Air Force ROTC Programs Thrive at Embry-Riddle's Residential Campuses

Det. 157 at the Daytona Beach campus is the largest all-volunteer university AFROTC program in the nation and is also among the top producers of pilots and Air Force commissioned officers. Combined, Det. 028 at the Prescott campus and Det. 157 are second only to the U.S. Air Force Academy as a university-based commissioning source of officers and pilots.

Det. 157 at Daytona Beach has grown by 70 percent over the last three years to nearly 400 cadets. Its typical freshman class size approaches 200 cadets, which is larger than the total enrollment of most other AFROTC detachments nationwide. Det. 028 at Prescott has remained stable over the last three years at about 225 cadets, with a freshman class of 100 cadets. Det. 028 cadets make up approximately 13 percent of the overall student population.

Each year AFROTC offers scholarships to about 2,000 of the nation's best high school students to encourage them to join one of the 142 AFROTC detachments across the United States. Embry-Riddle, a longtime supporter and partner of the ROTC program, aids incoming freshmen who have ROTC scholarship offers with its own scholarships that cover most of the student's room-and-board costs.

The AFROTC and Embry-Riddle scholarships and the detachments' reputation for excellence have become a magnet for talented high school students interested in pursuing an AFROTC program. Until 1998, only 15 to 18 freshmen brought their AFROTC scholarships to Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus annually. In the last three years that number has virtually doubled each year. The fall class at the Daytona Beach campus will include more than 110 freshman AFROTC scholarship winners, which is nearly 6 percent of the national total of AFROTC scholarship recipients.

AFROTC Det. 028 at Embry-Riddle's Prescott campus has enjoyed similar success. Nearly 50 high school students awarded AFROTC scholarships will join Det. 028's freshman class this fall. Combining the number of incoming AFROTC scholarship winners at both campuses, Embry-Riddle has attracted more than 8 percent of the total AFROTC scholarships offered nationally in 2001.

For more information on Det. 157, call 386-226-6880 or visit www.db.erau.edu/campus/departments/afrotc. For more information on Det. 028, call 1-800-888-ERAU and ask for Air Force ROTC, or call 928-708-3868, or visit afrotc.pr.erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates 23,000 students through the master's level at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., at more than 100 teaching sites in the United States and Europe, and through distance learning.