Tuition 2019-2020 Not paid by Army yet

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Betcard

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Jan 19, 2019
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My daughter is a 4-year national scholarship winner. Due to the budget delays, she did not start receiving her stipend until January. It is nearly then end of February and the army has not paid her tuition for the first or second semester yet. Apparently, this is also the case for all of the cadets in her battalion. She has been in regular contact with battalion admin & they have contacted cadet command as well.
Since her tuition has not been paid, her federal student loans will not be released by the university, nor her money for her housing grant. We have been in limbo for the entire year so far supporting our daughter as best we can without any financial aid at an out of state school. Just wondering how many other cadets are in this situation? Is there a continuing issue with the budget? Is there someone at cadet command I can contact? Do I need to write a letter to my senators?
 
Cadet command is paying the schools as the go army ed CPRs are approved at the schools. Budget delays are not stopping stipends. Are you sure she contracted in Sept? No scholarship/stipend until Jan sounds like she didnt contract until then...
 
Montana State Army ROTC said:
Cadet command is paying the schools as the go army ed CPRs are approved at the schools. Budget delays are not stopping stipends. Are you sure she contracted in Sept? No scholarship/stipend until Jan sounds like she didnt contract until then...



That is correct, she contracted in mid Dec along with about 18 other cadets. Apparently cadets that contracted in Sept did not get their stipend until end of nov/dec. I assumed that once stipend started the funds for scholarship would be released shortly after.
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I was just curious, what was the reason for so many cadets contracting so late in the semester, were many of them on scholarship? I know the main reason for a delay in contracting is if the cadet has not passed their APFT or if all the paperwork has not been completed, I assume that some of those 18 were cadets that received a campus scholarship or had their 3 year up graded. I was just wondering because 18 seems like a large number to contract so late.

One other question, did your daughter sign her contract before the end of the first semester. It's been a while since my son's were in AROTC but I remember that during their time if a cadet contracted during the semester, even if it was late in the semester, they would still have that semester's tuition paid for. Maybe Montana State Army can confirm if that is still how it works. My older son signed his contract about a week into his freshman year, younger son signed his a few days before the semester started, even then it took about a month and a half before the tuition was paid so delays are not out of the ordinary. The Stipend did start right away though.
 
Tuition delays are normal- there are numerous steps that happen out of sight of the cadet. The Army was paying slowly due to $ issues, but stipends were not affected. As long as you contract by the last day of the semester the scholarship will kick in for the whole semester, but stipend only from day you contract. Reasons for not contracting and not telling your parents- failing the APFT and not passing height/weight standards. Happens all the time.
 
Just saw this. So her stipend will start in dec. the scholarship will pay last semester but she has to do her part of the cadet payment request (cpr). Then a cadre has to review, then the PMS approves, then the school approves and sends to cadet command, who then reviews it and pays, then the school needs to credit her account. Total time- a while. But it will be paid.
 
I am not sure specifically why so many contracted late. My DD got mono a month into the semester and could not take her APFT until early Dec. She did contract in Dec and her stipend started Jan 1. I spoke again to her today and what her unit admin person told her this week is that none of the cadets in her battalion have received ANY scholarship tuition payments for 1st or 2nd semester—only monthly stipend.
My question is—is this a nationwide problem? Do I need to be contacting my senator? The only way this problem could have been avoided I guess is if we had taken a PLUS loan because her federal student aid will not be released until her college is paid by the army and even though she has completed her FAFSA for next year, the government won’t give her any aid for next year when it looks like she has not paid her bill to the school.
I realize that this is the government & there are lot of administrative issues at play, but I am also wondering what is really holding up tuition payments and if we should be having 18 year olds sign contracts for military service when we are having difficulty as a nation honoring scholarships.
 
Montana State Army ROTC said:
Just saw this. So her stipend will start in dec. the scholarship will pay last semester but she has to do her part of the cadet payment request (cpr). Then a cadre has to review, then the PMS approves, then the school approves and sends to cadet command, who then reviews it and pays, then the school needs to credit her account. Total time- a while. But it will be paid.
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Ok, thanks. I guess this is just a painful waiting game at this point. Parents need to be fully aware that just because the army is offering to pay tuition and school is offering to kick in Housing grant—does not mean both will be paid on arrival. University will not pay housing grant until tuition is paid, nor will they release any of your child’s federal aid. Bottom line—be prepared to support your child’s full expenses even if they are awarded a scholarship because snags like this happen.
 
So, I just wanted to update this thread. Today is April 10, 2020. Cadet Command still has not paid my DD’s fall tuition—only spring. Apparently there is an ongoing delay? She has only received $2000 housing stipend of 10k from her university & none of her federal aid for year because tuition has not been paid by Army. There are only a few weeks left of the semester & because of the delay, my daughter can’t register for her fall classes because the bursar will not lift the hold. DD is a nursing major and there is no wiggle room in her schedule with clinical/ROTC class & lab/18 credits to fit in to graduate on time.

For parents out there, if you have the opportunity to send your child to an in-state school with free tuition, you may want to have them seriously consider this option because you may find you will pay less out of pocket than if they earn a 4 year Army ROTC scholarship. Be prepared to support your student for the entire 1st year because budget will be even more strained next year and economy is fairly uncertain at this point.

Very disappointed with this process. Hoping she doesn’t have to give up her scholarship and come home bc she loves her school & ROTC & wants to serve. DD earned full in-state tuition to go anywhere in-state on graduation from HS that she can use anytime—thinking seriously she may use this scholarship instead if this isn’t worked out. I hope that your experience is better than ours but want families to be aware that this is the reality of what DD & most of cadets are my daughter’s school are going through.
 
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Betcard said:
So, I just wanted to update this thread. Today is April 10, 2020. Cadet Command still has not paid my DD’s fall tuition—only spring. Apparently there is an ongoing delay? She has only received $2000 housing stipend of 10k from her university & none of her federal aid for year because tuition has not been paid by Army. There are only a few weeks left of the semester & because of the delay, my daughter can’t register for her fall classes because the bursar will not lift the hold. DD is a nursing major and there is no wiggle room in her schedule with clinical/ROTC class & lab/18 credits to fit in to graduate on time.

For parents out there, if you have the opportunity to send your child to an in-state school with free tuition, encourage them to take it because you may find you will pay less out of pocket than if they earn an Army ROTC scholarship. Be prepared to support your student for the entire full year because budget will be even more strained next year.

Completely disappointed with this process. Hoping she doesn’t have to give up her scholarship and come home but I have had to foot the bill for everything already so I am not sure how it will be much different. She earned full in-state tuition in her home state on graduation that she can use anytime—thinking she will use this scholarship instead.
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Have you called and talked to the ROO or HR? Has your student done that? Very unusual to have this many problems. The programs are normally on the ball and sometimes the student isnt doing what they are supposed to do. We are dealing with distributing government funds so lots of laws to follow. The process starts at the student and normally thats the hold up. I recommend calling the ROO before generalizing across all 275 programs.
 
She has been calling and emailing POC at unit since early March/told they will keep her updated. Everything in her portal is approved from what DD can see. POC at bursar says she called Army/edu & there are “ongoing delays.” This may be completely uncharacteristic of the situation at any other units: I am only commenting on what I have experienced as a parent trying to allow my DD to handle a situation on her own & follow her chain of command. I emailed her ROO today finally after a year of trusting the process. I have not heard back but will update when I hear.
 
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