Review of ROTC Consortium Agreement

A review of the military services' Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program involved: reduced costs resulting from the establishment of consortium agreements, the closing of unproductive ROTC units, and the number of ROTC military support positions which have been civilianized. The Army is the only service which uses the consortium approach as one alternative to closing unproductive units. Since the 1975-76 school year, 10 consortiums composed of a total of 22 Army ROTC units have been established. The staff level of the 22 units dropped from 196 to 161 after formation of the consortiums, and enrollment increased, reducing the costs of providing ROTC training. The 1978 Defense Appropriation Act established minimum enrollment criteria which ROTC units had to meet in order to continue receiving funds. In school year 1977-78, four ROTC units failed to meet the enrollment criteria and are being disbanded. Within the next 2 years, the Army will be civilianizing 384 positions, 192 of which are scheduled to be converted in the first year. The Air Force has civilianized 55 positions and plans no further action. The Navy does not plan to convert any ROTC support positions to civilian employment.