Backup Plan, What to do?

SA2026hopeful

SA2026hopeful

USAFA c/o '26
Joined
Jan 10, 2022
Messages
193
Hello all, I have a question which I wanted to share in order to get more opinions on the matter.

For starters, I have received and accepted my appointment to USAFA. I am 100% committed to attending. However, I wanted to have a backup plan in place in case of an injury or some bizarre circumstance which would prevent me from attending.

I received a type 7 AFROTC scholarship which I was planning on accepting, but if something were to occur which would prevent me from attending USAFA wouldn’t that also prevent me from participating in AFROTC? So should I decline the scholarship and just accept to another university, or accept the scholarship and see what happens from there?

Thank you for any advice you can give!
 
Communicate with your Plan B ROTC and University. Be completely transparent about your plans and that you want to save your spot in case you were unable to continue with your appointment. Good communication and telling your story they are likely willing to work with you. That is what our DS did and was able to receive a full refund on his admissions deposit as well as housing deposit. Took a few emails and good documentation, but eventually obtained full refunds when he had completed basic was healthy and knew he would be continuing at USAFA. You want to serve and schools typically want to support that. He was clear with the school that he would love to attend if for some reason he wasn’t able to continue at USAFA. PS he accepted his ROTC scholarship as part of the same agreement and then formally declined later.
 
i thought scholarship is good up until the day you report to usafa…then it becomes null and void
 
Technically, anyone can just ‘not show up’ to either place. The SA/ROTC Police will not hunt you down and bring you to report. It’s not the right thing to do, but you don’t HAVE to show up.
 
Pretty sure that the offer where you accept (at least last year) said that when you accept you have to notify/turn down all ROTC offers. Not positive though
 
I think the responses speak for themselves so you’ll want to check with your contacts at ROTC and the university. Good luck! And congratulations on your appointment!
 
“In case of injury or….”

Two things in general to be concerned about

#1—-doing something really stupid often fueled by booze as you enjoy the last few weeks of freedom and HS life. this is 100% under your control

#2—an injury . I will bet that most recently injured future plebs got hurt in sports. With many sports injuries are always a possibility. Try to stay lucky or don’t play now that you have a spot at the SA secured.

Its always good to be prepared if things go south but don’t worry and fixate on things going south. Worrying about these things happening is just human nature.
 
Bigrod said:
You have to give up your scholarship when you accept appointment to USAFA. It’s immediate
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DS had a 4 yr AROTC scholarship and he told the University he had also been appointed to the USMA. Explained that they were a contingency plan and paid them the deposit. In his case, it was understood that the deposit would be forfeited if he chose not to attend the University. He was told his AROTC scholarship would automatically be terminated once he reported to RDAY.
I notified the University at that point and thanked them.
So plan B was in play up until the oath was taken on RDAY. It was good “insurance “ in the event an injury or some other unforeseen incident prevented him from reporting to RDAY.
That was our experience…..
 
This may be completely stating the obvious, but an injury that would cause issues with your medical readiness at an SA, would almost certainly cause you the same or similar issues at any ROTC institution. It would constitute a change in your health status, driving a report back to DoDMERB, with the potential for AMI or in the worst case, a DQ.
 
Well a life altering injury yes, but something that may not be healed /recovered by RDAY but before University starts
Ie appendicitis, concussion, etc..
There are no guarantees, but saving the plan B option as long as you can still gives a larger window of options.
The kids who receive the scholarships and appointments can hold onto and manage them however is needed. As long as they play by the rules of the contracts, that is their choice. They earned it.
 
My kid is talking to Georgia Tech as a safety net if he gets hurt the first month at the USAFA and they are very helpful. I believe he has let go of all 3 ROTC Scholarships and I will be paying for school, but lets hope it is just a safety net and not reality.
 
AA787DRIVER said:
My kid is talking to Georgia Tech as a safety net if he gets hurt the first month at the USAFA and they are very helpful. I believe he has let go of all 3 ROTC Scholarships and I will be paying for school, but lets hope it is just a safety net and not reality.
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Once they arrive at I Day and get injured during BCT chances are they will still be able to finish BCT but if the injury is serious and they cant complete BCT they will become a Turnback and automatically have space for them the following year without having to go through the whole application process. I believe that happened to only 4 people last year.
 
You can also apply for a gap year at your backup. It's a one year insurance policy at the cost of the deposit...IF the backup school accepts the gap year request.
 
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