FAQ
Air Force ROTC is a college program offered at more than 1,100 campuses across the country. It prepares young men and women to become leaders in the Air Force, but it’s also much more. You’ll grow mentally and physically as you acquire strong leadership skills that will benefit you as an Air Force Officer and in life. It’s also a great opportunity to pay for school through scholarships.
Yes, however, joining as a freshman increases your scholarship opportunities.
You can enroll in Aerospace Studies 101 and Aerospace Studies 201 and be what we call dual enrolled. Contact the Recruiting Flight Commander for more information at (502) 852-6576.
There is no service commitment for students who take our classes with no intention of becoming an Air Force officer. For these types of students, it is only another class. However, if you are interested in becoming an officer, there is no service commitment during the first two years of the Air Force ROTC program (the General Military Course) unless you have an Air Force ROTC scholarship.
If you decide to stay and join the Professional Officer Course (the last two years of the program), you will sign an allocation contract with the Air Force and then incur a service obligation.
For Air Force ROTC scholarship students, you are obligated once you have activated the scholarship and have entered your sophomore year.
With Air Force ROTC, we provide you with lots of opportunities to see what the Air Force is about before signing up. And while you are waiting, you are getting college out of the way and having a lot of fun.
The length of your initial service commitment depends on your career. Most cadets make a four-year, active duty service commitment.
Pilots make a 10-year, active duty service commitment and both Combat System Officers and Air Battle Managers career field make a six-year service commitment.
Nursing graduates accept a commission in the Air Force Nurse Corps and serve four years on active duty after completing their licensing examination.
None at all. In fact, we encourage you to take a curriculum you are interested in and in which you have the capability to do well. Our main academic concern is that you maintain a grade point average (GPA) above 2.50 and complete your degree in the time planned.
Scholarships are given out to all degrees. However, a technical degree is considered more valuable to the Air Force than a non-technical degree. Because of this more scholarships are given to students majoring in a technical degree, but non-tech scholarships are still given out. If you are unsure whether a degree is technical or not, visit www.afrotc.com for a list of technical and non-technical degrees.
Definitely not! The fact that a cadet may have an Air Force ROTC scholarship has no bearing on an Air Force career. Nor does it make any difference while in the Air Force ROTC program.
You will compete in a selection process that rank orders you amongst all the cadets seeking Air Force jobs in your graduation year. The factors to be used will include your AFOQT scores, your field training performance rating, your GPA, your academic major, your Physical Fitness Assessment score and the Detachment Commander’s rating. You will also be asked to rank order your desired career fields in the Air Force, and YES, they do look at your preferences. You will know your specific Air Force job category approximately one year before you are commissioned.
The Air Force is in the business of flying, but not everyone in the Air Force flies planes. Besides pilots and navigators, there are missile launch officers, airfield management, pre-health, nursing, technical and non-technical career fields. Nearly every career area found in the civilian economy is also found in the Air Force. To get a better idea of how many jobs are available to you, see the main Air Force website at www.airforce.com.
Uniforms are free of charge and will be issued to students while they are in the GMC portion of the course.
You’re required to wear your uniform on the day you have Leadership Lab (Tuesday) as well as during your weekly ROTC class period. There are also certain military social events (Military Ball, Dining-Out, etc.) that require uniform wear.
As a GMC, you can expect to spend approximately 6-7 hours each week on required AFROTC activities. This time includes time spent in academic class, Leadership Lab, and in physical fitness training. POCs spend a little more time each week because their academic class is longer. However, we encourage everyone to become involved in the corps. Basically, you can devote as much or as little time to AFROTC as you want and can manage.
To enroll in Air Force ROTC at the University of Louisville, you simply register for AFROTC classes as you would register for any other course.
It is helpful, but not mandatory to meet with Cadre before attending your first class to get an idea of what you will be doing in AFROTC.
The Air Force is education-oriented and financially supports graduate studies. You can apply for the Air Force Institute of Technology to earn an advanced degree on full scholarship. Additionally, most bases have graduate college programs, and you may apply for the tuition assistance program that pays 100% of the tuition cost.
Upon commissioning, you would need to earn approximately $60,000 with benefits at a civilian company to have a comparable paycheck. By the time you finish your active duty commitment you will need to earn $95,000 per year to have equivalent pay.
Find out more at the Air Force ROTC website!
Or contact one of us at the University of Louisville Air Force ROTC.