The purpose of the Navy ROTC Program is to educate and train qualified young men and women for service as commissioned officers in the Navy's unrestricted line, the Navy Nurse Corps and the Marine Corps. As the largest single source of Navy and Marine Corps officers, the Navy ROTC Scholarship Program plays an important role in preparing mature young men and women for leadership and management positions in an increasingly technical Navy and Marine Corps.
Selected applicants for the Navy ROTC Scholarship Program are awarded scholarships through a highly competitive national selection process, and receive full tuition, books stipend, educational fees and other financial benefits OR Room and Board at many of the country's leading colleges and universities. Upon graduation, midshipmen are commissioned as officers in the unrestricted line Naval Reserve or Marine Corps Reserve.
The Navy ROTC Scholarship Program is available to qualified students who graduate from high school before August 1 of the year they intend to start college.
Students selected for the Navy ROTC Scholarship Program make their own arrangements for college enrollment and room and board, and take the normal course load required by the college or university for degree completion. Additionally, scholarship midshipmen are required to follow specific academic guidelines.
Full information concerning the Navy ROTC Scholarship Program is available from any of the colleges and universities with Navy ROTC units or from Navy and Marine Corps recruiters. A list of colleges and universities is available on this website at the Colleges and Universities page.
The Navy ROTC Program was established to develop midshipmen mentally, morally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, and loyalty, and with the core values of honor, courage and commitment in order to commission college graduates as naval officers who possess a basic professional background, are motivated toward careers in the naval service, and have a potential for future development in mind and character so as to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.
The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (Navy ROTC) Program was established in 1926 to provide a broad base of citizens knowledgeable in the arts and sciences of Naval Warfare. The program provided an opportunity for young men to undertake careers in the naval profession. In the beginning, there were six Navy ROTC units located at the University of California at Berkeley, Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, University of Washington, and Harvard and Yale Universities. In June of 1930, 126 midshipmen graduated from college, and received commissions in the United States Navy. At least 3 of the graduates went on to obtain flag rank.
The Marine Corps entered the Navy ROTC Program in 1932, offering qualified Navy ROTC graduates commissions in the United States Marine Corps. In 1968, Prairie View A&M became the first Historically Black College (HBC) to host the program. In 1972, the Secretary of the Navy authorized 16 women to enroll in the program and attend school at one of four colleges. Women may now participate in the program while attending any Navy ROTC affiliated college or university. In 1990, the Navy ROTC Scholarship Program was expanded to include applicants pursuing a four-year degree in Nursing, leading to a commission in the Navy Nurse Corps.
The mission of the Navy ROTC Program today... is to develop young men and women morally, mentally, and physically, and to instill in them the highest ideals of honor, courage, and commitment. The program educates and trains young men and women for leadership positions in an increasingly technical Navy and Marine Corps. Currently there are 63 Navy ROTC units/consortiums hosted at 77 schools throughout the United States. The Navy ROTC Program is available at over 160 colleges and universities that either host Navy ROTC units or have cross-town enrollment agreements with a host university. Selected applicants for the program are awarded scholarships through a highly competitive national selection process, and receive full tuition and other financial benefits at many of the country's leading colleges and universities.
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