Programs & Scholarships

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Programs and Scholarships

Air Force ROTC offers a variety of ways to get the money you need for school. But the benefits extend well beyond graduation – starting with a career as an officer in the Air Force straight out of school.

General Scholarship Information

In Air Force ROTC courses, you normally receive academic credit as part of your electives.

You will be taught by a world-class military faculty supplemented with distinguished speakers that bring policy and history to life through firsthand experience. Each instructor is an active duty Air Force Officer usually accorded the academic rank of assistant professor. The unit commanderarrow-glossarycommanderThe officer in charge of running an Air Force unit's day-to-day operations. has an academic rank of full professor.

What’s Covered

Air Force ROTC scholarships cover tuition, an annual textbook allowance, most lab fees and up to $400 spending cash per academic month. The application deadline for high school students is December 1 of your senior year.

Program

To become a commissionedarrow-glossarycommissionedAppointed by the President of the United States. officer in the U.S. Air Force through Air Force ROTC, students must complete the four-year program. So it is important to remember to enroll in AFROTCarrow-glossaryAFROTCAir Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at the same time and in the same manner as you do for your first college courses.

The Four-Year Program

General Military Course

The first two years of Air Force ROTC four-year program, the General Military Course, consist of one hour of classroom work and one to two hours of leadership laboratory each week. The General Military Course (GMCarrow-glossaryGMCGeneral Military Course - an ROTC course offered to freshmen and sophomores designed to improve communication skills and provide instruction about the Profession of Arms. ) is an opportunity for students not on an Air Force ROTC scholarship to try out the program with no obligation. After completing General Military Course requirements, if you wish to compete for entry into the last two years of the program, the Professional Officer Coursearrow-glossaryProfessional Officer CoursePOC - ROTC course for juniors and seniors. (POCarrow-glossaryPOCProfessional Officer Course - ROTC course for juniors and seniors. ), you must do so under the requirements of the Professional Officer Course selection system. This system uses qualitative factors, such as grade point average, unit commander evaluation and aptitude test scores, to determine if you have officer potential. After selection, you must successfully complete a summer four-week field-training unit at an assigned Air Force base before entering the Professional Officer Course. And once you are enrolled in the Professional Officer Course, you must attend class three hours a week and participate in a weekly one- to two-hour leadership laboratory.

Professional Officer Course

In the Professional Officer Course, you apply what you have learned in the General Military Course and at field-training units. And in Professional Officer Corps, you actually conduct the leadership laboratories and manage the unit’s cadet corps. Each unit has a cadet corps based on the Air Force organizational pattern of flight, squadron, group and wing. Professional Officer Course classes are small. Emphasis is placed on group discussions and cadet presentations. Classroom topics include management, communication skills and national defense policy. And once you have enrolled in the Professional Officer Course, you are enlisted in the Air Force Reserve and assigned to the Obligated Reserve Section. This entitles you to a monthly $250–$400 nontaxable subsistence allowance during the academic year.