Can I decline being promoted to Corporal?

Completely agree if you are in it for the money you don't belong being a supervisor over anybody!

Who better to know than you! It's not about the money. Thanks my brother, you have shown good leadership and you are a great ranger.

I wasn't offered that at all!

Take this opportunity!

I'll not bash you but I will give you a little bit of advice.
Throughout your life you will find yourself in a position to where you'll have to provide a service that's not necessarily your responsibility.

That's life son, man up and get all the knowledge you can as corporal and when the time comes for Sgt. You'll excel at that rank.
I can almost Guarantee that you'll be the 1st on the promotion list just because of your knowledge and work ethics..

Having been laterally promoted to Corporal is not a bad thing. You should not be looking at this merely for the extra pay as this means that you are actually above your peers.

Personally if someone that was under my leadership was being recommended for this lateral it was because the leadership that he or she served under felt that it was the right thing to do considering several things such as awaiting schools for Professional Development.

In addition, by having this lateral promotion will afford you the opportunity to be in leadership roles, receive evaluations that are based on your leadership potential .
You should never turn down any promotion at any rank as if the system is working correctly you should only be promoted when you meet all the requirements and also have the merit to have that next rank.
.The only exception might be if you are the point that you are ready to ETS or retire and do not want to take that promotion and commit the required time as you would be only hurting another person s opportunity that might of been willing to put in that effort.

I am going to play devil's advocate. Many people are saying this is what an NCO does, you should take the leadership role without the pay...yada..yada...yada. How about the fact it is no more than a cost savings factor for the Army. If the Army says you can't be a Sergeant until you have graduated BLC, how can that same Army put you in a leadership position without the proper training to hold such a position? One could look at this as a way, taking care of the Army's needs without regard to troop welfare. How about reversing the role? By giving the troop the pay and benefits for the rank Sergeant while wearing CPL stripes and upon graduation of BLC he/she then pins Sergeant.

You will likely be the only NCO at BLC. I was promoted to Corporal 2 weeks before I attended PNCOC. I was the only hard stripe E-4, there, out of 60 soldiers, and was made an example of, every day. So, get your feces together, and understand the pressure is going to be on you.

You don't really want to decline. You may never get another chance.
The school cadre will be focusing/testing your leadership skills.
That falls in with "Lead by example". It will be tough getting used to having a little authority.
even though it doesn't matter much in school where everyone is treated equally.
Stand tall ! Learn from your mistakes. Don't let the authority go to your head.

Airborne Rangers !
Go get it !!!

If you are more worried about the $ than doing the best you can as a soldier, perhaps you should consider another line of work. It's not about a pay scale. No one should volunteer to serve in hopes of getting rich.

Is this question about you or someone else? Your icon lists SGT which last I knew was a higher rank than CPL, yet in your question, you list yourself as a SPC.

Are you a SPC that just passed your board to CPL or are you a SGT?