I think it would be a normal thing for an advocate for West Point to explain going there as a scholarship. It’s language a kid would understand. I’m betting they still do the same.
They actually use that terminology for ROTC. It is not a ‘scholarship’ as if from the university. It is money from the military via ROTC that pays for tuition, board, and supplies for a specified period.
But it isn’t the university doing so. It’s just convenient language.
And the extremely bright future surgeon was too dumb to know how things worked. Lol