I wanted to put something together to help explain the STRAP program. It's hard to find anything online on this including forums. I am a SRNA and I am in the STRAP program on the reserves side. I'm not sure how the active side of STRAP works but I have heard its similar.
First what is the STRAP and requirements? STRAP is a stipend paid to you every month while in school. The current stipend is 2330/mo paid in two installments (1st and 15th of the month). After taxes it is like 1050 per paycheck. For every 6mo you take you owe a year of service. The best deal of this whole thing is the HPLR (Loan repayment). On the reserve component you are eligible for up to 60K in tuition. You get this tuition IN SCHOOL after each year of service. This was something the recruiters did not know how it worked. They told me it was after I graduated that I was eligible which is untrue. You get 20K every year in school IF you have a good year (I will explain this later). Many people I met at the SFRR did not sign up because they thought they would owe more time after school. So I took the HPLR and the STRAP and I only owe 6 years afterwards because I took 60K during my three year program which counted as service. Theres pretty much no reason at all not to take the HPLR with your STRAP. Also another amazing benefit is Tricare. For a family its like 215/mo which is super cheap. We saved money every month just switching to that. Plus the insurance is WAY better. Tricare is easy to work with and they pay.
Once you get commissioned, make sure the recruiters get you a uniform and a CAC ID card. They are supposed to do this but they do not. I found this out when I went to SFRR that they were supposed to. I had to scramble at the last minute to get a uniform for the SFRR. Another thing is to hassle your recruiters once commissioned about sending your orders to APMC. I found out the recruiters were sitting on my orders for weeks before they sent them. This affects your HPLR which your anniversary date starts when you get attached to APMC not your commissioning date.
Once you get that situated APMC will send you a welcome packet which is a bunch of stuff that feels reapplying for the Army. Big thing to remember to complete are your 1380 forms every month. This affect a few things: retirement points, drill pay (yes you get paid every month on top of your stipend!), and eligibility for your HLPR. You need 50 points a year to qualify for a good year. You will fulfill this if you fill out your 1380s. If you have a good year then HPLR will pay out every year.
When you fill out your 1380 forms make sure to include anything you do related to school (classes, workshops, etc.). This is your 'drill' while in school. 1LT drill 490 a month. So if you do the math thats 2820/mo with your stipend. Recruiters failed to mention that beautiful benefit. They told me I would not get drill pay which is untrue.
Other things to do while in the STRAP is make sure all your health requirements are completed. This includes things like a dental exam, health physical, etc every year. This is something they will help you with. You schedule all your assessments through LHI.
Last thing is to go to a Soldier Focused Readiness Review (SFRR). This is an orientation to the APMC and they help you with your documents, answer questions, etc. It's very helpful and they pay you to go there. Id recommend signing up for the next available one after you get attached to APMC. Its four days long but two are travel days. So basically its two days long with one being a ppt presentation from all the departments and the other day is sitting down one on one with each department.
If you can stay on top of your 1380s and health assessments you should be good to go while in school. Theres also a height and weight form and STRAP enrollment form that you have to send in every 6 months.
Overall its a good deal. I basically get almost 2,820/mo (drill and stipend) with 60K towards my tuition. I figured it out its basically almost 162k in total benefits for only a six year commitment afterwards. I won't have any personal or school debt after school which most people cant say. You just have to deal with headaches of getting wrong information or no information. But hopefully this helps.
On 12/20/2019 at 12:11 AM, ProgressiveThinking said:
Anybody know what the benefits and pay are for CRNAs who join after graduation as an already licensed CRNA?
I am assuming you want to join the Reserves rather than Active?
reserves you drill or show up 1 weekend a month and 2weeks/yr for training. Depends on your rank and time in service will determine pay for the weekend.
you can receive up to $60k bonus given 20k/yr for 3yrs (this is taxed) and also you get $25k bonus/yr. You do not receive both at the same time... either you get bonus for 3yrs first then loan payment next... or loan repayment x3 yrs first then bonus x3 yrs... and if you stay longer then you can continue receiving your bonus...
also I just found out recently that some professionals stay in the reserves after they have served their commitment for the Medical insurance... I actually didn't know that some people pay up to 2k monthly for medical bills esp if you have a family... if you join the reserves you only around $200... I've been in the military for almost 17 yrs (10yrs active and the rest reserves) thats why I'm not aware of the monthly cost in the civilian side
if you join active duty... I heard they pay up to 250k loans... and for the bonus not sure that you will need to call a recruiter...
I wanted to put something together to help explain the STRAP program. It's hard to find anything online on this including forums. I am a SRNA and I am in the STRAP program on the reserves side. I'm not sure how the active side of STRAP works but I have heard its similar.
First what is the STRAP and requirements? STRAP is a stipend paid to you every month while in school. The current stipend is 2330/mo paid in two installments (1st and 15th of the month). After taxes it is like 1050 per paycheck. For every 6mo you take you owe a year of service. The best deal of this whole thing is the HPLR (Loan repayment). On the reserve component you are eligible for up to 60K in tuition. You get this tuition IN SCHOOL after each year of service. This was something the recruiters did not know how it worked. They told me it was after I graduated that I was eligible which is untrue. You get 20K every year in school IF you have a good year (I will explain this later). Many people I met at the SFRR did not sign up because they thought they would owe more time after school. So I took the HPLR and the STRAP and I only owe 6 years afterwards because I took 60K during my three year program which counted as service. Theres pretty much no reason at all not to take the HPLR with your STRAP. Also another amazing benefit is Tricare. For a family its like 215/mo which is super cheap. We saved money every month just switching to that. Plus the insurance is WAY better. Tricare is easy to work with and they pay.
Once you get commissioned, make sure the recruiters get you a uniform and a CAC ID card. They are supposed to do this but they do not. I found this out when I went to SFRR that they were supposed to. I had to scramble at the last minute to get a uniform for the SFRR. Another thing is to hassle your recruiters once commissioned about sending your orders to APMC. I found out the recruiters were sitting on my orders for weeks before they sent them. This affects your HPLR which your anniversary date starts when you get attached to APMC not your commissioning date.
Once you get that situated APMC will send you a welcome packet which is a bunch of stuff that feels reapplying for the Army. Big thing to remember to complete are your 1380 forms every month. This affect a few things: retirement points, drill pay (yes you get paid every month on top of your stipend!), and eligibility for your HLPR. You need 50 points a year to qualify for a good year. You will fulfill this if you fill out your 1380s. If you have a good year then HPLR will pay out every year.
When you fill out your 1380 forms make sure to include anything you do related to school (classes, workshops, etc.). This is your 'drill' while in school. 1LT drill 490 a month. So if you do the math thats 2820/mo with your stipend. Recruiters failed to mention that beautiful benefit. They told me I would not get drill pay which is untrue.
Other things to do while in the STRAP is make sure all your health requirements are completed. This includes things like a dental exam, health physical, etc every year. This is something they will help you with. You schedule all your assessments through LHI.
Last thing is to go to a Soldier Focused Readiness Review (SFRR). This is an orientation to the APMC and they help you with your documents, answer questions, etc. It's very helpful and they pay you to go there. Id recommend signing up for the next available one after you get attached to APMC. Its four days long but two are travel days. So basically its two days long with one being a ppt presentation from all the departments and the other day is sitting down one on one with each department.
If you can stay on top of your 1380s and health assessments you should be good to go while in school. Theres also a height and weight form and STRAP enrollment form that you have to send in every 6 months.
Overall its a good deal. I basically get almost 2,820/mo (drill and stipend) with 60K towards my tuition. I figured it out its basically almost 162k in total benefits for only a six year commitment afterwards. I won't have any personal or school debt after school which most people cant say. You just have to deal with headaches of getting wrong information or no information. But hopefully this helps.
Thank you so much for this information, it is really helpful. A couple follow questions:
What does the service commitment after graduation look like? Are you employed full time at an Army base hospital? Do you know anything about the salary/conditions/quality of life?
How soon are you expected to begin after graduation (do they give you a decent amount of time to study for boards?)
What is the reserves time commitment while in school? Were you able to balance this with your clinical hours and study time?
If I am able to pay for the first year of my schooling, would it be beneficial to only apply for two years in this program or apply for three and use my existing savings to pay my loans from undergrad that I still have?
Thanks again for your help! Hope school is going well
This depends on what you signed up for... it seems like he will stay in the reserves... the other option is get stipend and the army paya for your tuition and serve active duty for 3yrs. If you are in the reserves then your one weekend a month depends on your training schedule... salary depends on your rank and time in service which you can look up online... they also provide bonus but I think you won't get any bonus until you fulfill your commitment... like 1 yr for every 6months you received stipends
Like he mentioned you fill out a 1380 form and write 2 days of class information or clinicals you did and submit it... It doesnt interfere with classes or clinicals bec those r what you write in anyways (think of it as getting paid while attending your class or clinical for 2days) attending SFRR will give you a lot more information or you can always call your training manager...
You can delay receiving your stipend if you want... which I did... remember it doesnt matter if 1 month or 6 months bec it will total to 1yr commitment... so I delayed my stipend for few months so I dont have to wait longer to start receiving my bonus... instead of 4yrs I dropped it to 3yrs commitment without receiving a specialty bonus which is CRNA and thats about 25K/yr
Do you apply for STRAP during CRNA school? Or near the end? I am going to hit up a recruiter If I get accepted but just wondering what the time line looks like, if anyone has some more info.
So, while you are in the Army reserves doing the CRNA program, you get the STRAP and the HPLR. In return you have to sign up for additional 3 to 6 years of service, depending on how much STRAP for HPLR you take. Now, are these additional 3 to 6 years service commitment ACTIVE DUTY YEARS or RESERVE YEARS?
I commissioned in late January of 2021 via STRAP. I still have not got any orders cut and have not been assigned to APMC yet. I have not received any stipend, benefits, drill pay, or anything. I contacted HRC and APMC and they both say I will be back-paid to the date of my contract. There is apparently documents pending and my recruiter says I am waiting on HSD to complete a workflow and my paperwork is stuck there. Any insight on how to speed this up or who to contact? I actually started CRNA school in May of 2019 and graduate in May of 2022. I know its late to accept STRAP but I originally tried HPSP via USAF in 2019 and was not selected. Then I went reserve route and was selected back in August of 2020. I'd like to actually get benefits now and not wait on a stipend and drill backpay months from now. My contract of repayment is much shorter where I accepted this midway through school.
Also if I do not get this completed is my HPLR not going to take effect?
You need to contact --------------------- or -------------------------.. they can tell you more about whats going on... ask them what you need to speed up the process... you will definitely get back paid.
You need to contact ----------------- or ------------------------.. they can tell you more about whats going on... ask them what you need to speed up the process... you will definitely get back paid.
Hello,
I did contact ------------------------ and was told that until my orders are cut there is nothing that she can do. I did reach back out to my recruiter and they have no answer on the delay and that I am still waiting on HSD to complete LVL 5 workflow and send to HRC. They say until my orders are published nothing can be done. So what what you recommend at this point??
Awesome info. I am currently AD Army Nurse working in the ICU. I have a year left on my active duty commitment and will be preparing to go to CRNA school after that commitment is completed. I am of course trying to get majority of school covered the best I can. I am pretty informed on the AD route for CRNA school, but the long repayment time kind of scares me away from that route. I have since been looking into the Reserves Strap Program, and it seems like the perfect scenario for me. Allows me the opportunity to still serve my country, but also allows me to choose where I want to go to school & live & gives me a little of that civilian freedom back. Is there any current Reserve CRNAs that have gone the STRAP program route that I could personally get in contact with. I have other questions and am looking for guidance and advice! Thanks in advance
Nono, the website will not let me initiate personal messages. Could you send me a message possibly with your email address so we can converse that route. If that works for you of course
samerline
24 Posts
I am assuming you want to join the Reserves rather than Active?
reserves you drill or show up 1 weekend a month and 2weeks/yr for training. Depends on your rank and time in service will determine pay for the weekend.
you can receive up to $60k bonus given 20k/yr for 3yrs (this is taxed) and also you get $25k bonus/yr. You do not receive both at the same time... either you get bonus for 3yrs first then loan payment next... or loan repayment x3 yrs first then bonus x3 yrs... and if you stay longer then you can continue receiving your bonus...
also I just found out recently that some professionals stay in the reserves after they have served their commitment for the Medical insurance... I actually didn't know that some people pay up to 2k monthly for medical bills esp if you have a family... if you join the reserves you only around $200... I've been in the military for almost 17 yrs (10yrs active and the rest reserves) thats why I'm not aware of the monthly cost in the civilian side
if you join active duty... I heard they pay up to 250k loans... and for the bonus not sure that you will need to call a recruiter...