My Options...
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3 year HPSP for Army, Navy, Air Force
3 year HSCP Navy only
National Guard has something, but I'm not terribly familiar with it.
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HPSP is a scholarship from the Army, Navy, or Air Force that pays full tuition, books, and fees, while giving you a stipend of $1,992 per month. You simply go to school like every other student, but must do a 45 day active duty rotation every summer (unless your school's schedule does not allow for that). A 3 year scholarship will obligate you to 3 years of active duty upon graduation. Additionally, you can take a $20,000 signing bonus that obligates you to 4 years served concurrently with your scholarship obligation. Upon graduation you will be paid as an O-3 with <2 years service, plus BAH, BAS, and dental special pays.
HSCP is a Navy program. It is not a scholarship, and does not pay for tuition, books, and fees. It simply places you on active duty while in school with a paygrade of E-6 (with ability to promote to E-7 if certain provisions are met). You will be paid as an E-6 with <2 years of service (which will increase upon gaining years/promotion to E-7), plus BAS, and BAH. Your only obligation while in school is to pass a physical fitness test every six months. Your active duty time in school counts toward retirement and for pay purposes. Upon graduation, you will commission as an O-3 with however many years of service gained while in school, plus BAH, BAS, and dental special pays. Taking a 3 year HSCP will obligate you to 3 years of active duty after you graduate.
The National Guard program Smills91 was referring to is the Medical and Dental Student Stipend Program (MDSSP). You join the Army National Guard (or Army Reserve) as an O-1, and receive a stipend of $1992 per month in addition to your drill pay. The program does not pay your tuition. After graduation, you will be promoted to O-3, and will owe 2 years of drilling with the Guard for every year you spent on MDSSP. You are non-deployable during dental school and also during residency if you choose to do one. There are additional programs that you can take after you graduate for an additional commitment, such as retention bonuses, student loan repayments (HPLRP), and a stipend during residency (STRAP).
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You have a lot more options. While in school there's the HPLRP (loan repayment) as well.
Out of school there's the loan repayment as well, and also the Healthcare Professional Bonus.
Regarding the national guard, that's not your only option. There's also the AMEDD Student Recruiter Program while in school.
More National Guard options here
http://www.nationalguard.com/careers/medical-professional-officer/amedd-student-recruiter-asr
I don't know if that's an official military document, but it looks right.
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edit...found my old post on this. Google the documents that I cite:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=621152
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If you are at an in state school that has a fairly reasonable tuition STONGLY consider HSCP. You will be put on active duty (Completely non deployable with minimal military obligations), and your pay will be your scholarship money. This is a great gig down the road because in the military your pay is not only based on what rank you are but also how many years you have in. This will add up quickly when you are making more than $1,000 per month over however long you stay in the military and also higher bonuses. Not to mention you and any dependents you do/will have while in school are covered for health care. I did this program and it is paying out now!
I talked to my recruiter on Friday, unfortunately unless things change the National Guard Student Recruiter (ASR) is going away.
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I'm seriously considering Navy HSCP. Had some questions for those who are already in it or have some knowledge on the subject matter. Lets say I do join thru the HSCP, upon graduation am I still eligible for the sign on bonus and the Navy Health Professions Loan Repayment Program? If not, wouldn't it be more advantageous for someone to join after after graduating so you get a higher sign on bonus and be eligible for the Navy Health Professions Loan Repayment Program??
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HPLRP will pay $40,000 per year (minus 25% which is taxed) toward your qualified loans. The maximum number of years you can get HPLRP is calculated by dividing the total qualified loan amount by 40,000 and rounding up to the nearest whole number. The obligation is one year for every year of HPLRP taken, with a minimum of 2 years. Keep in mind that only loans for your professional degree are considered qualified loans. You cannot use HPLRP for undergraduate loans. Also, note that HPLRP comes with an obligation that must be served consecutively, NOT concurrently, with any other obligation.
If you take HSCP, you will not be eligible for any sign on bonus. After your initial 4 year obligation is over, you would be eligible for HPLRP.
If you do not take HSCP, and enter the Navy after graduation, you would be eligible for a $75,000 (minus taxes) accession bonus. This would obligate you to 4 years of active duty. After you serve this obligation, you would be eligible for HPLRP.
You could also not take HSCP or the accession bonus, and take HPLRP as your recruitment incentive after graduation.
In my opinion, it is more advantageous to take HSCP, since you will make more than the accession bonus amount. If you use your HSCP money to pay as much of your tuition as possible, that would lower your loan amounts and would allow you to take less years of HPLRP to pay off your loans. Then you may be eligible for retention bonuses sooner, or could leave active duty earlier if you wished. Additionally, HSCP time counts toward pay and retirement, giving you more money while you are serving your active duty obligation. I really can't think of a scenario where waiting until graduation would be more advantageous. I hope this was clear... it is late and I'm a bit tired.
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That is accurate. Also this does not account for the increase in monthly pay due to more time in serivce. If you google military pay charts and look at 0-3 with 0 years and then 4 years it is substantial! Also if you get the full 4 years +1 day you can get 0-3E which is another bump especially in housing allowance!! In dental corps these 4 years will also increase your ASP and VSP amounts. THis pays off big time over the years you serve! You will always be making more than HPSP and Dirrect acces!!
If you are at a state school, such as I am, then HSCP is a great way to go. If you budget yourself well, the active duty pay is enough to cover your tuition. (My tuition is ~30k a year, and HSCP will pay out ~50k) We have 4 students at UW under HSCP (I think), and it's a great program. What is advantageous is that after graduation, pay at O3E with 4 years (in your case it would be 3 years) is going to be much closer to civilian associate pay than those who come out under HPSP and through direct accession.
