Delayed Entry Program and College

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Permalink Reply by Brad on March 7, 2013 at 10:17am

Good questions, and I can answer some of them for you. My son went into DEP and his contract stating he would ship out in exactly one year. My son thought he would just sit around waiting, however I informed him, if he was home, he was going to school. So he went to the local community college and signed up for classes.

The recruiters did have days that "could have" interferred with his classes, however, he explained to him he was in college and they worked around his schedule. Bottom line, DEP is mainly to make sure the kids aren't getting into any trouble while waiting, and since my son had no reason to concern them, they worked within his schedule.

The end result was, my son got in his year of college, turned in his results and entered the Navy as an E-2.

 

We did understand there was a chance my son could have gotten an opportunity to enter before that year, but that was a risk I was willing to take, figuring worst case, I'd go explain to the college that my son was being called in by the military and see if they'd work with me. FWIW, I've yet to see any group, right now, not willing to help out our military.

As to the student loans, I can't answer that. In my opinion, having my son go to the local community college was a huge benefit. He was only taking the basic courses anyway, so why pay for a more expensive education, and he was able to live at home and still make his DEP requirements.

Good luck to you and your recruit.

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Permalink Reply by Roy C Gray on March 14, 2013 at 4:09pm

You can request a deferral from the bank or whoever paid the school for the tuition. My son received a deferral from his lender. Although the interest continues to build, so don't take a long deferral. He had a bachelors degree in computer science and could not get hired anywhere because they all want experience. So he enlisted and went in as an E -3, became his division yeoman and thought boot was easy. Although he played college football so was used to the PT and getting yelled at LOL.

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