Should I continue in AFROTC or should I drop it and enlist after college?

Z

Zaremstein

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Oct 19, 2018
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Hello,
I am currently a 250 in the afrotc program and just found out that I will not be able to earn a scholarship for the rest of my time while in the program due to my gpa from last year being below a 3.0. One of the main reasons that I joined was because I needed the money to help pay for school. What are the benefits for me if I stay in the rotc program vs dropping out of it and enlisting after I graduate. I believe that it is possible for the Air Force to help me pay off loans if I were willing to enlist after college but if I don't drop the program, I don't think they would give me any money due to the fact that I would already be committed to serving 4 years after I graduate no matter what. So basically, why should I stay in the program and commit 4 years for free vs getting paid to enlist after?

Thank you.
 
I wouldn't continue taking on more student loan debt with the prospect of having the AF help pay off your loans if you enlist. That is in no way a guarantee.

Just be aware that if you enlist after graduation your salary will be far less then if you commission, if the AF does not help with your debt your loan payments will take a much larger percentage of your enlisted salary each month.

Make sure you look at all your options.
 
On a purely financial basis, you are going to make much more money as an officer than you will as enlisted. The job is completely different. As an officer you are going to be a leader, as an enlisted you will be led. Nothng wrong with that, but it is a whole different world
 
Have you looked at DFAS regarding pay?

Enter as an O1 under 2 and you make @3100/mo. Best guess you enter as an E4 which is @2100/mo. By the time you make 02 over 2 yrs. You make @4100 vs IF you get promoted to E5 over 2, you are @2500, or 18K a yr difference in gross pay before talking about BAH. By the time you make O3 with 4 yrs in, the pay differential is @24K a yr.

Now do the math, if you leave after 5 yrs ADAF, you are talking @85K in total differential and that is if you make E5 within 2 yrs.

Think about it from another perspective. Employment when you leave the military. Officers are seen as management from day 1 because the enlisted report to them.

Enlisted is the backbone of our military. Without them no mission can be accomplished. My DH could not take off with the jet without the maintainers, refuelers, flight line or life support, nor can my ADAF DS that is a current pilot. They are true specialists that spend their careers honing their skills.

However, impo in your case, you don't seem to want to be enlisted, and to be honest I am not sure you want to serve in the AF (no flaming, just my opinion). It just seems to me the only reason you are willing to serve in any rank is to pay off your college debts.
~ I apologize if I offended you, but it is just how your post reads.

If you say the military as a pay off debt aspect, trust me the cost is too high. ADAF, be it as an enlisted or officer member equates to they own you. They want to send you on a remote for a yr to Korea, you are going. You want to go Cyber, but they say no, you are going Comm, you are going Comm. You say my baby sister is getting married in the middle of my 4 month deployment to the sandbox...sorry you are not going to the wedding. I can go on and on with the list. That is the true cost of being in the military.

I wish you the best, but I hope you take to heart.

OBTW, you might be jumping the gun. You have to be accepted as an AS250 to SFT to become a POC. If not selected HQ AFROTC can disenroll you from the program. That answer will come down in about 5 months.
 
My plan would be to enlist after college and go through officer training so im planning on becoming an officer no matter what. I am hoping to become a pilot and I truly enjoy the rotc program The reason I am so focused on getting money is simply because I am really struggling to pay my tuition and my main question is, from a financial standpoint, would I be better off continuing in rotc where I have no chance of getting any money till I get my job in the Air Force. or not being in the rotc but joining after I graduate if they can offer to help me pay off loans. I would start being paid as an officer around the same time either way and it should be the same pride
 
By enlisting you have a lot of ifs. If they help me pay my loan , if I become an officer. By going through Rotc, you have a direct path and you will know exactly what u will earn. Everything else is a guess
 
I think you might be under the impression that getting selected for Officer Training School after college is the same as getting selected for ROTC. Keep in mind, that OTS exists to fill the shortfall in junior officer numbers if the Academy and ROTC can't fill the Air Force's requirements. As a result, OTS selection is extremely competitive. Many of these spots are taken by Air Force enlisted who have been working in their job for 4+ years. It is extremely difficult to get selected as a civilian right out of college and to give you a personal example of that a friend of mine with a 4.0 GPA majoring in political science and with a whole slew of leadership experience was denied when he applied. Also, keep in mind the Air Force loan repayment program caps out at $10,000 total, not to exceed 33% of the total debt repaid each year.
 
Not sure about this 100%, you may want to find out if you can cross commission into the Army. I don’t think Army ROTC Program has 3.0 requirement. It could be 2.0. Normally they let you cross service commission if you let them know in your Junior Year. Even maybe possible Senior Year. Talk to AROTC Command near you. If successful you may seek career in Aviation Support or Pilot. Army has wide array of career options so you should look into it. I would even look into the NROTC to see if you have an option there to switch. No shame in serving the country to help pay for your cost of education. Many many people do it and the military knows it that’s part of the benefits they can offer you in return for your 5 years if you’re a scholarship recipient or have attended an SA. Sometimes that’s the best option available. Scholarship or tuition relief for Service. Look into it and I hope you will find ways to stay in and commission as an officer. Good luck son.
 
Back when AFROTC had high mid 50/low 60% SFT selection rate, many cadets that were not picked up, walked across campus to the AROTC det and joined them without skipping a beat from a commissioning aspect.

Army pilots have a way different career path than an AF pilot. The AF will want the pilot to step out of the cockpit for career progression, but on a whole it is not uncommon for an AF pilot to fly 15 yrs out of a 20 yr + career. Most will step out to make rank, such as, O4, go to PME (school) or fly a chair, but will return back into the cockpit right after. It is only when they start hitting the O5 /O6 rank that they start doing the flying tour, school, desk tour, flying tour. By the time they hit O7, flying is basically over for them from an operational aspect, but than again an O7 is a Flag officer and even on fast track they are probably at 23 yrs. Whereas, in the Army world for pilots, they basically do 2 yrs and start flying a chair before they are even up for O4. The Army has Warrant Officers, and those are the members that spend their lives flying.

If you want to be a pilot, there is so much more to think about than just jumping over to the Army and trying to get a pilot slot from them. If the OP was my kid, I might suggest a 3rd option that blends all of it together, something I have no knowledge on how it works, but JCleppe here might know. What about applying to be a WO as a helo pilot?
~ WO's pay is not the same as enlisted or officer, but instead in between.
~ WO's in the Army fly a lot more than Army officers.

Just trying to give more options.
 
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