Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC)

About the Program

The Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps established at Drexel in 1918, is an integral part of the University. Army ROTC courses are open to all students, and enrollment alone does not carry a military obligation. Students selected for the advanced course (normally pre-junior, junior, and senior years) will complete their academic and military studies concurrently, and upon graduation will commission as lieutenants in the United States Army, including the National Guard and Army Reserve. Participation in the advanced course may qualify participants to receive financial aid through a series of scholarships and co-operative education programs.

The purpose of the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps program is to provide leaders of character for the United States Army. ROTC also fosters ideals of patriotism; promotes an understanding of the role of the citizen-soldier; develop character, self-discipline, leadership abilities and stimulate interest in a military career. Army ROTC is a college elective, and enrollment does not require military service. Cadets commissioning at the end of ROTC as Army Second Lieutenants are obligated to serve 4 years active duty or 6 years as a drilling member of the National Guard or Army Reserve.

Students who meet eligibility criteria may apply for on-campus 4-year, 3-year, and 2-year scholarships at Drexel. All Army ROTC scholarships at Drexel cover full tuition and fees. Additionally, Army ROTC scholarship awardees receive the following:

• Drexel University fees covered, or room and board up $10,000 annually divided by length of term per year
• Annual textbook allowance of $1,200.00
• Monthly living allowances of $420.00 for 10 months
• Summer tuition assistance up to 12 credit hours excluding room and board
• Summer textbook allowance of $400.00

The Army ROTC Military Science program consists of two levels each composed of two years of curriculum. The first level is the ROTC basic course and the second level is the ROTC advanced course. The basic course typically coincides with the student’s first two years of college. The purpose of the basic course is to develop military skills and to allow the instructors an opportunity to evaluate the student’s potential to become an officer. In total, the basic course consists of four or five Military Science courses and weekly attendance at Leadership Laboratories each term the cadet is in school. Except for scholarship Cadets, students participating in these courses incur no military obligation. Basic course credit may be granted to students who successfully complete a Basic Cadet Training course occurs at Fort Knox, Kentucky, between their sophomore and junior years. Prior service cadets who have completed Basic Training also receive credit for the basic course. The advanced course, taken during a student's junior and senior years, prepares students for commissioned service. The first year of instruction prepares students for the Advanced Camp at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The final year of instruction prepares students to be commissioned officers.

To enroll in the advanced course, a student must have credit for the two-year basic course, volunteer, or selected by the Professor of Military Science, and successfully complete the required screening and physical tests.

Enlisted Army Reservists and National Guard members may apply for the Simultaneous Membership Program, which permits them to serve as officer trainees with their units and receive commissions upon completion of the ROTC advanced course.

Airborne training, Air Assault training, Mountain Warfare training, Northern Warfare training, and Cadet Troop Leadership Training with a Regular Army unit are also available to select interested Cadets.

Twice per school year, Cadets are required to participate in a leadership development exercise. Exercises are two or three days in duration at Fort Dix, New Jersey, or other military instillations. Field training exercises give students a chance to practice skills learned in the classroom and Leadership Laboratories. Contracted students are also required to attend Advanced Camp over summer between their Junior and Senior years. Army ROTC will work with the co-op coordinators to allow co-op Cadets to attend this training.

Uniforms worn during Leadership Laboratory periods and leadership development exercises are issued free of charge to all students enrolled in ROTC. Students are responsible for maintaining the uniforms and returning them upon commissioning or leaving the program.

Additional Information

Further information on the scholarships and Army ROTC is available from the Drexel University ROTC Battalion at 267-359-6300.

Scholarship Requirements

Primary References:

Army Regulation 145-1 - Senior Reserve Officer's Training Corps Program: Organization, Administration, and Training

United States Army Cadet Command (USACC) Regulation 145-1 - Army ROTC Incentives Policy USACC Pamphlet 145-1 - Army ROTC Incentives Procedures

USACC Pamphlet 145-4 - Enrollment, Retention and Disenrollment Criteria, Policy and Procedures

USACC Circular 37-1 - Financial management for USACC General Scholarship Benefit Package

Scholarship Eligibility, USACC Regulation 145-1:

• Citizenship:
  • Scholarship applicants must be U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals prior to contracting as a scholarship Cadet. This is a statutory requirement no waivers or exceptions are authorized. "U.S. Nationals" are persons born in American Samoa and Swains Island.
  • Students who hold dual citizenship must declare that when requested, they will be required to provide a statement to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) investigator, or adjudicative authority, expressing their willingness to renounce dual citizenship. Failure to do so may result in denial of a security clearance, which is a prerequisite for commissioning, and will result in disenrollment.
• Age:
  • Scholarship applicants must be at least 17 years of age within the first semester/quarter in which scholarship benefits are to begin. Students will not contract until they have reached their 17th birthday.
  • Scholarship applicants must be under 31 years when they commission. This age limit is determined by law; therefore, it is non-waiverable. Example: a Mission Set 25 (MS25) applicant turns 31 years old in November 2025; he/she would be ineligible for a scholarship as the applicant must be under 31 during the calendar year he/she will be commissioning.
• Academic status:
  • Scholarship applicants must be a high school graduate or possess the equivalent certificate before September 1 of the year of the period covered.
• Grade point Average (GPA):
  • High school unweighted GPA for four-year applicants. All others use the college GPA. The required high school unweighted Cumulative GPA (CGPA) for all high school applicants is 2.5.
  • The required CGPA and current GPA for scholarship consideration are 2.5 for students who have already established a college GPA from at least -one full term of college.
  • A minimum 2.5 academic current and CGPA are required for the scholarship at the time of application. The applicant must also maintain the required current and CGPA before contracting. Waivers are possible for insufficient GPAs.
  • Waivers will show substantiation based on other academic achievements. Brigade Commanders have the approval authority of on-campus GPA waivers down to 2.0.
  • Any waivers requested for below 2.0 GPA for on-campus applicants must go to Cadet Command for Approval. Cadet Command is the waiver approval authority for insufficient GPAs for Green to Gold and National High School Scholarship Programs applicants.
  • ROTC GPA is for enrolled Cadets only. A minimum ROTC GPA of 3.0 is required for scholarship consideration. This is an eligibility requirement.
• Medical Qualification:
  • Scholarship applicants must successfully pass a medical examination reviewed by the Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board (DODMERB) or by medical waiver by Headquarters Cadet Command (HQCC).
  • Procedures in Appendix A, reference R (located on the DODMERB document site https://dodmerb.tricare.osd.mil/default.asp). 
• Weight/Body Fat Standards:
  • Applicants with any prior service, active or reserve, must pass the height, weight, and body fat percentage standards in accordance with (IAW) AR 600-9.
  • Applicants with no prior service must pass height, weight and body fat percentage standards IAW 600-9.
  • All applicants acknowledge, upon contracting, that they will be required to meet the screening weight or body fat percentage required by the Army Weight Control Program each year.
• Physical Aptitude, Assessment of the physical conditioning for scholarship applicants will be accomplished in the following manner:
  • ROTC Physical Fitness Assessment is for high school applicants. Cadet Command Incentives division will coordinate with the applicant's high school to have the RFPA conducted.
  • All scholarship applicants must successfully complete the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) to standard. Failure to do so may result in the withdrawal of scholarship.
  • Freshman must successfully complete the ACFT at standard prior to December 1 of their first year or their scholarship is withdrawn
  • All other scholarship applicants must complete the ACFT to standard prior to contracting.
  • For scholarships beginning in the spring, the applicants must successfully complete the ACFT to standard.
• Character:
  • Scholarship applicants must not have moral obligations or personal convictions that will prevent them from the following:
    • Supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
    • Conscientiously bearing arms.
  • Scholarship applicants must satisfactorily explain any record of civil conviction.
• Academic Discipline:
  • Scholarship applicants must agree to enroll in one of the approved baccalaureate degree producing programs listed in USACC pamphlet 145-1. Emphasis within the scholarship process is on technical disciplines; i.e., engineering, physical science, and nursing
  • All scholarship students will enroll in military science courses to be entitled to payment for that term. All scholarship students must be enrolled and remain enrolled full-time in order to receive scholarship benefits with the exception of their final term as an MSIV. Cadet academically and militarily aligned to complete degree requirements and commission may be paid scholarship benefits for the last term in less than full-time status.
• Students Ineligible to Compete for a Scholarship:
  • Students who fall under one of the following categories are ineligible to compete for or receive benefits from an Army ROTC scholarship:
    • ROTC Disenrollment: Previous two and three year contracted scholarship winners who have been disenrolled after entering MSII are ineligible to compete for another scholarship until they enter the advanced course and are eligible for a 2-year scholarship
    • Non-citizens: Citizenship is not valid prior to the fall enrollment. U.S. Nationals are citizens of the U.S. for purposes of the Army ROTC
    • Civil Conviction: A student who has an adverse juvenile adjudication or who has been arrested, indicted and convicted by a civil court or military law for other than minor traffic violations (for which forfeiture of $250.00 or higher was imposed), unless waiver is granted. The applicant must submit a request for waiver of convictions at the time of scholarship application and award of a scholarship will remain conditional until required waiver approval occurs.
    • Medically Disqualified: A Student with a known disqualifying medical condition/defect, unless proper authority has approved a medical waiver
    • Discharged from the Armed Forces: A student previously discharged from any branch of the Armed Forces with non-Waiverable disqualifying reenlistment code or with one of the following types of discharges:
    • • Dishonorable
      • Bad Conduct
      • Undesirable
      • Discharge under other than honorable conditions
    • Pregnant Students:
      • Pregnant students are eligible to compete for scholarships, however, they are ineligible to enroll in ROTC if pregnant.
      • Students must be medically qualified at the time of contracting. Pregnancy is a temporary medical disqualification.
      • All applicants must meet dependency requirements (AR 145-1, Chapter 3) before contracting.
      • Cadets who become pregnant after contracting will not be involuntarily disenrolled solely because of pregnancy.
    • Active Federal Service (AFS) - Students who will have 10 years or more of AFS at the time of commissioning must request a waiver.
    • Former Cadets - Students who have already completed undergraduate degree requirements under the Army ROTC program are ineligible. This only applies to students who receive their undergraduate degree at the expense of the Army ROTC. If the student earned an undergraduate degree by other means, the student is eligible to apply for a 2-year scholarship.
    • Domestic Violence - Students convicted of domestic violence are ineligible.
    • Students participating in the SMP, except as Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty (GRFD) scholarship recipients.
    • Students at community colleges, except those approved in the Formal Linkage Program which only allows 2and 3-year scholarships
    • Students with only one year remaining to obtain their baccalaureate degree are ineligible.
• Financial Policy:
  • Scholarship recipients are required to make a choice each term of whether their benefits will cover tuition and allowable fees (full) or a flat rate of $10K for room and board. Cadets that select the room and board option are required to be counseled on their selection.
  • Payment of Fall term: If Fall term ends prior to December 15, and the Cadet contracts between end of Fall term and December 15, the Cadet is entitled to Fall benefits.
  • Fees: Three Rules generally apply for payment of Fees:
    • If the fee applies to all students, all the time, every year, it is payable.
    • Mandatory educational fees are those fees charged to all students attending the school.
    • If the fee is connected to a specific course that is required for degree completion in the Cadet's major or the fee is required for attendance at that college/university, it is payable. The class must be specifically required for degree completion and is not a free elective.
    • Any fee listed as an optional fee in the school catalog is capped at $100.00 per course. Any amount that exceeds that cap is the responsibility of the Cadet. Optional means that the cadet need not incur the fee for degree completion. Students may opt whether to purchase the school or an independent policy.
    • Scholarship funds will not be used to pay identifiable fees that directly result in the purchase of laptop computers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants or other automated equipment. However, if tuition includes purchase of automated equipment which cannot be identified as a separate fee, then scholarship funds may be used to pay for the automated equipment as an integrated portion of the tuition.
    • Room and Board - Cadets may choose for the scholarship benefits to be applied toward their room and board costs. This election is made each term. A flat rate of $10,000 annually is paid for room and board costs. The amounts are paid directly to the cadet - $5,000 per semester or $3,333 per quarter term.
      • If scholarship money is used towards Room and Board, State (if applicable for ARNG) Tuition Assistance (TA) may be available to use in conjunction with scholarship money to pay for tuition.
      • Federal TA may not be used in conjunction with an ROTC scholarship.
    • Book Stipend - A "flat rate" fee will be paid for books, supplies and equipment as published annually by Headquarters, United States Army Cadet Command. This is in addition to the tuition and fees or room board option.
    • Subsistence Allowance - All contracted cadets are authorized a stipend.
      • The subsistence allowance will begin on the date that the cadet enters the first term of college work under the scholarship contract or on the date the Cadet meets all requirements for and is contracted as a scholarship cadet, whichever is later.
      • The stipend will continue until the cadet has met all requirements for commissioning or has been disenrolled, except as what is provided by regulation, directive or law.
      • Military Science level (MS) I or II Cadets receive stipend for no more than 10 months of the academic year or the actual duration of the academic year, whichever is shorter.
      • MS III - IV Cadets receive stipend allowance for no more than 20 months uninterrupted except while attending Cadet Summer Training (CST) during the junior and senior years.
      • MS V Cadets receive up to 10 months stipend, which continues uninterrupted after completion of the MS IV year.
      • Advanced course ROTC Cadets (to include MS V) and basic course scholarship Cadets MUST be enrolled in ROTC to receive any scholarship benefits or stipend.
    • Non-Reimbursable Items - The following are non-reimbursable under the scholarship contract:
      • Any educational expenses incurred prior to the beginning of the scholarship.
      • Courses for background enrichment or deficiency makeup.
      • Courses not required for the degree, unless charges for such courses can be absorbed within the normal basic tuition charges during the academic year and will not extend graduation date.
      • Course required because of changes in academic majors when such courses cannot be completed within the number of academic terms covered by the scholarship.
      • Courses taken at a school other than that at which the Cadet is enrolled for ROTC training, except in the case of a Cadet selected for scholarship that is enrolled at a Partner School.
      • Summer sessions, except as authorized.
      • Unauthorized travel.
      • Penalties or fines for late registration, when the fault of the cadet.
      • Charges for makeup examinations, violations of school rules, and the like.
      • Personal fees, such as laundry, clothes, or grooming.
      • Permits of fees associated with vehicle operation.
• Military Service Obligation:
  • All scholarship winners who contract will be required to sign a contract which obligates them to serve in the military for a period of 8 years.
    • If selected for active duty, the lieutenant will serve a minimum of 4 years followed by service in the Army National Guard (ARNG), United States Army Reserve (USAR) or the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR).
    • If selected for reserve duty, the lieutenant will serve eight years in the selected reserve, i.e., an ARNG unit or a USAR Troop Program Unit.

Program Requirements

Plan of Study (4 year)

Plan of Study (4 year, 1 co-op) 

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SHORT COOP DUE TO ADVANCED CAMP ATTENDANCE

Plan of Study (5 year)

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SHORT COOP DUE TO ADVANCED CAMP ATTENDANCE

Minor in Military Science