Hello all,
I recently found this site, and I wish I would have found it sooner. I am in a fairly unique situation (at least that's what everyone at DFAS has told me) and I am looking for any viable advice regarding my next move.
I was awarded an NROTC Scholarship my senior year of high school and begun my education at Texas A&M in the fall of 2004. In the spring of my Sophomore year I applied for a change to a Marine option contract, which was awarded that summer while I was on my 2nd Class Summer Training. Between Junior and Senior years, I attended OCS and graduated in the top quarter. I was always a much better Midshipman than I was a student, and I was separated due to poor academic performance. At my review board, I was asked if I was going to pay it back or enlist, and I told them my plan was to enlist as ithout the scholarship, I could no longer afford to continue school at that time.
After I withdrew from school, I was in constant communication with our NROTC department, and was told that I did not necessarily have to enlist in the Marines, so I began looking in to the other branches. After talking to recruiters at all of them, I saw that the National Guard would honestly give me the best benefits, as it would allow me to come back to school at a much earlier time, and hopefully finish my degree quicker. And I enlisted as a Combat Engineer, thinking that throughout my 6 year enlistment I was bound to deploy at least once. When asked, the NG recruiter told me he was sure that NG service would count towards the "enlisting in lieu of repayment". When I notified the NROTC department of my decision, they didn't say anything other than that they wished me the best. I honestly think they didn't even think about the fact that I was enlisting in the guard. I did ask them how the situation would be handled regarding the debt, and they said that in the next 18-36 months I should get a bill from DFAS, and then I could get the paperwork started to validate my enlistment.
After a couple of years I hadn't heard anything so I called the NROTC dept back and they said it probably just hadn't come in yet, just to wait a bit longer. A former classmate of mine had just gotten his bill, but he was separated about a year before I was, so it made sense. During this time I also returned to Texas A&M (I completed my re-admission application while I was at AIT) and successfully completed my degree.
A couple years later, same call, same answer.
Fast forward to June of 2015. I got a notification from Credit Karma that a new debt had showed up on my credit report, and it was a ~$45,000 debt to DFAS. I called DFAS and found out that it was my ROTC debt, but I found my separation paperwork and it listed a total of only around $30,000, so I asked what the difference was. Turns out, they initially "sent" me the bill in June of 2010 (about 6 months after I had enlisted). The gave me the address, and sure enough, it was my moms address from my sophomore year. She moved my junior year, and I thought that I had updated all my records but I guess I missed one. Either way, according to the DFAS rep, they sent one letter a month to that address for 5 years, with no reply. All the while my balance was collecting late fees and interest. All this time I was enlisted in the Guard, so DFAS had my current address, but supposedly they were in different systems.
Luckily, DFAS realized this was not normal, and the rep I was talking to even said that normally they only send bills for 3 months before submitting it to collections, whereas mine had gone on for 5 years. Through their appeals process, I was able to get them to remove almost all of the fees, and it dropped my balance back to much closer the original value. This was finally resolved a few months after my notification, and I had been making payments the whole time, to try and stay on good terms with them.
Now, some of you may have caught on to the fact that I enlisted in the National Guard, which I came to find out is not a valid branch to enlist in in lieu of repayment. It was the DFAS rep who informed me of this. Ironically, I had that conversation while on my way to drill. I asked her if there was any recourse I had, and she recommended I contact my NROTC department. I called them and they recommended I contact the Chief of Naval Operation and Training. When I contacted them, no one had heard of a situation similar to mine before but said that I could fill out and submit a DD 149 (Official Change of Record).
I am currently in the middle of doing this, but I wanted to ask this board if they knew of any other options that I could pursue to get my debt (even partially) forgiven.
Looking back, I know that I screwed up. Not only did I let my grades falter, but I didn't research my decision thoroughly enough, and I got my own self into this mess. However, I feel that I was acting in good faith based on the information that was relayed to me, and I want to pursue all my options.
Thank you in advance for any assistance that y'all may be able to give.
I recently found this site, and I wish I would have found it sooner. I am in a fairly unique situation (at least that's what everyone at DFAS has told me) and I am looking for any viable advice regarding my next move.
I was awarded an NROTC Scholarship my senior year of high school and begun my education at Texas A&M in the fall of 2004. In the spring of my Sophomore year I applied for a change to a Marine option contract, which was awarded that summer while I was on my 2nd Class Summer Training. Between Junior and Senior years, I attended OCS and graduated in the top quarter. I was always a much better Midshipman than I was a student, and I was separated due to poor academic performance. At my review board, I was asked if I was going to pay it back or enlist, and I told them my plan was to enlist as ithout the scholarship, I could no longer afford to continue school at that time.
After I withdrew from school, I was in constant communication with our NROTC department, and was told that I did not necessarily have to enlist in the Marines, so I began looking in to the other branches. After talking to recruiters at all of them, I saw that the National Guard would honestly give me the best benefits, as it would allow me to come back to school at a much earlier time, and hopefully finish my degree quicker. And I enlisted as a Combat Engineer, thinking that throughout my 6 year enlistment I was bound to deploy at least once. When asked, the NG recruiter told me he was sure that NG service would count towards the "enlisting in lieu of repayment". When I notified the NROTC department of my decision, they didn't say anything other than that they wished me the best. I honestly think they didn't even think about the fact that I was enlisting in the guard. I did ask them how the situation would be handled regarding the debt, and they said that in the next 18-36 months I should get a bill from DFAS, and then I could get the paperwork started to validate my enlistment.
After a couple of years I hadn't heard anything so I called the NROTC dept back and they said it probably just hadn't come in yet, just to wait a bit longer. A former classmate of mine had just gotten his bill, but he was separated about a year before I was, so it made sense. During this time I also returned to Texas A&M (I completed my re-admission application while I was at AIT) and successfully completed my degree.
A couple years later, same call, same answer.
Fast forward to June of 2015. I got a notification from Credit Karma that a new debt had showed up on my credit report, and it was a ~$45,000 debt to DFAS. I called DFAS and found out that it was my ROTC debt, but I found my separation paperwork and it listed a total of only around $30,000, so I asked what the difference was. Turns out, they initially "sent" me the bill in June of 2010 (about 6 months after I had enlisted). The gave me the address, and sure enough, it was my moms address from my sophomore year. She moved my junior year, and I thought that I had updated all my records but I guess I missed one. Either way, according to the DFAS rep, they sent one letter a month to that address for 5 years, with no reply. All the while my balance was collecting late fees and interest. All this time I was enlisted in the Guard, so DFAS had my current address, but supposedly they were in different systems.
Luckily, DFAS realized this was not normal, and the rep I was talking to even said that normally they only send bills for 3 months before submitting it to collections, whereas mine had gone on for 5 years. Through their appeals process, I was able to get them to remove almost all of the fees, and it dropped my balance back to much closer the original value. This was finally resolved a few months after my notification, and I had been making payments the whole time, to try and stay on good terms with them.
Now, some of you may have caught on to the fact that I enlisted in the National Guard, which I came to find out is not a valid branch to enlist in in lieu of repayment. It was the DFAS rep who informed me of this. Ironically, I had that conversation while on my way to drill. I asked her if there was any recourse I had, and she recommended I contact my NROTC department. I called them and they recommended I contact the Chief of Naval Operation and Training. When I contacted them, no one had heard of a situation similar to mine before but said that I could fill out and submit a DD 149 (Official Change of Record).
I am currently in the middle of doing this, but I wanted to ask this board if they knew of any other options that I could pursue to get my debt (even partially) forgiven.
Looking back, I know that I screwed up. Not only did I let my grades falter, but I didn't research my decision thoroughly enough, and I got my own self into this mess. However, I feel that I was acting in good faith based on the information that was relayed to me, and I want to pursue all my options.
Thank you in advance for any assistance that y'all may be able to give.
