OBTW, biggoals, you do realize that even if you drop out after freshman yr and owe nothing to the military, it still leaves you in a financial bind regarding how to find the money to pay for college.
The hardest part for kids that take this path based on financial need is they can get stuck between a rock and a hard place.
They need ROTC to pay for college because they love the school and the program, yet they don't want to be in the military (rock), they stay in the program to pay for college and they will owe many yrs upon graduation/commissioning serving at the needs of the military whenever they beckon (hard place). It is very hard emotionally to leave a school after freshman yr when you are doing academically well, and have made friendships, but can't afford to stay because you cut the strings to the monetary source.
Colleges typically have risen 10% per yr in costs, so you need to place that into your financial equation too.
DS1 commissioned last May. He entered in 08 and it was 28K, and left in 12 and it was between 41-43K. 4 yrs and it went up 50% from the day he started. He was an OOS student at the flagship public college.
~~~ Meanwhile as an AFROTC cadet, the amt they pay for tuition never increased over the 4 yrs., to this day for Type 2 or 7 it is still locked at 18K. That is now 6 yrs.
DD is not ROTC, but attends IS at VT. She entered in 10 and her bill was 15.8K, it is now as a jr. IS 19.6K. 20% increase, and I am sure by next yr, it will be 22K+. That will be a 35% difference over 4 yrs.
I only state that because when DS1 got his scholarship, we were yippy skippy, and assumed between his merit and AFROTC scholarship we were not paying a dime. We didn't look into the details.
For example:
~~~ College only guaranteed 2 yrs on campus. He moved off campus his jr yr. Key words in his scholarships were UP TO. AFROTC says UP TO 18K for tuition. Merit stated X amt of $$$, it was not a check, and if he didn't use it all, to them all the better. It could be used for R&B or tuition. It was divided over 4 yrs.
~~~ Our kids tuition as you can see has increased dramatically over 4 yrs. When he entered his fresh yr. his AFROTC scholarship covered the tuition, merit paid R & B; no out of pocket. By his sophomore yr., with the university increases we were out of pocket several thousand to cover R&B. By his sr, yr. it was much more than we could have ever imagined out of pocket.
Just food for thought when you select a college. I don't know if A/NROTC operates the same way as AFROTC, regarding increasing with tuition increases, but if they don't, than be prepared to revisit how you will pay for college as a jr or sr. without finding more FA.
The Devil is in the details.