§2131 College Student Pre-commissioning Initiative

Summary

Creates a Coast Guard program that lets eligible undergraduate students enlist and be guaranteed a commission as an officer. To apply, a student must be 19–27 years old as of September 30 of the fiscal year the selection panel meets, be a U.S. citizen, have outstanding moral character, be able to get a secret security clearance, have no more than two dependents (and a single student cannot have sole or primary custody), meet medical and administrative rules the Commandant sets, and meet credit and GPA rules the Commandant sets. Current Coast Guard members must also have no court-martial, nonjudicial punishment, or major performance or character issues in the 36 months before the first Officer Candidate School (OCS) class in the selection cycle. The student must be a sophomore or junior at an eligible college—either an HBCU, another specified minority-serving school, or a school that has had at least 50 percent of its full-time undergraduates from certain minority groups for three years—and the school must be within 100 miles of a Coast Guard unit or recruiting office unless the Commandant approves otherwise. People picked for the program enlist as E-3 and must serve 4 years on active duty plus 4 years in the inactive Reserve. While in the program they must do monthly military activities the Commandant requires before OCS. Each graduate must attend the first OCS class that starts after they graduate. After finishing OCS, they leave enlisted status and are commissioned as an O-1 with a 3-year active duty obligation. By August 15 each year, the Commandant must brief the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about outreach, recruiting, and the enrollees’ race, ethnicity, gender, geographic origin, and school.