Congress has given ROTC and Academy cadets a pay raise, but they won't see much of it. Academy Cadets now receive $600 per month, but their pay will (from 1 Oct, 2001) be set at 35% of the pay of a Second Lieutenant with less than two years of service. That way, they will get automatic raises in the future as general military pay increases. This would up their pay for next year to $699 per month. The trick is that cadets lose most of their pay to various fees (books, services, equipment, personal computers, and so forth) and the Academies (with tight budgets) will probably increase fees to wipe out much of the pay raise. ROTC cadets now receive $200 per month, and the new legislation allows their pay to be set as high as $674. Their actual pay, however, will be set at $250 per month, and the continually-climbing fees and tuition at most colleges will wipe out most of the increase (or, said another way, the ROTC pay increase will cover some of the increased fees).--Stephen V Cole