I read this as the OP has already used the $30k in scholarships for flying and isn’t bringing $30k to college.
OP, any chance you are eligible for the Daniels or Boettcher scholarships?
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Does your school have a relationship with your local congressman to get their recommendation? Start building those relationships now. The school I teach at has several students commissioned to military academies every year and I think the relationship with our local congressman helps. Many of the academies have summer camp programs, have you looked into that? I would also suggest applying to all the academies that have your major. I know of one student this year that got an ROTC scholarship he can take anywhere. He’s planning on Virginia military institute. Might be worth a look.
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It may. Or may not. My kid had 20 interviews and 5 offers by xmas. He’ll make $90k his first year out if the unknown school. He was invited back a 2nd summer at this internship. His two Ga Tech roommates weren’t.
So - you can say they about alumni for any school - it’s rare but happens. And it’s not like Rice isn’t elite. It is.
But engineering is generally less about prestige and while we don’t know the student’s budget, we know they have to pay. So inexpensive is likely if importance unless they win the ROTC scholarship or an academy appointment.
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Reminder that this is a chance me thread! Please get back on topic.
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Given the high income parents’ unwillingness to pay anything, the OP would have the following:
- Safeties: automatic full ride merit scholarships for stats – Tuskegee, PVAMU, AAMU.
- Reaches: competitive full ride scholarships (college or ROTC) where available, or service academies.
- Out of reach: any college without a full ride scholarship possibility.
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It certainly didn’t seem to hurt that they had the name connection. Will never know. Most engineers make lots of $$ right out of college but IIRC it can often plateau. Many years ago there were a few threads on the average starting salary by major at different schools. And then average salary 5,10 20 years later. Very interesting discussion back then.
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I took this as the student is going to the camp at the Air Force Academy. Although it is not an auto admit to the AFA, it sure helps and they should be able to help get the paperwork for the application going.
Wyoming has very generous ROTC scholarships. I think you’d have to major in MechE, but it is not an expensive school, your travel expenses would be minor, and it’s pretty cheap COA too.
Another in-state option is Colorado Mesa. Your engineering degree would actually be issued from CU, but the tuition is a lot less. Metro state or CU-Denver have several aero degrees too. A lot of scholarships for instate students too.
No appointment is needed for the Coast Guard Academy. I think you’d have a good chance of acceptance because of geographic diversity (and your minority status).
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Are you aware that you could become a commerical pilot without a 4 year degree now and make 6-figures almost instantly and have an amazing aviation career! Every single airline is short pilots and all have dropped their 4 year degree requirement. The airlines are now even opening up their own flight schools to feed into the heavy jets.
First officers are becoming Captains and making $200-250K+ within 5 years! What took my husband 10-15 years to do in the glory days of flying is taking pilots only 5 years now! It’s insane but what an incredible career with a great schedule. Our youngest is a junior in high school as well and is flying at a community college aviation program. He pre-med older brother jokes he should have been a pilot!
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If so, why is pilot pay substantially below six figures for entry level first officers for both major airlines and regional airlines?
Trust me my husband paid this horrible price in his early years! First officers were making less than $30,000 a year!
Have you seen the new contracts lately???
First-year pay is always low (probation year) but there has been tremendous improvements to contracts.
My hubby is flying with first officers at the biggest airline currently who are upgrading to Captain in 2 years!!! UNHEARD OF! These pilots are in their early 20’s!!!
My hubby upgrade 7 years ago at age 45!! He was furloughed 7 years after 9-11 with nada! And then they increased retirement age to 65 so there was little movement in seniority.
Pilots during Covid who were laid off were given full salary and benefits…
UNHEARD OF for 9-11.
PS. That article is way off. I can confirm Captains are making $300-500K
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Good luck on your journey to USAFA. I have a son there who is an aerospace engineering major there. We also looked for great merit aid. The key will be getting a nomination. You need to start early.
Your profile looks good overall. A little weak maybe with athletics. Train for the CFA. Make sure your performance will be solid. Work hard on the essay. Be organized and early.
You should apply to all military academies if you need a full ride including the Coast Guard Aacademy (no nomination needed). Definitely USNA though.
For full rides, the best you will probably get for high merit aid is University of Alabama Huntsville (Rocket City) and also maybe University of Alabama, possibly Auburn and Arizona. In combination with ROTC these may be affordable. You may need to get accepted, defer and work for a year to fund them though.
RPI is not a safety. It will be too expensive. I don’t think the Service Academies are reaches for you especially if you add in the CGA. It always takes some luck also but I think they lean more to a match.
Let me know if you have any questions.
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No Congressional NOMINATION is needed for the Coast Guard Academy. An appointment is needed. The Coast Guard Academy is in a nice area too.
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Just a couple of points regarding applying to the service academies. Because the summer camps are pay-to-play and can’t be attended by every applicant, they cannot be considered in the admissions process which, by law, must be equally available to all. They do provide an opportunity to play cadet/midshipman for a week, check out the posts, get questions answered, and take a fitness test (optional), but they have zero bearing on admittance (and bear zero resemblance to the life of an actual cadet/midshipman, they are simply marketing outreaches).
For the same reason the camps provide no admissions boost, relationships with congresspeople are immaterial as well. Candidates interview with nomination panels that do not include the congresspersons. The panels make their recommendations and the congressional office or congressperson sign off on those recommendations, mostly as a formality though some do like to make the award calls personally (if they even call, most often nomination awards are simply by letter).
This is like encouraging a student to apply to all eight ivies. Though all the academies are degree-conferring institutions, the post-commissioning service roles and committments vary greatly. Someone who does not want to spend any time at sea, for instance, should not apply to Navy, Merchant Marine, or Coast Guard as almost every role requires time in the fleet/water.
It sounds like the OP might enjoy serving as an Air Force officer but, as someone noted above, they may or may not get selected for flight training after graduation, it’s not a given, so the applicant must first want to serve as an officer regardless of what that service looks like. Also note that there is no flight training during the cadet years, flying comes later and only if selected. During our son’s years at West Point, USAFA came looking for pilot candidates among the Army Firsties because it couldn’t fill certain pilot slots from its own class. I thought this extremely odd, but it was explained that occasionally the Air Force has needs that exceed the number qualified for certain roles in a particular class so it will attempt to cross-commission from other academies.
If the OP wants to serve as an officer in one of our armed forces, they should definitely pursue academy and ROTC options but only for the branch(es) where they feel they would fit and serve best. I would also refer to the OP to serviceacademyforums.com, the CC equivalent for service academy and ROTC applicants for help with the long and intricate nomination and application process.
As for chances to a service academy, see any of my well-worn posts on this subject, such as this one.
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@ChoatieMom The student has no financial support from the parents for college and will not qualify for financial aid. I specifically mentioned USNA because Navy pilots are so very well respected. And also, rather than not having any college options, I suggested Coast Guard Academy for helicopters.
USAFA has the Flying Team so the student who already has a pilot’s license can have flight opportunities. Even my cadet who has no interest in piloting has flown a plane. It is true that there are no guarantees that any path will lead to the desired pilot option. But having no money for college it certainly seemed to be worth a try. Not everyone has the luxury of perfect.
OP will have an ALO to assist him with the process.
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I understand the OP’s circumstances, but financial need does not necessarily qualify them for an academy or make it a good choice for them, and it is important for the OP to understand the process and limitations of going this route. The “deal” is education for service. If the OP will do anything for that debatably “free” education, then perhaps my clarifications don’t matter for this particular applicant, but I post with the detail I do because many who read here don’t understand what they may be getting into for that education and how difficult it is to obtain and complete.
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The DoD offers a civilian education program through its SMART scholarship. Applicants have to already be enrolled in college so it doesn’t help for figuring out affording freshman year, however, it offers a stipend, internship, tuition benefits and a job after graduation. Acceptance rate for 2022 aero eng. was around 10%.
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