ROTC Reimbursement

Texas Dad

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Dec 12, 2006
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My son was awarded a Air Force ROTC scholarship that will pay up to $15,000 for tuition and fees each year. While reading some of the fine print detailing information on the scholarship, it states that paperwork is to be submitted after 45 days each semester to reimburse expenses.

My assumption is that we are to pay all college bills (tuition, fees) and then submit expenses to the Air Force after the 45 day wait period for reimbursement, right?

Do all colleges expect tuition paid at the beginning of the semester or, if there is knowledge of the scholarship, will they wait for the government to pay the expenses?
 
When we were at UF, the admissions officer stated that they pay to cadet's busar account. At UF because of bright futures, the many cadets get checks back from the overage and they can use the extra to pay for apartments, food or whatever.
 
Talk to the financial aide office. They are pretty good at working with kids - they may leave the account open (not paid) for the 45 days until the money is received but I doubt you would have to pay it up front. That is what they usually do with student loans which don't arrive until after the semester begins, in my experience.
 
ROTC Scholarship

I was under impression scholarship was to used on for tuition and enrollment related fees. There will certainly bu unused scholarship dollars left over each year, but have been told that any "overage" cannot be used for room, board, etc.

Anyone had a scholarshiop and used any amount left over to cover other expenses?
 
while the rotc scholarship is used for tuition and fees, other grants/scholarship you get that are sent to the school directly can often be applied to housing, books etc. So they apply the rotc money to tuition and fees and then the other money, if there is any left over you get a credit in your account.
Confusing, right? :wink:
 
That was my understanding, Bright Futures pays 75%/100% of tuition. So the AF scholarship pays for classes and lab fees, his BF pays for his food plan this year as we see it. The next school year he will get a check back to pay for food or his apartment.

So in state tuition is 4K, the BF at worst case will pay 3K. AFROTC will pay the 4K and we will apply the 3K to food and dorm.
 
Yes Florida is debating the low tuition. They really want to be a top 10 public and need reduce student teacher ratio. That takes big bucks and a $1000 quaility fee. Because BF doesn't cover all fees folks will pay not goverment, but of course the gov. has vowed to veto it--he is an FSU grad:frown: ROTC would cover that increase.
 
This is how it works for AROTC atleast.

In July I will go to Kent to take the PFT again, after I pass that I sign my 'contract' into the Inactive Reserve, and begin to recieve my stipend, in September.

To understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to understand the perameters of my scholarship:
-Full Tuition
-Full Room (1 Year [renewable])
-$1000.00 towards Board Expenses.
-$900.00/ Yr Book Expenses
-$300.00 Monthly stipend

On 30 June first Board Payment in the form of $200.00 is due. Well, not contacting until July, That means that it must come out of my pocket, and then I will be repayed when I begin to recieve Payment. So, fast-foward to August when I start school. My tuition will already be payed to the Busar, but my books will need to be bought, so I will need to buy them and then when I recieve my first payment for books for $450.00, it is my choice as to whether I want to spend it on books or to keep it. That's what they mean by your expenses. I really hope that helps.

If money is an issue, I have a suggestion for your son. The military offers a great program called SMP (Simultaneous Member Program) when your son/daughter can join the National Guard and do Boot Camp in Fort Jackson, Flordia (There's a reason they say 'Relaxin In Jackson' it's not very hard...) and then he will be assigned the MOS 09R (the MOS for SMP Members) and basically all he has to do is drill 1x a month and he recieves E-5 Pay to do it, which I believe is $490.00/drill. So he will recieve that on top of his/her stipend. I also believe there is extra money for college involved in SMP, other than the E-5 pay, but I'm not 100% sure on this.

I hope this helps, goodluck.
 
Room and Board

You mentioned scholarship dollars for room and board. Since the AFROTC scholarship awarded my son does not cover room and board, I assume that you have additional scholarships (merit, etc.) covering these expenses or that the Army does cover room and board.

I would have thought the different services would be consistent in how scholarship dollars could be used.
 
The Army covers tuition and fees. Many schools throw in incentives for ARTOC scholarship winners - this can vary from a few hundred dollars to room and board. This additional money come from the school as a grant. Other scholarships that your child gets can generally be applied to room and board as well as other expenses, unless they specify tuition only.

For instance room and board is $8000. You son gets an additional $1000 from the school for being in ROTC and a $2500 merit scholarship for having an excellent academic record. The ROTC scholarship goes to tuition and the "extra" $3500 comes off room and board. You bill is now down to $4500.
 
You mentioned scholarship dollars for room and board. Since the AFROTC scholarship awarded my son does not cover room and board, I assume that you have additional scholarships (merit, etc.) covering these expenses or that the Army does cover room and board.

I would have thought the different services would be consistent in how scholarship dollars could be used.



That is correct, Texas. According to my PMS (which btw is the WORST abbrevriation EVER), I was the top recruit for KSU. My initial scholarship offer to KSU was a little less than 24K, when Kent itself is only 22K. They then redid my offer to only be enough to full expenses to the University.
 
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