Qutting ROTC as a non-scholarship Cadet.

Xano

5-Year Member
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Mar 23, 2012
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3
I joined the National Guard in 2010 and was in RSP for a year until I went to basic training during the summer of 2011.

I came back to school and contracted into ROTC on a non-scholarship contract. The only money I am receiving is the monthly stipend.

I won't give my reasons, but ROTC and me don't seem to be compatible. I am thinking about quitting and have looked at the contract several times but need clerification.

If I quit, do I have to repay that monthly stipend back? Do I get put into active duty or return to my enlisted rank and MOS in the National Guard?

Thank you.
 
Have you talked with any of the instructors at your school?
 
I joined the National Guard in 2010 and was in RSP for a year until I went to basic training during the summer of 2011.

I came back to school and contracted into ROTC on a non-scholarship contract. The only money I am receiving is the monthly stipend.

I won't give my reasons, but ROTC and me don't seem to be compatible. I am thinking about quitting and have looked at the contract several times but need clerification.

If I quit, do I have to repay that monthly stipend back? Do I get put into active duty or return to my enlisted rank and MOS in the National Guard?

Thank you.

Are you getting Drill Pay, GI Bill, or any Tuition Assistance, are you SMP, what year in school are you in, are you MS1, MS2, MS3, or MS4.

Above all....your asking the question in the wrong place, if you've made your mind up to quit then you need to just be honest with the cadre and yourself and go tell them and find out what your obligation is. Nothing told to you on this forum will change the outcome and you may get answers that are not correct leading to false assumptions.
 
Are you getting Drill Pay, GI Bill, or any Tuition Assistance, are you SMP, what year in school are you in, are you MS1, MS2, MS3, or MS4.

Above all....your asking the question in the wrong place, if you've made your mind up to quit then you need to just be honest with the cadre and yourself and go tell them and find out what your obligation is. Nothing told to you on this forum will change the outcome and you may get answers that are not correct leading to false assumptions.

I am getting Drill pay, GI bill from the National Guard and Tuition Assistance from the National Guard. I am a senior in college, I could graduate this semester, but because of ROTC I have to stay in for 2 more years. I am an MS3
 
I am getting Drill pay, GI bill from the National Guard and Tuition Assistance from the National Guard. I am a senior in college, I could graduate this semester, but because of ROTC I have to stay in for 2 more years. I am an MS3

Ok.

If your a MS3 am I correct in assuming that you would be going to LDAC this summer, if that's correct then next year you would be a MS4 and would commission at the end of the year. Another possibility could be that they would commission you at the end of the first semester since you have the credits needed to graduate, that happened to a cadet at my son's school this year. The question is why do you say you have to stay for 2 more years because of ROTC, if your a MS3 the most you would have is 1 more year, or am I missing something.

It looks like the stipend is not the only money you are receiving. As far as payback I would imagine you would be required to payback the tuition assistance you received, possibly the stipend, not sure about the GI Bill. I am not familiar with the SMP contract and it doesn't seen very clear about repayment.

I would talk to your cadre and ask them what will need to be payed back, also ask about the earliest date you could be commissioned since you have the credits to graduate.

Still curious as to why you would have 2 years left as a MS3
 
I joined the National Guard in 2010 and was in RSP for a year until I went to basic training during the summer of 2011.

I came back to school and contracted into ROTC on a non-scholarship contract. The only money I am receiving is the monthly stipend.

I won't give my reasons, but ROTC and me don't seem to be compatible. I am thinking about quitting and have looked at the contract several times but need clerification.

If I quit, do I have to repay that monthly stipend back? Do I get put into active duty or return to my enlisted rank and MOS in the National Guard?

Thank you.

I agree with Jcleppe. Sounds totally odd to me. If the "mismatch" with ROTC is doe to the "mismatch" between when you could graduate and what you need to do to "complete" the program then all the more reason to discuss this with the cadre. I would expect some accomodation could be made to better line things up for you.
 
Ok.

If your a MS3 am I correct in assuming that you would be going to LDAC this summer, if that's correct then next year you would be a MS4 and would commission at the end of the year. Another possibility could be that they would commission you at the end of the first semester since you have the credits needed to graduate, that happened to a cadet at my son's school this year. The question is why do you say you have to stay for 2 more years because of ROTC, if your a MS3 the most you would have is 1 more year, or am I missing something.

It looks like the stipend is not the only money you are receiving. As far as payback I would imagine you would be required to payback the tuition assistance you received, possibly the stipend, not sure about the GI Bill. I am not familiar with the SMP contract and it doesn't seen very clear about repayment.

I would talk to your cadre and ask them what will need to be payed back, also ask about the earliest date you could be commissioned since you have the credits to graduate.

Still curious as to why you would have 2 years left as a MS3

The stipend is the only money I am receiving from ROTC. If I was on scholarship, then all my money would be from ROTC but because I am in the National Guard, I am getting my TA and GIBill from the NG, NOT ROTC. SMP cadet just means that for Drill, I get paid E-5 pay instead of my enlisted pay. THey already messed up on my pay and for the 6 months I have been in, only 3 of them I have been getting my E-5 pay, and they said I couldn't get backpay.

I have 2 years left because apparently there is a surplus of Lt's commissioning in the 2012 year and they cannot commission when it is like that. They said I have to wait until December of 2013 before I can graduate and commission, which means 2 extra years of undergrad instead of moving on to grad school or finding a job.

I contacted my PMS and made an appointment to talk to him next week.
 
You won't have to pay back GI Bill or TA. And if I recall correctly, you may not have to pay back stipend, but that's why you need to go talk to cadre. we just had an SMP cadet get dismissed and he told me he was not required to pay back his stipend.

Also talk to your cadre about grad school and the last 2 years of ROTC. We have an MS3 in Law School right now and I know MS2's that are seniors credit wise. You may be able to start grad school and possibly finish it while you do ROTC for two years.
 
You won't have to pay back GI Bill or TA. And if I recall correctly, you may not have to pay back stipend, but that's why you need to go talk to cadre. we just had an SMP cadet get dismissed and he told me he was not required to pay back his stipend.

Also talk to your cadre about grad school and the last 2 years of ROTC. We have an MS3 in Law School right now and I know MS2's that are seniors credit wise. You may be able to start grad school and possibly finish it while you do ROTC for two years.

I'm glad you could give some insight as a cadet.

I have one question though, while the tuition assistance is not paid by ROTC but by the National Guard as part of the SMP program, doesn't the National Guard require the SMP cadet to graduate and commision to receive this assistance. They don't just give Tuition assistance to every Guard member with no restrictions do they. If that was the case wouldn't every NG member just sign up for SMP, get Tuition Assistance and then drop the program when they graduate and say "Thanks for the money", it seems like there would be some requirement attached to that money.

I do understand about the commissioning class of 2012, my son's school is dealing with the same issue.
 
The stipend is the only money I am receiving from ROTC. If I was on scholarship, then all my money would be from ROTC but because I am in the National Guard, I am getting my TA and GIBill from the NG, NOT ROTC. SMP cadet just means that for Drill, I get paid E-5 pay instead of my enlisted pay. THey already messed up on my pay and for the 6 months I have been in, only 3 of them I have been getting my E-5 pay, and they said I couldn't get backpay.

I have 2 years left because apparently there is a surplus of Lt's commissioning in the 2012 year and they cannot commission when it is like that. They said I have to wait until December of 2013 before I can graduate and commission, which means 2 extra years of undergrad instead of moving on to grad school or finding a job.

I contacted my PMS and made an appointment to talk to him next week.

If your currently a MS3 you would not commission until spring of 2013 anyway, so what they are saying is that you would have to wait 6 months and commission in Dec. of 2013. Is that correct.

Let us know how it turns out, it would be good information for future SMP cadets to have.
 
TA is through the State and varies by State. You don't have to be in the SMP program to get TA. You also don't have to be SMP to get GI Bill or the Kicker. Since I'm not SMP and am not an expert on the Guard, I'm not real sure on the contract details of SMP, but since all Guard members can get TA, I don't think being contracted with ROTC will affect that. However, I do think there may be consequences regarding the pay grade. SMP soldiers carry the pay grade of E-5. If you drop ROTC, you are no longer going to be SMP, so you won't (or shouldn't) be able to keep the E-5 pay. I don't think they'll require pay back of the E-5 pay, but rather a return to the grade the soldier was before SMP.

EDIT: To correct some wording, TA is not just through the State. There is a Federal Tuition Assistance program that is what most soldiers get and it varies by State. Some state guards also have other programs for education assistance.
 
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Ok.

If your a MS3 am I correct in assuming that you would be going to LDAC this summer, if that's correct then next year you would be a MS4 and would commission at the end of the year. Another possibility could be that they would commission you at the end of the first semester since you have the credits needed to graduate, that happened to a cadet at my son's school this year. The question is why do you say you have to stay for 2 more years because of ROTC, if your a MS3 the most you would have is 1 more year, or am I missing something.

It looks like the stipend is not the only money you are receiving. As far as payback I would imagine you would be required to payback the tuition assistance you received, possibly the stipend, not sure about the GI Bill. I am not familiar with the SMP contract and it doesn't seen very clear about repayment.

I would talk to your cadre and ask them what will need to be payed back, also ask about the earliest date you could be commissioned since you have the credits to graduate.

Still curious as to why you would have 2 years left as a MS3

Just a quick note, you HAVE to take both courses MS401 and MS402 in order to commission.. Even if all major/GUR credits are filled a cadet can not (according to my PMS) commission without every ROTC class completed. That particular cadet must have done both classes somehow in the same semester to reach that requirement. I came in as a second semester MSI and during my MS II year I had to take the first semester MSI class in addition to my MS II class or go to LTC.
 
Just a quick note, you HAVE to take both courses MS401 and MS402 in order to commission.. Even if all major/GUR credits are filled a cadet can not (according to my PMS) commission without every ROTC class completed. That particular cadet must have done both classes somehow in the same semester to reach that requirement. I came in as a second semester MSI and during my MS II year I had to take the first semester MSI class in addition to my MS II class or go to LTC.

I realize that, I was just curious why he would have 2 years left since he is currently a MS3, his MS4 classes would be completed during the next year. Just wasn't sure where the extra year came in. I think he answered that though.
 
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