Students' Army Training Corps

The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) are a group of college and university-based officer training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.

While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches of the U.S. armed forces, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Coast Guard do not have their own respective ROTC programs, but graduates of Naval ROTC programs have the option to serve as officers in the Marine Corps contingent on meeting Marine Corps requirements. The Coast Guard has no ROTC program and its officers can only be commissioned via the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Coast Guard Officer Candidate School, interservice transfer from another U.S. military service following completion of at least 4 years commissioned service in that other branch of the U.S. military (e.g. such as interservice transfers for officers designated as Army Aviators, USN and USMC Naval Aviators and USAF Pilots), or via the Coast Guard College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI), although the CSPI program is only available at colleges and universities designated as a Minority Serving Institute (MSI) or with a student population of at least 50% minorities for the past three years.

In 2010, ROTC graduates constituted 38.5 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Army officers, 1.8 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Marine Corps officers (through NROTC), 16.7 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Navy officers and 38.1 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Air Force officers, for a combined 30 percent of all active duty officers in the Department of Defense commissioned that year. Under ROTC, a student may receive a competitive, merit-based scholarship covering all or part of college tuition, textbooks and lab fees, in return for an obligation of active military service after graduation. ROTC students attend college like other students, but also receive basic military training and officer training for their chosen branch of service through the ROTC unit at or nearby the college. The students participate in regular drills during the school year and extended training activities during the summer.

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