rat

I'll go ahead and throw in my two cents, seeing as I was a NROTC Scholarship recipient, and also signed a contract with the U.S. Army that didn't pan out as I wrecked an elbow beyond repair.

Get your degree, take the loans out if necessary. Trust me, this is honestly the best "first" step in any situation--FINISH YOUR SCHOOL.

Then, if the loan payments are something you don't want to manage (they should be roughly $60/month for each $5000 borrowed over 10 years depending on your interest rates), THEN enlist as each branch offers a certain degree of loan repayment for college tuition. If you go Army with a B.A., B.S. or B.B.A., then you are automatically bumped to E-4 rank going into basic, and with the Army, you get any job you qualify for (which there are PLENTY for someone who graduates college).

If you don't like being enlisted, and would be willing to make the loan payments instead, submit your package to go to OCS.

If you enjoy being in the services, and feel like renewing a commision or re-enlisting, the bonuses are fairly nice. I know my Naval History prof's son got ~50-80k for renewing his commission with the USN, and he's only a surface warfare officer, not even a pilot or nuke.

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