For those of you who don't read Early-Retirement.org, let me cross-post over here: our daughter is officially off the family payroll.
She's spent the last four years at Rice University, working hard for a civil engineering degree on a Navy ROTC scholarship. In the last few months she's been selected for surface nuclear power (aircraft carriers), passed her Naval Reactors interview, and passed her FE to officially become a civil engineer in training. She graduated last Saturday morning and commissioned later that afternoon. I'll admit that there has been some angst & drama over the last six months, but last week she was all smiles!
The Navy wants its surface nukes to learn how to drive & shoot before they disappear into engineering, so a few hours ago she reported to her ship in Norfolk. It's a guided-missile destroyer that's getting ready to shift its homeport to Rota, Spain next month where she'll spend two years doing deployments for ballistic-missile defense. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ross_(DDG-71)) Rumor is that she'll start in the Weapons Department, and she'll probably rotate to one or two other division-officer jobs in Weps or Operations. After that tour she'll spend a year in Nuclear Power School (Charleston SC) followed by two years on an aircraft carrier. She may not be coming home for another two years (or longer) but my spouse and I will be touring Europe next year!
Rice U is not cheap. Their retail tuition rate is about to break through the $20K/semester barrier-- and then there's another $6500/semester for room & board. However she worked her butt off, learned how to overcome failure and adversity, made an incredible group of friends, and had some fun along the way. NROTC paid all tuition & fees and paid her a monthly stipend during the academic year with full pay for summer "internships". She took a part-time job
walking backwards giving campus tours at $12/hour. She managed to snag at least $1000 in additional scholarship money almost every semester. She practices frugal techniques that make me proud.
She's graduating with zero debt, a paid-off 1999 Honda CR-V, a triathlon bike, some dorm-room furniture, and a healthy Roth IRA balance. She has a guaranteed job for five years along with engineering experience. She's earning (taxable) base pay of $2905/month plus tax-free allowances for food, housing, and overseas COLA. She's also earning a righteous $100/month sea pay. As near as I can tell from the various databases her total annual compensation is about $70K, of which about half is untaxed. She will max out her TSP and her Roth IRA every year for the next five, and she'll probably deposit more in taxable investments.
Admittedly this life is not for everyone, but it's working for her. Ironically one of the reasons she enjoys being Navy is because it freed her of all the job-search angst which her classmates have been going through. Her current plan is five-and-out for the Reserves, but she'll stick around as long as she's having fun. (SWO bonus...) When she gets tired of being on active duty she can find lifetime civil engineering employment on Oahu... or at least until she reaches financial independence.
I think I've caught up on the forum threads, but I may have missed something during the last 12 days. Please PM or e-mail me if you're still waiting on my response.
