Reserve Officers' Training Corps: NAVAL ROTC

NOTE: This document was generated from the 1995-1997 UIUC Programs of Study. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but be advised that requirements may have changed since this book was published. Errors may have also been introduced in the conversion to a WWW document. Thus for items of importance, it might be wise to seek confirmation from either the paper version or a live human being.

The Naval ROTC program is a professional educational opportunity in which a student can earn a commission in the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps while pursuing a baccalaureate degree. This professional foundation is then developed and broadened during active service as a commissioned officer after graduation and commissioning. A student may be enrolled in either the Scholarship Program or the College Program (nonscholarship). There are four-year programs for entering freshmen and two-year programs for students who have already completed part of their college education.

For scholarship students, no military obligation is incurred until the beginning of the sophomore year. College program students incur the military obligation at the commencement of the junior year. Naval science courses are open to all students, upon consent of the Department of Naval Science, even if they are not enrolled in either of these programs.

Four-Year Navy-Marine Scholarship Program

The Navy-Marine Scholarship Program provides the student with full tuition, fees, books, and a tax-free subsistence pay (currently $150 per month) for as long as four years. A student in good standing and enrolled in a degree program that requires longer than four years to complete may apply for fifth-year scholarship benefits with agreement to serve additional active service after commissioning, or the student may take a leave of absence of as long as a year to finish the baccalaureate degree. Upon graduation, scholarship students are commissioned in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps and serve four years on active duty. Newly commissioned officers who qualify have the opportunity to continue their education toward advanced degrees.

Scholarship selection in national competition is based on the applicant's Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or American College Testing (ACT) Program score, high school and college records, aptitude for naval service as judged by interviews, and by prescribed physical qualifications.

Scholarship students have an opportunity during the summer to practice what they have learned in the classroom. Three summer training periods of approximately four to six weeks each are taken by students either at sea aboard a U.S. Navy vessel; at a squadron or amphibious base, or at a naval air station; or on board a nuclear submarine. Students who choose to enter the U.S. Marine Corps spend their last summer training period at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia.

Four-Year Navy-Marine College Program

A Navy-Marine College Program student receives all required uniforms and naval science textbooks while enrolled, and a subsistence allowance (currently $150 per month) during the junior and senior years. If the degree program requires longer than four years to complete, the student may apply for a fifth-year benefit of subsistence pay with agreement of additional active service after commissioning or may take a leave of absence as long as a year to finish the baccalaureate degree. Upon graduation, the college program student is commissioned in the U.S. Naval or U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and serves three of the eight years of reserve obligation on active duty.

A student may apply for admission to the college program through the professor of naval science, who makes the final selection. This selection is based on academic, physical, and military aptitude criteria. College program students also attend one summer at-sea training session, usually after the junior year.

College program students are eligible to be selected for the scholarship program through recommendation of the professor of naval science; the decision is made by the chief of naval education and training (CNET). These students are also eligible to receive Illinois State ROTC scholarships (if residents of this state). These scholarships are awarded annually on a competitive basis and cover tuition only.

Two-Year College Program

This program provides a student with all required uniforms, naval science textbooks, and subsistence pay (currently $150 per month). Applicants should have two remaining years of study at the Urbana-Champaign campus. During the summer before the junior year, students attend a six-week course of military instruction at the Naval Science Institute at Newport, Rhode Island. Transportation costs and salaries are paid to the students. After successful completion of the course, they join their contemporaries in the college program and also may be eligible for appointment to scholarship status, depending on their backgrounds and academic performances. College program students participate in a four-to-six-week summer at-sea training period between their junior and senior years, as do their scholarship counterparts. Applications must be complete and reach CNET by 15 March of the sophomore year. Interviewing begins in January of the sophomore year.

Two-Year Scholarship Program

Acceptance into the Naval ROTC Two-Year Scholarship Program training option guarantees a student a two-year Naval ROTC scholarship. Summer training and other benefits, as well as Naval ROTC training during the junior and senior years, are the same as those for the two-year college program. Prerequisites for this option include at least one year of calculus, with a C average or better. A minimum grade-point average of 3.5 is required, with a preferred major of mathematics, chemistry, physics, or engineering. Applications must be complete and reach CNET by 15 March of the sophomore year. Interviewing begins in January of the sophomore year.

Nurse Option

The Nurse Option Scholarship Program provides the student the same benefits as four-year scholarship students. Upon graduation, students are commissioned in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. Nurse option students have two specialized four-week summer training periods at a major naval hospital and at sea. Only the freshman and senior naval science and English compostition class requirements are mandatory. Graduates must pass their licensing exam within one year.

State Navy ROTC Scholarship

For information regarding the state Navy ROTC scholarships, see ROTC Scholarships.

Requirements

In addition to mental, physical, and aptitude requirements, men and women in the Naval ROTC program must:

-- Be citizens of the United States.

-- Be between 17 and 21 years of age by September 1 of the year in which enrollment begins (those contemplating a bachelor's degree that requires five years to complete must be younger than age 20 on June 30 of that year). If younger than age 18, they must have the consent of their parents. Scholarship students must be younger than age 25 on June 30 of the calendar year in which they are commissioned. College program students must meet identical requirements except that they must be younger than age 27 on June 30 of the calendar year in which commissioned.

-- Have no moral obligations or personal convictions that will prevent them from executing the oath of office.

Each week, Naval ROTC students have a two-hour naval science laboratory course, N S 100, for which there is no credit, and also take the following naval science and University academic courses.

First year
HOURS FIRST SEMESTER
2 N S 101--Introduction to Naval Science
HOURS SECOND SEMESTER
2 N S 102--Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

Second year
HOURS FIRST SEMESTER
3 N S 121--Naval Weapons Systems
HOURS SECOND SEMESTER
3 N S 122--Introduction to Naval Engineering

Third year (Navy)
HOURS FIRST SEMESTER
3 N S 231--Naval Operations and Navigation, I
HOURS SECOND SEMESTER
3 N S 232--Naval Operations and Navigation, II

Third year (Marine)
HOURS FIRST SEMESTER
3 HIST 281--War, Military Institutions, and Society to 1815
HOURS SECOND SEMESTER
3 HIST 282--War, Military Institutions, and Society Since 1815
3 N S 291--Evolution of Warfare

Fourth year (Navy)
HOURS FIRST SEMESTER
3 B ADM 210--Management and Organizational Behavior
HOURS SECOND SEMESTER
2 N S 242--Naval Leadership and Management, II

Fourth year (Marine)
HOURS REQUIRED COURSES
3 N S 293--History of Amphibious Warfare

Each scholarship student's degree program must also include the following University courses (not required for Marine Corps option students):

SEMESTERS COURSES
2 Calculus
2 Physics (calculus-based)
2 English
1 U.S. Military Affairs/National Security Policy
1 Computer Science

Marine option students are to complete one semester of political science as directed by the marine officer instructor.

College program (nonscholarship) students, who are not governed by federal scholarship requirements, must complete two semesters of college mathematics and the physical sciences as a prerequisite to commissioning.

Additional Information

Further information regarding Naval ROTC may be obtained in person from or by writing to the professor of naval science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 236 Armory, 505 East Armory Street, Champaign, IL 61820, (217) 333-1061

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