Considering ROTC and National Guard or other branches.

I'm a freshman at a UW school right now. I'm having a bit of financial trouble, a lot of stress from school, finances, and the future. I never really got a chance to look into the military as an option, was just ushered into college. I'm really unsure of what I want to do with my life. The military sounds good to me though. I've looked into our ROTC program, along with a National Guard SMP. I guess I just want to know more, get some advice from guys that might have done the same or similar.

Not sure if it helps, but here's some other stuff. Freshman. ESS major, Pre-PT. My grades are ok. Sitting at about 3.0 GPA. That's not nearly good enough to make it for PT so I'm exploring other options. As for money, I have none. I will probably be taking out loans for everything the rest of my college career, along with working my ass off in hopes of paying for rent. Physically, I'm a distance guy. Ran cross and track in high school. Tried out at college, didn't make it, gonna try out again. Just might make it, probably not. Getting into heavy bag work. Love firearms, shooting, hunting, and anything related to that stuff.

I've talked to an ROTC recruiter here, and he said because I missed the first year classes, I would need to take a summer CIET course to make up for it. I was also wondering, would it be worth it to possibly just join National Guard and not ROTC? Meeting with a NG Liason tomorrow, so will learn a little more.