Campus Progress interviews Sara Isaacson, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who attended the school on an ROTC scholarship.  Now that her commander knows she’s a lesbian, the U.S. Army wants its $80,000 in scholarship money paid back.  Said Isaacson:

My paperwork is still in the process of being completely finalized, however the recommendation from my battalion is that I repay the Army the $79, 265.14 that I received in scholarship money over my seven semesters as an out-of-state student at UNC. I don’t know yet what the terms of that repayment will be.

I really don’t know how I’m going to make it happen. I don’t have $80,000 in my back pocket to just give to the Army. I had initially received financial aid from UNC when I came here but when the Army ROTC was able to go through because I did finally get medically qualified, I lost all of that financial aid that I’d had originally.

Campus Progress:  If Congress were to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” would you go back to the military?

It’s something that I would certainly consider. It would depend on when it gets repealed and the exact way the legislation is worded, but the military is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I decided when I was 13 years old that I wanted a career in the military and that’s something that doesn’t just go away overnight. I think if I were given the opportunity to serve again—and to serve openly—I would certainly look into that very, very seriously.