I took my 20 year old son to the Navy Recruiter the other day to look at the nuke program.
My son has finished his 2nd year of college in an engineering program at a private university in Texas. It is extremely difficult but he is, so far, maintaining a 3.0 GPA.
He has $15,000 in government college loans accumulated and is feeling the pressure of maintaining grades and worrying about paying for college.
The recruiter gave him a practice ASVAB to see where he would score and he made an equivalent 95 (out of 99). The recruiter said that on the real test he will most likely make a 99. My son is also an eagle scout which the recruiter stated that it would automatically bump him to an E-3 immediately in boot camp.
The recruiter also stated that there could be an enlistment bonus of up to $15,000.00 but it couldn't be guaranteed.
Questions:
1) Is it possible to get loans repaid by Navy and get an enlistment bonus if he joins?
2) Is there anything else that my son should know before he signs the dotted line?
3) Is there any negotiation my son could make before signing the dotted line to help him get the maximum bonus and benefits?
4) Will he be challenged?
Thank you in advance.
Tell your son to seek out the nearest officer recruiter and ask about BDCP programs, particularly NUPOC if he's interested in nuke.
What is NUPOC? NUPOC is a bachelor degree completion program for potential nukes. Once accepted, they pay applicants E-6 salary + BAH + BAS until he commissions (google military pay charts and look up BAH for his college town), along with other active duty benefits (ie, healthcare). He will receive a taxable $15,000 sign-up bonus if he is accepted (which amounts to about $11k), plus a $2k taxable bonus upon completion of the nuclear training pipeline. He will have no military responsibilities until OCS other than to maintain his grades (3.0+), graduate on time, and check in with his recruiter once a month. He will
not be randomly deployed, and his time in service will count as active duty time toward pay/retirement purposes. This is usually enough money for most college students to live comfortably, since it comes to $40-60k per year depending on location...much more than any college student I know makes. Your son could also still work part-time if he needs any extra money, although he really shouldn't.
The catch? If you decide that the program isn't for you, or if you attrite from OCS for any other reason than medical reasons (which you'd have to try hard to do), then you have to go to boot camp and serve 2 years as an undesignated enlisted Sailor. You also have to serve 5 years as a submarine or nuclear surface officer, which is oftentimes more demanding than the enlisted jobs...and enlisted nukes work a ton as it is.
Yes, enlistment offers college repayment bonuses, but if you crunch numbers regarding how much he'd earn as an officer vs. how much he'd earn as an enlisted Sailor over his 5 years of service, even including the loan repayment as enlisted pay, the money he'd make as an officer is still more.
The Navy also has other BDCP programs for other officer designators (SWO, pilot, NFO, etc), but they pay E-3 instead of E-6 up to commissioning.
Others have said it, but I will reiterate: recruiters are great at telling people everything that they "can" do while enlisted. The thing is, recruiters never really give people an accurate estimate of the likelihood of that happening. A
lot of nukes apply to STA-21 out of the training pipeline (basically a NROTC program for enlisted Sailors that pays them their salary while they attend college. That time also counts as AD time toward retirement). To say that it is competitive is an under-statement.
Make sure your son understands this: If your son chooses to enlist, he should expect to put college on hold for the duration of his enlistment contract. $15,000 over two years is a drop in the bucket compared to other college students' debts. He should not make a hasty decision because money is tight.
Your son may still choose to enlist, but he should at the very least make an informed decision. There quite a few enlisted Sailors with degrees who would have applied directly to OCS had they known they could.
