By Knight Kiplinger
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Sunday, November 23, 2008

QOne of my son's best friends is planning to accept an ROTC scholarship to college and wants my son to join him. The boy seems uninterested in military service and is attracted mostly to the money. He says he can drop out of ROTC before the start of his sophomore year and not have to pay back the freshman grant. Is this true, and do you think the boy is acting ethically?

AYes, it is true. The military may offer this deal because it thinks an ironclad ROTC commitment, plus subsequent military duty, would scare off some good prospects. And it must believe that freshmen will find ROTC to be interesting and fun -- and will want to keep their scholarships.

Ethically speaking, it is okay for an ROTC student to change his or her mind and drop out, but it would be wrong to accept the freshman grant with no intention of following through.