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View Full Version : No SLRP for officers?


jclusty
May 6th, 2009, 07:00 PM
So I am scheduled to ship out to basic may 11th and my recruiter just told me that officers candidates arent elligible for the student loan repayment program. This is one of the incentives I was most excited about. This isnt going to affect my decision to go but has anyone else ran into this I am severely dissapointed in this news and would like any insight anyone may have. I went all the way through meps and signed my contract with this in it and no one said anything to me until 5 days before I ship out.
QuantumRN
May 6th, 2009, 07:14 PM
As an officer, I was offered SLRP but chose the 60K/6 yr bonus instead, since all my student loans are paid. I'm not sure why OCS candidates wouldn't be included. I've never heard of that before.

Is is clearly in your contract?
PigginOut
May 6th, 2009, 08:35 PM
I just enlisted 09S March 18 and no, officers candidates are not eligible for student loan replayments or bonuses. Part of choosing the officer route I guess. I have 30k in student loans. If I would have went enlisted I would have gotten 20k signing bonus and 20k student loan repayment. I could have used it, but I just really wanted to be an officer that bad.

The Major I interviewed with for OCS was really pushing me towards enlisted saying that I would regret it if I didn't take the money. Plus, I would get "experience" as an enlisted guy. That's the route he went. He spent 9 years as enlisted and is now a major after 19 years of service.

Well, I can tell you that so far I have not at all regretted my decision to be an officer. I have a long road ahead of me but could care less about the money. All the money in the world could not stop me from pursuing my goal to be an officer in the US Army and my opinion (although others will disagree) is that getting "experience" enlisted before becoming an officer is Bogus. But that's for a whole new thread.

That may have been TMI for you, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.:D

Bottomline, don't look back and wonder what could have been. Stick with the decision you made and movie forward, no regrets. Good luck to and I hope you have a great career.
matthew.ritchie
May 6th, 2009, 09:31 PM
As an officer, I was offered SLRP but chose the 60K/6 yr bonus instead, since all my student loans are paid. I'm not sure why OCS candidates wouldn't be included. I've never heard of that before.

Is is clearly in your contract?

AMEDD: same planet, different world. The special branches have entirely different incentives than basic branches. Chaplains have loan repayment as well. Strangely, JAG gets nothing extraordinary.
QuantumRN
May 6th, 2009, 09:55 PM
Wow. I had no idea. I guess it's just another reason the be thankful I'm in the Guard! :)
jclusty
May 6th, 2009, 10:22 PM
I don't regret my decision and I am honored for the chance to be an officer in the Guard. I just wish that someone would have told me when I was signing my contract I went through a lot of paperwork to get my student loans together. No one at Meps said anything and I talked to several people about the student loan repayment program. I am still pumped about joining and I was also happy to have a chance to pay off the 30,000 in student loans that I have but I guess thats not going to happen. Oh well I will move on and do the best that I can. Thanks everyone.
shortnsweet8
July 9th, 2009, 08:34 AM
Does anyone know if you still get the SLRP if you do ROTC?

It is in my contract for the Guard right now, just not sure what would happen if I contract with ROTC and try to compete for an AD slot.

I thought I read it on another forum posting somewhere, but I can't find it and would like a link or something to prove it.
M-T
July 9th, 2009, 06:20 PM
I am getting offered SLRP by my recruiter, I actually went in with copies of my loan letters for him to xerox. It's a little surprising, but I'm happy. I'll be talking with him more about it soon so I'll update here.

No ROTC/PS here btw.
ARNGJAG
July 9th, 2009, 07:00 PM
AMEDD: same planet, different world. The special branches have entirely different incentives than basic branches. Chaplains have loan repayment as well. Strangely, JAG gets nothing extraordinary.


Which begs the question, "Exactly what does JAG offer s (if anything) these days?" Does it depend on your state, or is it all federal?
matthew.ritchie
July 10th, 2009, 01:52 AM
Does anyone know if you still get the SLRP if you do ROTC?

It is in my contract for the Guard right now, just not sure what would happen if I contract with ROTC and try to compete for an AD slot.

I thought I read it on another forum posting somewhere, but I can't find it and would like a link or something to prove it.

SLRP is an enlistment incentive, based on your enlistment contract. Contracting with ROTC changes your enlistment contract. According to the SRIP guidance, enlisted Soldiers may keep SLRP while in OCS or WOCS, but not while contracted in ROTC (para 2k(6)).

Remember, participating in ROTC isn't the same as contracting. When one contracts with ROTC, one signs a new enlistment contract. One must contract no later than the start of the MS III year.
shortnsweet8
July 13th, 2009, 08:12 AM
SLRP is an enlistment incentive, based on your enlistment contract. Contracting with ROTC changes your enlistment contract. According to the SRIP guidance, enlisted Soldiers may keep SLRP while in OCS or WOCS, but not while contracted in ROTC (para 2k(6)).

Remember, participating in ROTC isn't the same as contracting. When one contracts with ROTC, one signs a new enlistment contract. One must contract no later than the start of the MS III year.

So if I did OCS or WOCS I would be able to keep it then?

I really don't want to do ROTC, just figured it would be the best path (between ROTC and OCS). I am even thinking about eventually doing WOCS because they are specialists in their fields as opposed to just being an officer with a generic branch knowledge.
matthew.ritchie
July 13th, 2009, 09:44 AM
I recommend that you make your career decisions based on what's best in the long-term, not just what earns the most money in the short-term.
upnorthguy
July 13th, 2009, 10:44 AM
The AD JAGs have a new SLRP program (65k over 3 years for signing up for 4 years) that just started a few weeks ago:
https://www.jagcnet.army.mil/852574980060C8F3/0/A1C956E66C37416C852575C8006B6E29?opendocument&noly=1
shortnsweet8
July 13th, 2009, 12:00 PM
I recommend that you make your career decisions based on what's best in the long-term, not just what earns the most money in the short-term.

That is why I am deciding not to do ROTC. Yes, you can earn a lot of money while doing ROTC, which would be nice, but that would be the only reason I did it.

I am not in the military to earn money. I am here to be a soldier and do my duty to protect the lives of myself and others. I want to enjoy my time in the service (however long I may decide to stay in), that is why I am researching all of my options.
OCSAllTheWay
July 13th, 2009, 01:30 PM
That is why I am deciding not to do ROTC. Yes, you can earn a lot of money while doing ROTC, which would be nice, but that would be the only reason I did it.

I am not in the military to earn money. I am here to be a soldier and do my duty to protect the lives of myself and others. I want to enjoy my time in the service (however long I may decide to stay in), that is why I am researching all of my options.

What's your MOS anyways and does it feed into the warrant MOS that you might want to do?