There are aspects to SMP that I don't understand, which has made me hesitant to recommend that my son pursue it if he doesn't get a scholarship (still waiting on the "K"s to post - I prefer to believe there IS an alphabetical component!!)
Suppose you live in Nebraska, and your son goes off to Minnesota on an AROTC scholarship. If, after the first year, he decides that he just hates the military and does not want to continue to pursue a commission, he can walk away; that's in the contract. Or, God forbid, the kid totally flakes in the college environment and fails out (it does happen, even to highly qualified kids from whom you would expect more maturity.) You can also return home, with your tail between your legs, but released from your contract.
However, as I understand it, once in SMP, you are enlisted in the USAR or National Guard. If you leave school, or quit ROTC, its "welcome to the motor pool, private." And what if, in the above scenario, you are participating in SMP as a member of the Minnesota Natl Guard. Do you return home to Nebraska, then travel back to MN once a month to drill? Besides that, majoring in engineering along with the additional demands of ROTC will be tough enough without having to drill once a month (unless I am wrong, I think even SMP'ers have to drill, don't they?)
Anyway, may actually be great, but too many of the details are just unknown to us at this point. Hopefully we won't have to learn them...
You are correct in your assumptions regarding SMP.
There are pluses and minuses to the program which you will need to talk with the ROO about and your son.
I do believe if they decide to stay in the reserves they can transfer to a reserve unit closer to home when they graduate. I would make sure about this.