the cost?

Thank you for your time and assistance in advance.
 
Klone said:
Good afternoon all,

I am currently about to sign my contract for AROTC going into my 2nd semester of my ms3 year.
Presently, I was informed I will be receiving backpay from last spring for a medical waiver as well. I was informed that if I take the scholarship, I will owe 4 years before my GI Bill time will begin to accumulate. Whereas, if I do not take the scholarship my GI Bill would begin accumulating after I start my service time.

I have another scholarship that is already paying for room and board and tuition for my 4 years of college, so any money I am receiving from the ROTC scholarship would go into a savings account.

Another thing I am considering is that I plan on attaining a masters degree in nursing in the future. At this point I am not 100% sure if I will be pursuing this through the army or through a public school. As a result, if I wanted to pursue this graduate degree through a public school I would be able to utilize my GI Bill. However, I could also apply for the graduate program through the Army after 2 years of initial service as a nurse as well.

Therefore with these pending decisions in mind, which choice would financially make more sense for me to make at this time? Would the GI bill, after 4 years of service cover a graduate level degree 100% of the cost?

Thank you for your time and assistance in advance.
Click to expand...


As I understand your situation, you're already on a full ride college scholarship and don't need Army ROTC to finance your education. Congratulations!

If I were you I'd skip any ROTC scholarship, as you don't need it. If you're going to pursue a commission as an officer in the US Army - again, congratulations and thanks for your service. With no ROTC scholarship you'd begin earning GI Bill benefits right away, as you correctly surmise.

GI Bill will cover all tuition/fees up to the maximum in-state amount charged at public universities. For private schools, look for those participating in the Yellow Ribbon program. Under Yellow Ribbon, if there is a shortage between what GI Bill covers and the actual cost, the difference can be made up in a 50-50 split between the school & the VA.

For example, say you wants a Master's Degree at Harvard University (they love veterans - really). Cost is about $50K/year. GI Bill will cover $20K. Remaining $30K can be split between Harvard ($15K) and the VA ($15K) via the Yellow Ribbon program.

Plus you get the GI Bill housing allowance, which is $3110/month currently for Cambridge, MA (sure, that's a lot and you'll get a lot less for a school in Biloxi, MS, but it's all relative). And $1K/year for books.

Check out the VA website for the details.

https://www.vets.gov/education/gi-bill/

Particularly the easy-to-use GI Bill Comparison Tool:

https://www.vets.gov/gi-bill-comparison-tool


Good luck with college & your service!
 
Also my thought was, why take the ROTC scholarship, when you already have a scholarship and there are thousands of kids that would love the ROTC scholarship.
 
The only reason I’d take the rotc scholarship is if you’re not contracted yet and it’s your safest bet to be contracted so you know you’ll commission. However since you’re halfway thru your ms3 year, I’m guessing you’re already contracted.
 
Just another thought, I believe the ROTC scholarship is paid directly to the school. My son's is, so putting it into a savings account may not be an option.
 
Agree with turtlerunnernc.... you may not be able to keep (all) of your other scholarship monies if you accept the ROTC scholarship. In fact my guess is you probably won't keep them.
 
While it is true my other scholarship would reduce it's amount if I earn other scholarship money, I talked to both the scholarship coordinator and my financial aid office and they told me the ROTC scholarship would not be reduce my primary scholarship like other scholarships would. This was the case when during my first semester AFROTC paid for my classes and the other scholarship deposited the extra funds into my account. So I guess ROTC would still pay for the tuition but that amount that the other scholarship would have paid for originally is instead deposited.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top