<p>I was planning on enlisting out of high school, but due to family issues, I decided to stay home and go to a community college. I was just wondering if it was possible to be awarded the 4-year Marine Option NROTC scholarship as a college freshman(with less than 30 semester hours), or is the scholarship only awarded for students just coming out of high school?</p>
<p>The scholarship is not just for high school students. You probably won’t get a 4-year but there are shorter term ones. These are very hard to come by these days though and the competition is VERY tough. Also universities with an ROTC unit have what’s known as a college program and those who are admitted (good GPAs and good SATs) are brought in and evaluated for the scholarship. The program is grueling and does a lot of damage to your GPA. The time commitment is roughly 20 hours/week and includes not just classes, but PT time, drill time, lab time, billet time, volunteer time, competitions, summer cruise, and whatever they want you to do.</p>
<p>With all the layoffs in the military right now, even those who get the scholarship don’t tend to get commissions (only about 1 in 5) and if you get disenrolled, you have to pay back the scholarship money. Right now, they’re looking to get rid of Midshipmen for any reason because they just don’t need people.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to discourage you - just to let you know how it really is right now. They’ll tell you it’s money or time if you don’t make it but in the fine print it’s based on the needs of the military. Right now the needs are for money. So unlike other scholarships, this one’s more like a loan with no interest - that is until the end which comes really quickly. </p>
<p>It sounds like you really weren’t heading to be an officer but rather looking for a way to get your college paid for by the service. I’d recommend you stay where you are for now and when you finish at the community college if you still want to join the service you can enlist. If your GPA is good and you’ve demonstrated the ability to be a leader, then you can go for Officer Training School although that’s a long shot also.</p>
<p>You can get a 4 year scholarship as long as you will still be considered a freshman in the program (so you’re good there).</p>
<p>It’s definitely a hard and long term commitment, don’t take it as just a way of paying for college. You’re not just a student when you’re in ROTC, so don’t expect it to be just like any other extra curricular. For me, school has become the side project to ROTC. Good luck!</p>