Wanted to give an update, and also many thanks for the excellent advice I've found here (better late than never!). Sad to say DS did not receive NROTC MO scholarship. Top choices now are: (1) USC - college programmer, downside is if scholarship down the road doesn't happen, it's too expensive, unless financial aid award comes through - still waiting to hear on this. (2) Texas A&M - affordable if NROTC didn't work out for whatever reason, downside is he didn't get in for his major which he has heart set on (mech. eng) (3) Northeastern - full ride (yay!), but NROTC is not an option there (4) Vanderbilt as college programmer, waitlisted there but if he got in they tend to be more generous with FA than USC. Sooooooooo, big decision time and 3 weeks to do it in!