How ROTC Process Works Without Scholarship

There are Community Colleges that have cross town AFROTC enrollments with "Host" 4 year colleges and universities that have AFROTC detachments. See the following website that will enable you to locate community colleges with such arrangements across the country - best of luck: https://www.afrotc.com/locator
 
DS also was thinking AF initially. Even as a STEM major he was not awarded an AFROTC scholarship but was fortunate enough to be awarded an AROTC scholarship. The more he looked into Army, the more he realized that there were advantages beyond the scholarship. Much larger branch so more career opportunities. He also felt it would in some ways be more challenging. Keep an open mind!
gill0610: I like your idea about keeping an open mind! There is a lot to discover in this world and a person can block opportunities that might come along if they have a closed mindset. I forgot to mention as you did that Army is larger and also it allows students to major in any subject.
 
Wanted to emphasize a few points that I don't think came through on previous posts.

1. Yes, you can enroll in a ROTC program without a scholarship. The enrollment process varies by the unit, so you would need to cotact the unit to make that happen. If possible, I would do that before the start of freshman year since there is often a ROTC orientation that starts prior to the start of the academic year. Again, that varies by unit.

2. You can only enroll in a ROTC program at a college that has a ROTC unit. Each service has an online list of the colleges that have a unit for their respective service. Some colleges only have one ROTC program, some have all three. I'm pretty sure that you will find ROTC is only available at a 4 year college, although they may have an affiliate relationship with a nearby community college. If I'm wrong on that point, I'm quite certain the the number of community colleges with a ROTC program is extremely low.

3. Each ROTC program has a 2 year "screen" in it's process for people who are enrolled without the scholarship and some even for those with a scholarship. For example, AFROTC has Summer Field Training between sophomore and junior years. Participants must be selected to attend SFT, regardless of scholarship status. If you are not selected or do not complete SFT successfully, then you are out of the program. The percentage who are NOT selected varies from year to year depending on the needs of the service. Army and Navy have their own process so determine who, without a scholarship, can move to the advanced program during their junior year and senior years.

4. Anyone in ROTC with a scholarship can participate during their freshman year without service obligation. Even though they are on scholarship, they can drop from the program during their freshman year without repayment of the monies, or serving on active duty. Students without the scholarship will "contract" between their sophomore and junior years and have no service "obligation" until they do so. Even if they drop the program afterwards, there is nothing to repay, since they received no tuition money.

5. I see no advantage to winning a scholarship but not accepting it. You have freshman year as a freebee to decide if the military life is for you. One ought to be able to make that decision in the time allotted.

6. There is no advantage to NOT applying for a scholarship. You cannot win a scholarship if you don't apply.

Hope this is helpful as a 30,000 foot view of the programs. You can certainly learn more by reviewing the online web sites for each ROTC program. Good luck!
Great summary. Some follow-up questions on your 4th point above where you indicated "... Students without the scholarship will "contract" between their sophomore and junior years and have no service "obligation" until they do so. Even if they drop the program afterwards, there is nothing to repay, since they received no tuition money. ...."...

For reference I am asking in regards to a scenario where the student already has his/her education costs already covered through other scholarships/grants/etc ...

Can they pay their way and do all 4 years in an ROTC program without a contract and then decide at graduation whether to commission or not?

If they contract between sophomore & junior year but don't accept a scholarship/tuition, can they decline service at graduation or will they be forced to go enlisted or something?
 
Great summary. Some follow-up questions on your 4th point above where you indicated "... Students without the scholarship will "contract" between their sophomore and junior years and have no service "obligation" until they do so. Even if they drop the program afterwards, there is nothing to repay, since they received no tuition money. ...."...

For reference I am asking in regards to a scenario where the student already has his/her education costs already covered through other scholarships/grants/etc ...

Can they pay their way and do all 4 years in an ROTC program without a contract and then decide at graduation whether to commission or not?

If they contract between sophomore & junior year but don't accept a scholarship/tuition, can they decline service at graduation or will they be forced to go enlisted or something?
for AF ROTC…if you aren’t selected for field training between soph & junior year, you can not continue, scholarship or no scholarship. And you would lose the scholarship.
 
Great summary. Some follow-up questions on your 4th point above where you indicated "... Students without the scholarship will "contract" between their sophomore and junior years and have no service "obligation" until they do so. Even if they drop the program afterwards, there is nothing to repay, since they received no tuition money. ...."...

For reference I am asking in regards to a scenario where the student already has his/her education costs already covered through other scholarships/grants/etc ...

Can they pay their way and do all 4 years in an ROTC program without a contract and then decide at graduation whether to commission or not?

If they contract between sophomore & junior year but don't accept a scholarship/tuition, can they decline service at graduation or will they be forced to go enlisted or something?
I can only speak specifically to NROTC, but I believe the other programs have a similar requirement, but may use different language or mechanism. For NROTC, in order to continue in the program beyond your sophomore you you must "contract" by either earning a scholarship or being awarded Advanced Standing. Either of these triggers and active duty service obligation. The obligation for Advanced Standing is shorter than for scholarship recipients, because these students receive less funds from the Navy.
 
Those are good questions.

Yes, he can contract between sophmore and junior years and not receive the scholarship. This is called advanced standing and the student would receive the monthly stipend but not the scholarship.

If he doesn't contract he would be dropped from the program, but I believe he could continue taking the Navy/Marine academic courses. He would be excluded from labs, PT, field training/and summer training. He could not commission but could attempt to commission via OCS if he desired.

I'll leave the second question up to experts because it's such an odd case that i'm not sure how it's handled. My guess is if he commissions he must complete his service obligation. If he drops before commissioning I expect he would have no obligation, financially or otherwise, since he didn't receive the scholarship. I'm confident @GWU PNS could answer this more authoritatively than I.
 
Can they pay their way and do all 4 years in an ROTC program without a contract and then decide at graduation whether to commission or not?

If they contract between sophomore & junior year but don't accept a scholarship/tuition, can they decline service at graduation or will they be forced to go enlisted or something?
Kinem answered nearly everything pertinent to your first question. (and again, this is a Naval ROTC focus. Other programs have different results.)

Commissioning through NROTC has a few statutory requirements, which include a summer cruise training element. That's why for Advanced Standing, you need to do this prior to junior year to remain on track. We can try to squeeze in a summer cruise over Christmas break or Spring Break, but that really isn't ideal from a student perspective.

You need to have your security clearance paperwork submitted via the SF86 and fingerprints are also required. And you need to be DODMERB screened at some point.

From my perspective, if a person really isn't sure about wanting to commission, then don't do advanced standing. You either have the calling or you don't. And, as Kinem noted, if you decide after graduation you want to explore a commission, there is always OCS.

Being awarded Advanced Standing and then declining commission hasn't happened during my tenure. I suspect there would be a lot of questions, and theoretically, you could be required to pay the stipend back for the advanced standing period. But I doubt anyone would attempt to make you enlist to pay back the cost, since you have funded the tuition on your own. I think you would be safe there. But, as I mentioned, I have never seen that. And frankly, I would decline to endorse someone for advanced standing who was uncertain of their long-term goals for naval service.
 
Thank you everyone for the replies (especially Kinnem & GWU PNS).
I'd like to thank the Motion Picture Academy, my producers, the Midshipmen, and moderators who made this possible. I'll see myself out now! :D
 
I'd like to thank the Motion Picture Academy, my producers, the Midshipmen, and moderators who made this possible. I'll see myself out now! :D
The one wild card may be at SMC. A friend went to VMI and paid his own way. He did NROTC for 4 years and decided as a senior not to commission. This was in the 80s so I don’t know if you can still do that.
 
Back
Top