Navy ROTC Eligibility

Navy Option

General eligibility requirements for the program are as follows:

  • Be a United States citizen, naturalized U.S. citizen, or have submitted naturalization papers.
    • Scholarship selectees must be a U.S. Citizen in order to activate the scholarship.
    • Scholarship selectees must obtain their U.S. citizenship and activate their scholarship within the first academic year after the stated scholarship offer begin date listed in their scholarship notification letter or their scholarship offer will be rescinded.
    • Retroactive benefits will not be approved for those selectees who delayed activating their scholarship due to not obtaining their U.S. citizenship.
    • Applicants with dual citizenship may apply and, if selected, activate their scholarship but must acknowledge that they are prepared to renounce their non-U.S. citizenship should they be required to do so. Students are no longer required to renounce their non-U.S. citizenship in order to receive a commission; however, security clearance requirements for assignment to specific designators may require such action.
  • Have no moral obligations or personal convictions that will prevent bearing of arms and supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic or to taking an oath to perform such acts;
  • Be at least 17 years of age and not yet 23 on or before 1 September of the year of enrollment and less than 27 years of age upon commissioning. Those with prior or current active duty in the Armed Forces may be granted age waivers equal to the number of months served. Those granted the maximum age waiver must not have reached their 29th birthday upon commissioning. Note: Waivers may be granted via N93 for designators that allow commissioning after the age of 29 (e.g., NFO – 31 years old, SWO - 35 years old, Nuclear – 31 years old, SEAL/EOD – 42 years old);
  • Meet physical requirements for the NROTC Program;
  • Possess a high school diploma or equivalent certificate;
  • Be accepted for admission as a full-time student at a participating NROTC college or university;
  • Have no felony conviction or conviction by courts-martial; and
  • Not be awaiting criminal trial or sentencing, be under any other type of military or civil restraint as a result of violation of law or regulation, or have been convicted of an offense the nature of which renders the applicant unfit for commissioned service.
  • Have no body piercings or tattoos that violate Navy (Navy Uniform Regulations) or Marine Corps (Marine Corps Tattoo) policy, as applicable.

Active duty Navy applicants are ineligible to apply for the NROTC Program through Navy Recruiting Command (NRC), per CNRCINST 1533.4 (series). Active members of other branches of the military may apply but must be granted a conditional release before activating their scholarship. If an NROTC applicant desires to enlist, or is already enlisted into the Delayed Entry Program (DEP), they shall not be shipped to Recruit Training Command (RTC) until after a final determination (selection or non-selection for the NROTC scholarship) has been decided.

Marine Corps Option

General eligibility requirements for the program are as follows:

  • Be a U.S. citizen.
  • Be 17 years of age by September 1st of the year starting college and less than 23 years of age on June 30th of that year. Applicants must not have reached their 27th birthday by June 30th of the year in which college graduation and commissioning are anticipated. Applicants who have prior active duty military service may be eligible for age adjustments for the amount of time equal to their prior service, on a month-for-month basis, for a maximum of 36 months, provided they do not reach their 30th birthday by June 30th of the year in which graduation and commissioning are anticipated.
  • Be a high school graduate or possess an equivalency certificate (GED) by August 1st of the same year of anticipated entrance into the four-year NROTC Scholarship Program.
  • Be physically qualified by Marine Corps standards.
  • Have no moral obligations or personal convictions that will prevent conscientious bearing of arms, and supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign, or domestic.
  • Have no criminal record of military or civilian offenses.
  • Apply for and gain admission to an approved NROTC college or university. Admission to an NROTC institution is not required during the selection process; however, notification of admission must be received before the scholarship can be activated.
  • Achieve a qualifying score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), or the American College Test (ACT). The SAT math and critical reading scores must be from the same and most recent test. Applicants cannot combine their best math and critical reading scores from the SAT to achieve the qualifying score for application. (Marine Corps Option only). SAT: 1000 Combination of Math and Critical Reading Only, ACT minimum combined score of 22 on the Math and English portions of the test, Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT): 74
  • Students w/ more than 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of college credit upon application or students already enrolled in NROTC College Program are not eligible for four-year NROTC Scholarships; these students should see professors of naval science at host university's NROTC unit to discuss other scholarship opportunities

If these academic criteria cannot be met, other opportunities exist for an NROTC scholarship -- please contact your local Marine Recruiter or NROTC Unit.