Army ROTC program canceled at USM

PORTLAND — The University of Southern Maine is among 50 campuses nationwide that will lose Army ROTC programs next year because of Department of Defense budget cuts.

Twenty-five scholarship students in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps will be able to finish their program at USM next year or take the ROTC training at other campuses.

There were 71 students in military science courses at USM last year.

The ROTC administrator at USM said a smaller Army makes it more difficult for high school and college students to get ROTC scholarships.

The easing of the Cold War and the federal budget deficit have prompted the Army to propose cutting personnel from 760,000 to 621,000 by 1994, said Sam Small, professor of military science at USM. One-tenth of that force is officers, and 70 percent of those officers are products of ROTC, he said.

“It will be more competitive to get a scholarship and a commission,” Small said. “There are more young people who want to be officers than we have a need for. ”

ROTC scholarships pay $7,000 annually or 80 percent of tuition, whichever is higher. They also pay a $195 allowance per semester for books and a $100 monthly stipend. High school students can apply for four-year scholarships, and two- and three-year scholarships are available to college students.

Dropping Army ROTC at USM will eliminate a military science department that included four Army officers and four staff. USM was the host for ROTC candidates from the University of New England, Bowdoin, Bates and St. Joseph’s colleges.

The Army cut the programs with the smallest enrollments.

The University of Maine will be the only college offering a full ROTC program. Freshman and sophomore scholarship students will be able to transfer to Orono and be reimbursed for lost credits.