Hi I am a junior at the university of Alabama and I am considering joining the Airforce. Im assuming I can’t join ROTC as I am to far into my college degree. My question is do I have any option for joining now but also continuing my get my degree while doing training or whatever is needed during the summer? If not what are my options?
If you are thinking Air Force (regular or reserve), don’t you have to go to boot camp? That’s 8 weeks in San Antonio, TX. What’s the hurry? Having a college degree makes you a desirable recruit for any branch of the armed services - they will probably want to fast-track you to officer training. My brother had a bachelor of fine arts degree and joined the Navy as a Search & Rescue Swimmer - they really, really wanted him to go to OCS, but he didn’t and was out in 6. He missed it so much, he’s now an officer in the Army reserve.
Why don’t you finish your degree and then join?
One of my reasons to join is funding for college. I am taking loans now, do you think they can pay off my loans? I am a BA in computer science if that matters?
I am not sure of the whole process of joining but I want to join.
I think you need to be VERY sure of the whole process before you make any decision. Get on the air force website, talk to a recruiter. It’s a big decision and a big commitment.
I think you serve and THEN you get money for education through the GI bill. That’s how my brother is funding his second bachelor’s to get a teaching degree.
Here’s a link that may help with regard to the GI bill:
https://www.military.com/education/gi-bill/5-must-know-gi-bill-facts.html
You’d need three years more in your degree program in order to join Air Force ROTC, so it is too late for that.
The Air Force does offer a college loan repayment program, but it’s capped at $10k. They also offer recruitment bonuses of $10k or less for a limited number of positions. (Both the Navy and the Army, including the National Guard, offer much, much higher $$$ student loan forgiveness programs. The Navy, for example, up to $65k. So if you really need loan forgiveness, you may want to look at those branches of the military.)
If you join the Air Force Reserve now, they’ll pay up to about $4,500 per year toward your tuition. You also get a salary, which you can use for your education. So if money is an immediate issue, this could be an option for you. Again, the US National Guard offers a sizable student loan forgiveness program, as well as slightly higher education benefits, so they may be a better option for you.
It would be difficult to finish a bachelors in computer science while full time military. There aren’t a lot of appropriately accredited BS in CS programs online. If you do transfer into one of them, you’ll likely set your time to graduation back by a year or so, meaning you’d end up spending more.
If your goal is the Air Force, then the most effective thing might be to finish your bachelors and then join the Air Force. Use their loan repayment program to pay down your educational debt a bit, and then use your salary to pay the rest off. Because you’ll enter with a bachelors, you’ll be eligible for Officer Training School, which could bring you in at a higher pay grade. Even if you don’t do OTS, you will come in under the Advanced Rank Enlistment Program, so you’ll make a bit more than you would otherwise. You’re so close to graduation that this may be your most effective option.
To use the GI Bill to pay for your education, you need to serve in the Air Force first for, I believe, at least two years, and have done specific things in order to qualify.
It would seem that the Air Force has the worst loan repayment benefit.