Employment Guide: ROTC offers job stabililty and financial perks

Unlike many Pitt juniors, Hannah Baker knows exactly what she’ll be doing after graduation… Unlike many Pitt juniors, Hannah Baker knows exactly what she’ll be doing after graduation next year — and it won’t involve scouring the classifieds.

Instead, Baker will oversee 40 fully trained and equipped U.S. Army soldiers, plan their day-to-day activities and possibly even lead them into combat while monitoring millions of dollars worth of high-tech equipment.

In her future position, she’ll receive full health-care benefits for herself and any dependents she might claim. And she won’t have any school loans to pay back.

Those prospects are partially what drove Baker to join Pitt’s chapter of the Greater Pittsburgh Army ROTC. When she completes the ROTC program, Baker will enter the military with the rank of second lieutenant.

And although the additional training and course work demanded by the ROTC curriculum occasionally eats into her free time, Baker and her fellow cadets enjoy a measure of job security that some other Pitt students can only envy.

“The extra workouts and meetings can definitely put a strain on your schedule, but it helps me to have that kind of structure,” Baker said last week in Bellefield Hall, home of Pitt’s ROTC program. “I feel like I have less time, but I get more done. And I know exactly where I’m going.”

Like all students enrolled in the ROTC program, Baker signed a binding agreement with the U.S. government. In exchange for four years of active service, cadets receive full tuition and fees payment, as well as a $600-per-semester book stipend and a monthly living allowance between $300 and $600.

Those perks don’t come free, though. While at Pitt, cadets attend four morning physical-training sessions and one leadership workshop each week.

The major perk, Baker said, is job security and entry wages exceeding $45,000 annually.

“I’ve had a job lined up since I came in,” Baker said. “It’s definitely comforting to know that.”

From the outside, the ROTC office is marked only by a few modest, black-and-gold insignias reading “Leadership” and “Excellence” and “Three Rivers Battalion.” Inside, the office is spacious and well lit, with six or seven wrap-around desks and a conference room to one side.

In the office, Baker’s commanding officer described the major pros and cons of joining the ROTC program. He said that while many students are drawn by the prospect of full tuition payment, book stipends and a guaranteed job, the program isn’t for everyone.

“It’s not a free ride through school, that’s for sure,”  Three Rivers Battalion executive officer Maj. Todd Looney said. “But at the same time, our cadets come out of school with a sterling resume, and they tend to meet success both in their military time and when they move to civilian life.”

Maj. Shawn Gralinski, who helps organize recruiting efforts, echoed Looney’s points about the rigors and rewards of ROTC life.

“For a lot of the cadets, it’s flag and country, but the job security and financial aid is clearly a main draw as well,” Gralinski said. “Not only do you have a job lined up for graduation, but there is virtually unlimited potential for advancement.”

Gralinski said there are about 220 cadets spread across the 15 academic institutions that contribute students to the Three Rivers Battalion. Pitt has the largest proportion of those cadets, with more than 70 graduate and undergraduate students spread throughout almost all the University’s schools and departments.

CMU also has a high proportion, Gralinski said.

He said a majority of the cadets stick with the program through graduation, though there are ways to get out of the ROTC program. To opt of the ROTC program, a student must pay back everything the army has paid for, including scholarships and stipends.

“Like any organization or group, we only want those people to participate who want to participate,” Gralinski said.

Although ROTC recruits make up a significant portion of those Pitt students with military ties, many armed-services veterans also choose to attend Pitt after leaving the military.

Currently, 430 veterans are pursuing degrees throughout the University’s branches, with about 300 attending classes in Oakland.

Ann Rairigh, director of the Office of Veterans Services, said these students have strong academic backgrounds and tend to transfer credits from previous course work.

She said her office provides a number of services to help veterans adjust to campus life, including military sensitivity training for faculty and staff, resume and career development workshops and networking events.

Her office also helps veterans transfer government Veterans Affairs benefits to pay for a University education. The amount of compensation varies according to which GI bill a veteran receives benefits from and how long they served, making Rairigh’s job a tough one.

“Some students can get all of their school bills paid, while others only receive a couple hundred dollars a month,” she said. “It’s all based on time served.”

Rairigh said the University also participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program to help pay for some of the costs for some students that the GI bills might not cover. The program can help out-of-state veterans pursuing both undergraduate and graduate degrees cover additional costs and fees.

Rairigh added that the University also has a grant fund to help out-of-state undergraduates receiving tuition coverage from the Post-9/11 GI Bill. If the undergraduate receives coverage at 70 percent or higher, the grant can cover the difference between in- and out-of-state tuition.

“We try to do whatever we can to help our veterans receive the education they deserve,” she said. “It’s a full-time job, but it’s an important one.”