Military Academies Are Suddenly Much More Popular Among Applicants

Applications to three U.S. military-service academies rose sharply this year in response to increased recruiting and the allure of free college tuition in a recession, the Associated Press reports.

The U.S. Naval Academy saw a 40-percent increase in the number of applications compared with last year, receiving 15,300 applications — the most since 1988 — for about 1,230 positions.

Interest in the U.S. Military Academy, too, grew considerably, with a 9-percent increase in applications, to 11,106. At the U.S. Air Force Academy, applications reached a five-year high, 9,890, which is 10 percent more than last year.

Academy officials credited the rise in interest to expanded outreach programs aimed at increasing diversity, as well as to students’ worries over paying for college. —Ashley C. Killough