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Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/ROTC contract
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Question
My son entered ASU on a 4 year ROTC scholarship ... his grades were too low to maintain the scholarship so he lost his tuition and his book stipend. He is now a first semester sophomore and wants out of ROTC. He did receive the monthly stipend for Aug/Sept/Oct/Nov of this year.
He was told he could opt out after his freshman year and not owe the military anything now he's being told he has no choice but to stay or enlist full time.
He wants out ... he only joined for the tuition assistance and now realizes it was a bad choice. He's currently on academic probation. He wants to move back to Maine and transfer to the University of Maine.
Can they force him to enlist in the regular army if he wants to leave ROTC after his first semester of his sophomore year? As it is I don't even think he has enough credits to be a sophomore!
Please help!
Hi Valerie,
I wish I could help, but whoever told your son that he could "opt out," upon acceptance of an ROTC scholarship was lying to him.
If he accepted an ROTC scholarship, your son is obligated to either remain in ROTC until graduation and accept a commission, or perform Military service as an enlisted member for the period of obligated service (usually three years).
It doesn't much matter what anyone "told" him. He signed a contract to this effect, in order to receive the scholarship.
He can apply to drop out of the ROTC program, but there is no guarantee that it will be approved, without requiring him to perform his committed service time as an enlisted member, and -- even if it is -- it's likely he will be required to repay any amount he received for scholarship, tuition, and stipend.
For more information about the U.S. Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military Information Site at: http://usmilitary.about.com
Hope this helps!
Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com
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Answers by Expert:
Rod Powers
Expertise
Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.
Experience
Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.
Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
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