My son recieve an appointment to Vmi. We are out of state and will likely have to pay everything out of pocket. We applied late and missed the rotc scholarship deadline. My question is while the experience is unique and amazing is it worth the almost 200k in debt we will incur. My son also received a full ride to a state school in state and would do rotc. His goal is to commission to the Air Force. We are currently waiting to see if he receives an appointment to the Air Force academy. That is his first choice but I’m wondering if there is value for paying for Vmi compared to a full ride and rotc? Thoughts?
Vmi thoughts
- Thread starter Richey112
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VMI is a great school and would prepare him well if his goal is to commission to the AF, however I personally would not want to see my son go into huge debt to attend. Has he looked at what VMI can offer for financial aid? My son went to VMI and we were out of state. They offered a pretty generous financial aid package, then he received a 4 yr ROTC scholarship, so they pulled the aid. The ROTC scholarship made if affordable for my son and we were able to help him out with other costs not covered by the scholarship so he graduated debt free.
If your son feels the full ride state school offers the major and other opportunities he needs to be successful then I would advise going that route rather than going into debt to attend VMI.
If you and/or he can afford it and he does decide on VMI, make sure he knows what he is getting into. It's a great school but it is definitely not for everyone. My son thrived on the challenges there and has no regrets that he went to VMI, but it is definitely tough in many ways.
Good luck and feel free to PM with questions if I can help.
If your son feels the full ride state school offers the major and other opportunities he needs to be successful then I would advise going that route rather than going into debt to attend VMI.
If you and/or he can afford it and he does decide on VMI, make sure he knows what he is getting into. It's a great school but it is definitely not for everyone. My son thrived on the challenges there and has no regrets that he went to VMI, but it is definitely tough in many ways.
Good luck and feel free to PM with questions if I can help.
Small Team Bacsi
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If my child came to me with a full ride with an option for rotc in one hand and a $200,000 option in the other hand I’d think they would be nuts for suggesting either I or them pay that $200,000 amount.
Not unless $200,000 feels and spends like $20,000 to the parent or student.
Not unless $200,000 feels and spends like $20,000 to the parent or student.
I can't speak to the likelihood of getting a campus-based ROTC scholarship at any of the SMCs, but both Norwich and now The Citadel are covering room and board to students with an ROTC scholarship. Are either of those schools under consideration? My son's preference is definitely a SMC over a traditional 4 year because he really wants the cadet lifestyle and the associated activities it offers (color guard, drill team). I feel like if he had a full-ride offer on the table it would be hard to ignore, but I also feel like he will thrive in a corp of cadet environment. I believe Norwich and Citadel have rolling admissions so might be worth considering. Norwich offers great financial aid.
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just a heads up, the Citadel does not start the new tuition program until fall of 2022.
Texas A&M is too.
we got waitlisted basically for A&M. VMI was the only other SMA that he applied to. Originally he jsut wanted to apply to the AFA or enlist, but he's a 4.2 GPA student and a 3 sport athlete, so applying for more was a request by one of the interviewers from our congressman that gave him the congressional nom. so the kid begrudgingly applied to southern Illinois and they bent over backwards to get him. We are meeting with the ROTC team next week. It was VERY exciting for everyone when the VMI appointment came in, and he does know what he's signing up for, but when I spoke with admissions, they seemed less that willing to offer any advice or flexibility on the 60K a year price tag. and so we wait. we are visiting both SIU and VMI in the next few weeks so hopefully seeing the campus will help him with is decision between those two while we wait to see if an appointment comes in for the USAFA.
haha. No, that is not the case here. 20K would be a stretch. This would hav to be 100% loans, which I feel is a horrible idea for the whole family not jsut my son. but the prestige of a VMI appointment has some in my family a little to impressed for financial logic. On the other hand I want my son to have the best experience possible and would take that burden if he feels that is where he should be.
Small Team Bacsi
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By the time he is done it will be well over $200,000 if you don’t get $$$ help from some source.
How bad does your son want to attend VMI over the full ride at that state school? See if he , not you, is willing to accept over $200,000 in life time debt when he could have taken a full ride with rotc..
Which school might help your son to have the best career?
VMI, USAFA, that state school and rotc?
You have absolutely no idea today which one will turn out best 30 years from now. Good officers come from all sources. Bad officers come from all sources.
It’s very clear which school will cost the most
How bad does your son want to attend VMI over the full ride at that state school? See if he , not you, is willing to accept over $200,000 in life time debt when he could have taken a full ride with rotc..
Which school might help your son to have the best career?
VMI, USAFA, that state school and rotc?
You have absolutely no idea today which one will turn out best 30 years from now. Good officers come from all sources. Bad officers come from all sources.
It’s very clear which school will cost the most
Don't get me wrong: VMI is a great school, but it is not at all prestigious when compared to the Service Academies. Its acceptance rate is around 50%, while the Service Academies' rates are barely above single digits, and, as I'm sure you know, the application process for the Service Academies is much more rigorous than VMI's. I would even go as far as to say that someone is not "appointed" to VMI, rather, he or she is only "accepted," like any other normal college. Hopefully telling your family this can convince them that $200,000 might be a bit too high.
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As a CFP(r), I would NEVER condone $200K of student loan debt for an undergrad degree with an O-1 salary upon graduation.
My DS, an Army 1LT, graduated debt free and is currently in escrow for his first home. He has fellow officers who cannot do this because of heavy student loan burdens.
The full ride ROTC scholarship (or federal academy appointment) is a huge financial advantage for a young military officer.
My DS, an Army 1LT, graduated debt free and is currently in escrow for his first home. He has fellow officers who cannot do this because of heavy student loan burdens.
The full ride ROTC scholarship (or federal academy appointment) is a huge financial advantage for a young military officer.
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I couldn't agree with you more. I dont know what an AF officer the is newly commissioned makes a year, but I cant imagine that financial burden. I make a good living and couldn't afford it. The issue is really that some in the family are college snobs and see a school like Southern Illinois as substandard as compared to a VMI, or any SMA or FMA. Grampy even went so far as to say you can pay it off with your inheritance when im gone. I love the sentiment, but the reality is that idea is really dumb and short sighted. We are going to visit VMI in March and my son will be able to stay over night in the barracks and see what it is like even if that view may be limited. We are visiting SIU next week. I personally dont think he is all that excited about VMI, but adult pressure that is effecting his decision. Ill have 22 total hours of drive time with him to discuss this without the pressure. It will all work out.
If your son is wanting a "service academy like experience", you could also consider The Citadel. I believe that Citadel is on a rolling admissions and would still accept an application. DS applied to VMI and Citadel. We are out of state for both schools. As a parent I was very impressed with both VMI and Citadel. However, Citadel was very generous to DS with scholarship and aid--but we applied early. You might want to apply and see what Citadel might offer. While Citadel's acceptance rate is higher than VMI, in our area (North Carolina--we live about 4 hours from each school), few have heard of VMI but most know and respect Citadel and Citadel grads. Just a thought.
I wrote a reply on this topic a while back that’s still applicable. I’ve pasted it below. I generally agree with the advice so far…200k was certainly past that threshold I refer to in my post.
————-old post (edited for grammar)—
I was in this exact position. I got no scholarships. I did some rough math on what that debt was gonna look like if a scholarship never came through in future years and decided that it was heinous, and I knew exactly what I’d be making as a new officer (I knew I’d commission in some branch, one way or another, and was already DoDMERB qual’d). No one can tell you exactly what your threshold is, but 130k+ is a lot. I would have been doing plan B...definitely reach out to admissions in case they can “find” more $.
If you are dead set on VMI, find a cheaper in-state school for a year and try to pick up a scholarship and transfer to VMI. There’s some hoops involved there with transfering a scholarship depending on type and who awarded it (i.e., national board vs Det/CC), but it’s an option.
You could also look at transfering to a different SMC with lower cost. TAMU gives in-state tuition to Cadets as long as they’ve got at least a few k of other scholarships, I believe. This in-state tuition is big when it comes to what AF scholarships will cover.
————-old post (edited for grammar)—
I was in this exact position. I got no scholarships. I did some rough math on what that debt was gonna look like if a scholarship never came through in future years and decided that it was heinous, and I knew exactly what I’d be making as a new officer (I knew I’d commission in some branch, one way or another, and was already DoDMERB qual’d). No one can tell you exactly what your threshold is, but 130k+ is a lot. I would have been doing plan B...definitely reach out to admissions in case they can “find” more $.
If you are dead set on VMI, find a cheaper in-state school for a year and try to pick up a scholarship and transfer to VMI. There’s some hoops involved there with transfering a scholarship depending on type and who awarded it (i.e., national board vs Det/CC), but it’s an option.
You could also look at transfering to a different SMC with lower cost. TAMU gives in-state tuition to Cadets as long as they’ve got at least a few k of other scholarships, I believe. This in-state tuition is big when it comes to what AF scholarships will cover.
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considering he will be making a max of about 50k a year as a 2LT, that load is a lot to factor. and that is if he even gets an commission upon finishing. same holds true for any option whether it is ROTC,FMA, SMA whatever. People really like to spin that as a guarantee, but after doing just a little digging, its just not the case.
This would have definitely made a difference in my sons decision years ago. The ROTC scholarship made VMI possible for us since we had 529 college savings to cover room and board, but it did end up to be a lot of money after 4 years. I think he would have gone to another SMC if these offers were in place back then.
I would say that the prestige around VMI (or any other SMC) is not about the acceptance rate. It's about making it through the very tough 4 years and everything that goes with it. So it's not about getting in but more about making it through. Having said that, I'm not saying the prestige is at the level of a SA - most civilians are at least somewhat aware of SA's but not so much small schools like VMI. VMI does have a great alumni network that can be a great resource.
All of the SMC's can be great options, but as most have stated, I would never advise going deep in debt to go to any SMC if there are other more cost effective options to achieve the same goal.
My son is waiting to hear from NA and recently applied for an NROTC scholarship (so just started that wait too). When he applied OOS to TAMU engineering, he expressed interest in the Corp of Cadets and they ave awarded him a $4000 year scholarship which gives him instate tuition in addition to the $4000/year. OP said son was waitlisted, I would suggest communicating with the Corp about your waitlisted status and desire to serve in their Corp of Cadets. I've read they are trying to grow their program. He can reapply for the ROTC scholarship the next year which would also give free room and board. They have many spend the night with a Cadet options (we are going next week) so if you can have your son go out there because that may make a stronger impression.
My son is waiting to hear from NA and recently applied for an NROTC scholarship (so just started that wait too). When he applied OOS to TAMU engineering, he expressed interest in the Corps of Cadets and they awarded him a $4000 year scholarship which gives him instate tuition in addition to the $4000/year. OP said son was waitlisted, I would suggest communicating with the Corps about your waitlisted status and desire to serve in their Corps of Cadets. I've read they are trying to grow their program. He can reapply for the ROTC scholarship the next year which would also give free room and board. They have many Spend the Night with a Cadet options (we are going next week) so if you can have your son go out there for a visit that may make a stronger impression.
Edited for grammar/spelling (embarrassing)
Edited for grammar/spelling (embarrassing)
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Was that full ride a rotc scholly or one from the state school? Can you go to State and reapply for a 3 yr rotc or afrotc scholarship next year for VMI? You should not be taking on that kind of debt for an undergrad degree that will not lead to any sort of uniquely lucrative career. We're not talking medical school here, this is preparation for a 2LT paycheck.
Ask your son this: does he want his parents to take on $200k debt for him at a late stage in life where he won't be making much money at all for at least five years after school, where there's not much chance they can pay it off if something happens to him that prohibits his military career, or there's a medical emergency anywhere in the family. Because $200k is the mortgage that most kids today say they can't afford when they lament the cost of modern housing. Bonkers money with that other offer on the table and the possibility of a transfer down the road.
Ask your son this: does he want his parents to take on $200k debt for him at a late stage in life where he won't be making much money at all for at least five years after school, where there's not much chance they can pay it off if something happens to him that prohibits his military career, or there's a medical emergency anywhere in the family. Because $200k is the mortgage that most kids today say they can't afford when they lament the cost of modern housing. Bonkers money with that other offer on the table and the possibility of a transfer down the road.
yes we discussed it and are finally on the same page. We are actually not going to look at VMI for a few reasons but cost factors in. He wants to look at Marion Military institutes SAP program if he doesnt receive an appointment to the academy or prep. He really has 2 goals, commission and do so through the USAFA. That said the SAP program makes sense. if he does taht for a year and still doesnt get in it may be time to re-evaluate. worst case he is a year back from grad. best case he gets in and is a year out from grad.