Received the ROTC Scholarship - should son decline other scholarships?

C

Copenhagen

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Greetings,
My son received a ROTC scholarship, but has also been awarded a small local scholarship. The conditions for acceptance of the local scholarship state that the full amount must be returned in the event that a full scholarship is received that covers all tuition, books and fees, housing and school meal plan expenses.

The ROTC scholarship covers tuition and his schoool will cover his room and board. So, does this mean that my son should not accept the local scholarship? I don't believe the ROTC funding covers all costs of the education, so would it be appropriate to accept the local scholarship to cover additional costs?

My kid put a great deal of effort into the local scholarship application...essay, recommendation letters, etc. It seems unfair that he should return the award if it could be applied to additional educational expenses.

Looking for your thoughts on this issue...

Thanks,

'Hagen
 
You mention ROTC covers tuition, the college covers room and board, what about books, fees, etc.? You should be able to use the small local scholarship to cover these additional expenses. You might sit down and use the college's website and other info available to add up all your son's yearly expenses and see what is left to "pay out of pocket" after ROTC and the room and board amounts are covered. This should help you answer the question.
 
Tuition, Room, Board, Books, Mandatory Fees, Monthly Stipend. If that's not a full scholarship, tell us what's missing.

If it doesn't seem fair, then tell that to the local folks who awarded the Scholarship.
 
I would definitely check with the local scholarship folks, but DS was awarded about $1500 in local scholarships, and he was able to use it to purchase the laptop that his school required him to purchase.
 
cb7893 said:
Tuition, Room, Board, Books, Mandatory Fees, Monthly Stipend. If that's not a full scholarship, tell us what's missing.

If it doesn't seem fair, then tell that to the local folks who awarded the Scholarship.
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Cost of Attendance generally includes other expenses too. Transportation to and from school and incidental expenses (supplies/internet/phone...). These can add up if school is a significant distance from home and require plane tickets annually. Though these could likely be covered with the stipend.
 
I'd accept nrotc. They will cover far more than the small scholarship and there are other scholarships out there if the committee deems it unnecessary to give ds the scholarship.
 
Penn State (correct?) estimates additional expenses in the cost of attendance to be $3800-4000 per year
 
Here is my two cents. Until he passes DODMERB and his fitness test, his scholarship won't activate. Once it does , His full tuition will be paid regardless of other payments made. If there is an overage he will be issued a check, if there isn't an overage he won't be. At the time if he issued a check and you both feel uncomfortable then return the money at that point. All ROTC are conditional and do not go into effect until the cadet contracts. My daughter was awarded several awards from her college, as soon as she contracted they were returned. Outside scholarships would be returned to your son. Congratulations, these are good problems to have!
 
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Copenhagen,

You may want to check what fees are covered at this particular school. For example, my son's ROTC scholarship has never covered the school's communication fee, even though it's mandatory when living in the dorms (it provides wi-fi and cable TV for the dorm rooms, which is a luxury, but not an optional one). It's $200 a semester. They also did not cover the fees for taking classes outside of his resident college (he's arts and sciences and took classes in the business school). It would be a shame to decline the scholarship only to find out there are other charges on the bursar's bill.
 
You should check with the school. They all handle these external scholarships differently. My oldest went to college on a AFROTC scholarship and the school threw in room and board. Other scholarships went into his account and he could use the money for anything.

My second son went to another school on an AFROTC scholarship and the school paid for everything else. However, they absorbed all external scholarships to defray their costs.
 
Dckc88 said:
Here is my two cents. Until he passes DODMERB and his fitness test, his scholarship won't activate. Once it does , His full tuition will be paid regardless of other payments made. If there is an overage he will be issued a check, if there isn't an overage he won't be. At the time if he issued a check and you both feel uncomfortable then return the money at that point. All ROTC are conditional and do not go into effect until the cadet contracts. My daughter was awarded several awards from her college, as soon as she contracted they were returned. Outside scholarships would be returned to your son. Congratulations, these are good problems to have!
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I have a similar situation happening to me as well. I received an AFROTC Type 1 Scholarship and a half scholarship from my school, both of which I would like to use. I know that with the AFROTC Scholarship, tuition won't be paid until 45 days after school starts, which is fine because my school said they are ok with deferring my tuition payment for me. However, the half scholarship from my school will go into effect immediately, meaning when AFROTC goes to pay for my tuition, half of it will already be paid.

So I just want to verify really quick, when AFROTC goes to pay for my tuition, will they pay the full tuition amount rather then just the remaining half of my tuition payment? If so, that would be very nice because I have already contacted my school and they said they would refund me any extra money they receive after my tuition is completely paid for.
 
rich said:
I have a similar situation happening to me as well. I received an AFROTC Type 1 Scholarship and a half scholarship from my school, both of which I would like to use. I know that with the AFROTC Scholarship, tuition won't be paid until 45 days after school starts, which is fine because my school said they are ok with deferring my tuition payment for me. However, the half scholarship from my school will go into effect immediately, meaning when AFROTC goes to pay for my tuition, half of it will already be paid.

So I just want to verify really quick, when AFROTC goes to pay for my tuition, will they pay the full tuition amount rather then just the remaining half of my tuition payment? If so, that would be very nice because I have already contacted my school and they said they would refund me any extra money they receive after my tuition is completely paid for.
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I would ask the financial aid office. There should be someone who deals directly with the students in ROTC. Some schools let you stack scholarships. However my DD's school does not. She also had school based scholarships credited to her account when the Army payment came in for the full amount the funds from the school were credited back to them, not to her. She does have a room and board scholarship also. Again just ask the school you won't be the first one to ask.
 
rich said:
I have a similar situation happening to me as well. I received an AFROTC Type 1 Scholarship and a half scholarship from my school, both of which I would like to use. I know that with the AFROTC Scholarship, tuition won't be paid until 45 days after school starts, which is fine because my school said they are ok with deferring my tuition payment for me. However, the half scholarship from my school will go into effect immediately, meaning when AFROTC goes to pay for my tuition, half of it will already be paid.

So I just want to verify really quick, when AFROTC goes to pay for my tuition, will they pay the full tuition amount rather then just the remaining half of my tuition payment? If so, that would be very nice because I have already contacted my school and they said they would refund me any extra money they receive after my tuition is completely paid for.
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I have a nearly identical situation: Type 1 AFROTC Scholarship with several private scholarships and a few university ones. Based on my conversations with my commander and the university, the detachment reports to the AF how much is left to be paid in your account, and then the AF pays that amount. So yes, you will "lose" that non-AF scholarship money unless you can figure out a way to get the non-AF scholarships to pay second. In my case, I've asked every scholarship disburser if they can pay once I notify them that the AF has made their deposit. About half of my scholarships have agreed to this condition, but the other half cannot be flexible on this point (NASA, the university, etc.). Just my situation.
 
Another consideration is the cost of books. I can only speak to NROTC, but there is a set amount to reimburse for books each semester....it was $375. I can tell you, that textbooks have cost well over $1000 depending on the semesters. So that extra scholarship money would help cover that.
It will also depend on whether the local scholarship sends directly to the school or provides the student with the check. If it goes to the school, the financial aid office will split it between both semesters and will then subtract it, the ROTC scholarship, the room and board etc from the total bill. You might want to see if they reimburse you for any money's left over so you can use it towards books or other expenses etc.
 
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