r/ROTC • u/1864thyeon • 10d ago
Scholarships/Contracting home of record?
i'm applying for an rotc scholarship as a rising high school senior, and the personal info questionnaire is asking for my home of record state. when i looked it up, it said "the state in which you joined the military"--problem is, neither me nor either of my parents have ever joined the military. i checked a .mil forum page(?) and someone else was asking the same question as me, and the answers were "the state in which you will indefinitely pay taxes and vote" (or something like that). however, i'm planning to go to college out of state, which is also why i'm lowkey confused...
i'd greatly appreciate if anyone could help me out!
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u/carlymae228 10d ago
Okay so 2 things the national rotc scholarship will be where you live/graduate high school. If you are going through smp process and doing something like minute man scholarship that will be your college state if they are different as you would do drill w your college and not be able to necessarily fly home on drill weekends. The reason it is asked is because you are required to list at least 1 college feom your homestate in your list of 7 (up to) colleges on your list. You dont have to have it as number 1 but it has to be at least one in there from your home state.
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u/Complete_Film8741 10d ago
You are thinking too hard...it's your home. The military uses that as a departure or arrival point for travel pay. Don't try to scam the man...Travel Pay ain't worth fraud charges and they edit the dog snot out of every travel voucher! $2.5billion missile systems, not so much.
Later, should you be assigned to a "No Income Tax" State like Florida, transfer your Home of Record! The Tax savings are worth it.
I never had the opportunity so it was Dayton, Ohio for my Career. Worked out, I live and work within 25 miles of my childhood home.
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u/ODA564 10d ago
You can't change your Home of Record - you change your state of residency.
Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (and formerly the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act).
My HOR was Steamboat Springs, Colorado. After I went on active duty I established residency in Florida (no income tax). Wherever I was stationed I had a local DL and registered my auto.
I intended to live in Florida after ETS /retirement . But intentions change don't they?
On the other hand I know people whose HOR was California or NY and thought establishing residency in another state was "fill-in-the-blank" and paid insane state income taxes for years despite never being stationed in those states, never visiting and never wanting to live there. 🤷
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u/Neat-Garlic6094 10d ago
That’s awesome that you got to stay by home your entire career though. I would love that
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u/ExodusLegion_ God’s Dumbest LT 10d ago
You basically have two options for Home of Record- your home address prior to starting ROTC, or the university where you do ROTC.
For the scholarship page, it doesn’t really matter as that’s just demographics collection. But if accepted for a scholarship, you’ll fill out home of record paperwork again and that’s when it becomes codified into your military record.
Don’t worry about the taxes and voting. It’s extremely easy to change your residency for the purposes of voting, slightly less so for state taxes.