When comparing the cost between the two, you also need to make a guess at how long you will stay in the military, as well as how you view money. First, BDCP works better for you the longer you stay in. Why is this? Because you get increased amounts of pay sooner than someone who went ROTC. I only had 1 year of BDCP and yet my year of "active" service meant that I received a pay increase on year 1, 2, 3, 5, etc. of the real active duty instead of year 2,3,4,6, etc. So for today's rates, I make an extra $1206 in year 1, an extra $6440 in year 2, an extra $1512 in year 3, an extra $2520 in year 5, an extra $2772 in year 7, an extra $1788 in year 9. This assumes O-1 for year 1-2, O-2 for year 3-4, and O-3 up until year 10. So for just O-1 until you're eligible to get out, you receive an additional $16,238 compared to receiving a commission without any scholarship. Adding in the basic pay/bas from 1 year in BDCP ($21,769), we are left with $38,007 plus that 1 year of BAH.
If you had 2 years of BDCP, then there is no comparison: BDCP wins hands down. Now the second factor to look at is how you view debt. I don't mind "good" debt at all since I am repaying it at a relatively low interest rate. In other words, the financial impact of my tuition is small compared to the gains I am able to have by investing the extra cash from BDCP. Whereas someone with a scholarship does not have any of that debt, they also do not have any extra cash up front to use for investing. It makes more financial sense to me to maintain a debt while having plenty of $$$ to invest now (since the school loans typically have low interest rates).
Did that make sense to everyone?
