Navy ROTC... getting worried.

mentoring,

Listen to Jcleppe!

That is not only true, but fact!

Gojira's DS 12 months ago did not commission 6 weeks prior to commissioning because he was 8 lbs over the NROTC weight limit.

He was handed a 143K bill for his scholarship. They hired an attorney to fight the bill and lost.

This scholarship will be a weight on their shoulders financially until they commission.


Our DS's friend in AFROTC went to SFT (summer of rising jr yr in college) as a scholarship cadet. He graduated from SFT. Went to the det a month later and said I don't want to do this.

He got a 40K bill in September as a jr. in college.

This is a new era. We have yet to pass a budget in 4 yrs. We have kicked the debt ceiling down the road for quite some time. SOD Panetta has stated he wants from every branch how to make up the cuts if sequestration happens.

Do you actually think ROTC is not going to take a hit?

Think about it, ROTC is 4-5 yrs. regarding costs. OCS/OTS is months and they don't pay a dime for college education.

DOD has a budget, ROTC is in that budget. They have a choice...spend Active Duty (AD) or for kids in college that may or may not commission in 4 yrs?

How much does it cost to commission an OCS grad compared to the 4 yr ROTC scholarship? I am thinking maybe 1/3 of the cost.

Navy has to keep personnel numbers at the same time for Officers, but they have slash and burn their budget. Should they keep ROTC at the same rate. or should they use OCS?
 
An ROTC scholarship recipient, regardless of branch (AROTC, NROTC, etc), if disenrolled for reasons mentioned above, will be required to pay back the entire amount of the scholarship, even if he/she is already in his/her last semester, and even if he/she did well in the 3.5 yrs he/she was at school?

Your correct. Just as an example, a cadet that was ahead of my son, he was a senior MS4 had received his branch and was weeks from graduation, he did a very stupid thing and received a DUI. The cadet was disenrolled and required to pay back the entire scholarship. As I mentioned a NROTC mid missed the weight regs and was disenrolled 2 weeks before graduation and required to pay back the scholarship.

Sounds rather harsh to me...But well....if that's the rule...

Your right on both counts, it is harsh and it is the rule.

In the end it really does not matter how long the cadet/mid has been in the program, break the rules or fall below the standards and they will be disenrolled.

The contract actually states that the cadet/mid will either pay back the amount of the scholarship to date or serve a term of enlistment based on the years of completed ROTC. The caveat is that the military decides which one, not the cadet/mid. With the military draw down the option has been payback not enlistment.

Most applicants don't think about this when they are filling out their applications or when the accept them, it is something the applicant and parents should discuss and know the risks involved.
 
mentoring,

Listen to Jcleppe!

That is not only true, but fact!

Gojira's DS 12 months ago did not commission 6 weeks prior to commissioning because he was 8 lbs over the NROTC weight limit.

He was handed a 143K bill for his scholarship. They hired an attorney to fight the bill and lost.

This scholarship will be a weight on their shoulders financially until they commission.


Our DS's friend in AFROTC went to SFT (summer of rising jr yr in college) as a scholarship cadet. He graduated from SFT. Went to the det a month later and said I don't want to do this.

He got a 40K bill in September as a jr. in college.

This is a new era. We have yet to pass a budget in 4 yrs. We have kicked the debt ceiling down the road for quite some time. SOD Panetta has stated he wants from every branch how to make up the cuts if sequestration happens.

Do you actually think ROTC is not going to take a hit?

Think about it, ROTC is 4-5 yrs. regarding costs. OCS/OTS is months and they don't pay a dime for college education.

DOD has a budget, ROTC is in that budget. They have a choice...spend Active Duty (AD) or for kids in college that may or may not commission in 4 yrs?

How much does it cost to commission an OCS grad compared to the 4 yr ROTC scholarship? I am thinking maybe 1/3 of the cost.

Navy has to keep personnel numbers at the same time for Officers, but they have slash and burn their budget. Should they keep ROTC at the same rate. or should they use OCS?


Pima, WOW! So if DD/DS ever gets disenrolled for whatever reason/s (who knows what happens down the road esp when these "kids" will be on their own?), the risk/cost is very high indeed.

By the way, excuse me for my ignorance, but what is OCS?
 
Your correct. Just as an example, a cadet that was ahead of my son, he was a senior MS4 had received his branch and was weeks from graduation, he did a very stupid thing and received a DUI. The cadet was disenrolled and required to pay back the entire scholarship. As I mentioned a NROTC mid missed the weight regs and was disenrolled 2 weeks before graduation and required to pay back the scholarship.



Your right on both counts, it is harsh and it is the rule.

In the end it really does not matter how long the cadet/mid has been in the program, break the rules or fall below the standards and they will be disenrolled.

The contract actually states that the cadet/mid will either pay back the amount of the scholarship to date or serve a term of enlistment based on the years of completed ROTC. The caveat is that the military decides which one, not the cadet/mid. With the military draw down the option has been payback not enlistment.

Most applicants don't think about this when they are filling out their applications or when the accept them, it is something the applicant and parents should discuss and know the risks involved.


Thank you for your insights on this one. This is something that we, poor parents, indeed should know and discuss with our "kids!" I absolutely agree.
 
Yes, they are on the hook after their 1st yr.

They always write in the scholarship, enlistment or pay back, but in the yrs I have been here not one poster has been offered the enlistment option. Not saying it isn't being offered, I am only saying nobody here has seen that option ever offered

OCS/OTS is Officer Candidate/Training School. Look under Community Feedback on this forum, they have a sticky for acronyms/

For AFROTC leave the program at any point the OCS/OTS option is gone.

From what I have been told AFROTC is getting even nastier. If you get a rated slot, i.e. RPA/ABSM and say I don't want that track, you are not allowed to ask for non-rated.

AFROTC is closer to NROTC regarding scholarships. Tech/STEM are factors when it is comes to awarding.. There is no Guard or Reserve Option when you graduate, you WILL serve Active Duty.
 
Yeah he was incredibly famous! :biglaugh:

Sorry guys, as a Mom, I was as a Mom using my own pain/experience

USMC,

If I am correct every branch that offers ROTC HSSP requires the PFT as part of the application.

The only difference I can see is you are saying MO requires the PFT to be done at the interview process, and not allowed by others, such as HS PE instructors.

If that is the case, I get your position. However, I still stand my position that many recipients think once the scholarship is in hand equates to contracting. They stop working out, start spending more time being the avg HS SR. believing all they have to do is show up to ROTC to contract.

Some schools like our DS's don't have ROTC dorms, they live with every one. The PFT can be done within the 1st few days of getting there. Kids are getting their 1st taste of freedom, ordering pizza at 10-11, going to bed at 1, and having to be up at 5:30 for a 6 am show. They can live in dorms like our DS where the halls echo and have a roommate that comes in at 2 because their 1st class is 11 a.m.

Honestly, that is my point, college is not home where Mom and Dad say lights out at 11.

Navy does not require a physical fitness test as part of the application. (Yeah, I'm stupified by that too!) Of course you must pass their physical fitness test to contract.
 
Pima, WOW! So if DD/DS ever gets disenrolled for whatever reason/s (who knows what happens down the road esp when these "kids" will be on their own?), the risk/cost is very high indeed.

By the way, excuse me for my ignorance, but what is OCS?

I should mention that if a cadet/mid is disenolled for medical reasons they are not required to pay back or enlist.
 
Navy does not require a physical fitness test as part of the application. (Yeah, I'm stupified by that too!) Of course you must pass their physical fitness test to contract.

I don't know, Navy may be out in the lead here. Sounds like lots of AROTC and AFROTC have 60+ pushups on their application but show up at school and can't do 30. They may have decided the coach/PE teacher administered test is a waste of time Now it seems like perhaps NROTC MO may have this figured out and came up with a different solution by requiring a recruiter administer the fitness test.
 
What bothered me the most with the OP, was all or nothing. Give me a scholarship or I won't serve, Navy's lost. We have all stated there is more than 1 way to skin this cat.

I am not able to wrap my mind around the fact I feel this is more about paying for college and NROTC is a way, than serving in the military.

ROTC isn't SA, but it isn't a cake walk either. You don't get to say I don't want to be assigned to Norfolk because that is on the East coast and I want Hawaii.

You serve at their needs. If you can't get that ROTC is also a 4 yr crap shoot for career fields, yet you will serve 365 days a yr AD, maybe it is best you part ways now when you are in HS.

If you are having a tizzy about them saying they will only pay for X school and it is number 5 on your list...just imagine when they give you your #3 career list and assigned to the crap base for 3 yrs?

Sorry, but somebody has to finally say it, and stop coddling. You will serve at their needs, not YOUR desires or needs. You will salute sharply when you get a crap assignment.

You are a cog in the system.

You as a HS student is a dime a dozen. You actually are a liability when it comes to the debt/credit ratio.

You can take your scholarship for 1 yr and walk after that yr.

The idea that people think the military isn't financially savvy when it comes to scholarships like a Fortune 500 with their discretionary budget is mind boggling

They are probably the best in that case. They have multiple layers of interviewing.

If I was a BGO or an interviewer, sorry, but the attitude of navyFB52, and are told am told they aren't going to go OCS or enlisted, with the comment:


would give me pause.

Sorry NavyFB52, but that is true. I have a choice 1 slot, 2 applicants.

One says if I don't get the scholarship I will go enlisted and use the GI bill to pay for college. I will serve in the Navy, enlisted will just make a better officer because I now have both sides of the fence.

Second says to me that type of comment from my quote. I am not going with them.

First off, I would go to any college that the Navy awarded my scholarship to. You're not understanding that all these reasons are economical. I don't just have military goals, I have education and career goals too. I'm not going enlisted, because I'm not going to accept ****ty pay. I'm going to college out of high school and that's that. I would love to serve the military, but if I don't receive this scholarship, I'll start to look at other options.
 
Well, NavyFB52 did say it was due to economics earlier in the thread at least once. Parents will not, or cannot, pay for school. He has enough saved for one year of college costs but is unwilling to risk it all on the mere chance of getting an in-school scholarship. I can't say as I blame him. I'm personally not sure what the wise decision is there.

NavyFB52,

I do think University of Illinois with their tuition waiver for up to 10 freshman college programmers is definitely worth a look and maybe even a risk.

Enlisting isn't all bad. There is the GI Bill when your hitch is up. I have a niece and nephew who got their BA degrees on the GI Bill. One of them has since gotten a Masters Degree and the other gets his Doctorate in Physical Therapy in June. Oh yeah, he'll be promoted to Captain in the Army Reserves when he swings that tassel to the other side of the mortar board. He expects/hopes to go back on Active Duty as well. The end goal is the education. It doesn't matter how you got there.

Reminds me of the old joke about the golfer who had a bad hole, (in the woods, in a sand trap, over the green into another sand trap, etc) but still managed to make par... he didn't have to draw a picture of what went wrong, he only needed to write down a score. :smile:
 
I'm definitely taking a look at the tuition waiver for NROTC students at UI. The GI bill is definitely an option, but I don't know if I'd decide to put the enlisted time in first. I keep that option open too though, because right now that's is what I need more of: options. Hopefully all of this works out and I just end up in Colorado with their NROTC unit. I just wish I'd know soon.
 
I'm definitely taking a look at the tuition waiver for NROTC students at UI. The GI bill is definitely an option, but I don't know if I'd decide to put the enlisted time in first. I keep that option open too though, because right now that's is what I need more of: options. Hopefully all of this works out and I just end up in Colorado with their NROTC unit. I just wish I'd know soon.

Go work out. And then take a hot shower and practice deep breathing. :wink:
 
NavyFB52 I hope the NROTC scholarship comes through for you. I would anticipate that your grades and test scores will also earn you a decent amount of merit money somewhere. I think you will end up with options. A college education is important as you are obviously aware so keep your eye on the goal but keep looking around for all the options. Good Luck.
 
Best of luck to you, I hope you hear good news soon. Keep all your options open and always look for more.
 
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