Four kinds of school get called military colleges, and they are not alternatives to one another. They differ on who can get in, what you owe at the end, and whether the GI Bill is any use to you.
The short version. The federal service academies are free and they commission you, but they take applicants aged 17 to 23, so if you have already served you are likely past the cut. The senior military colleges, the military junior colleges and the maritime academies are ordinary colleges you pay for and your benefits work at all of them.
We do not rank these schools and we take nothing from any of them. What follows is what each one is.
The six senior military colleges
Set in federal law, these are full universities with a corps of cadets attached. At most of them the corps is optional, so a veteran can enroll, use the GI Bill, and never put on a uniform again. For those who do join and want to commission, a senior military college graduate who is qualified and recommended by the Professor of Military Science is guaranteed an active-duty assignment — which is not true of ROTC generally.
Norwich University — Northfield, Vermont
Private, and the oldest private military college in the country. The corps lives alongside a civilian student body, so both routes exist on one campus.
Texas A&M University — College Station, Texas
The Corps of Cadets runs to roughly 2,500 inside a university of about 65,000. Easily the largest school on this list, and the corps is a small fraction of it.
The Citadel — Charleston, South Carolina
The Military College of South Carolina, public, with around 2,250 cadets. Corps members are required to enroll in ROTC, though only about a third commission. The evening and online programs are separate from the corps and are where most veterans enroll.
University of North Georgia — Dahlonega, Georgia
The Military College of Georgia. The first of the six to admit women to its corps, and students are no longer required to join the military program at all.
Virginia Military Institute — Lexington, Virginia
The oldest state military college, and the only one of the six that enrolls cadets and nothing else. There is no civilian student body to enroll into, which makes it the wrong fit for most veterans and the right one for a few.
Virginia Tech — Blacksburg, Virginia
The Corps of Cadets runs two tracks, one for students heading to a commission and one for those who want the structure without the service. Corps membership has been voluntary since 1964.
The four military junior colleges
Two-year schools running the Army’s Early Commissioning Program, which is the one thing that makes them different: you can be commissioned as an Army second lieutenant in two years rather than four, then finish the bachelor’s degree afterward as an officer.
- Georgia Military College — Milledgeville, Georgia
- Marion Military Institute — Marion, Alabama
- New Mexico Military Institute — Roswell, New Mexico
- Valley Forge Military College — Wayne, Pennsylvania
For a veteran these are worth a look for a different reason: two-year tuition is well inside what the GI Bill covers at a public school, and the credit transfers.
The maritime academies
These train licensed merchant marine officers. You graduate with a Coast Guard license as well as a degree, and the work is civilian — commercial shipping, tugs, offshore, port operations — though many graduates also hold a reserve commission. There is no service obligation unless you take one on.
- Cal Poly Maritime Academy — Vallejo, California
- Great Lakes Maritime Academy — Traverse City, Michigan, part of Northwestern Michigan College
- Maine Maritime Academy — Castine, Maine
- Massachusetts Maritime Academy — Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
- SUNY Maritime College — Fort Schuyler, New York
- Texas A&M Maritime Academy — Galveston, Texas, part of Texas A&M University at Galveston
These are state schools, so the resident rate applies and the GI Bill covers it. A veteran with sea time or an engineering rating is starting part of the way along.
The five federal service academies
Tuition, room and board are paid in full and cadets and midshipmen draw a small salary. Nothing is owed in money. What is owed is service: graduates who accept a commission take on an obligation of about eight years, at least five of them on active duty.
The age limit is the thing to check first. Applicants must be between 17 and 23 to enter, and the Coast Guard Academy sets its own line at 17 to 22. Most people who have already served are past it, which is why the rest of this site is about the GI Bill.
All but one require a nomination, usually from a member of Congress. The Coast Guard Academy is the exception and admits purely on its own competition.
- United States Military Academy — West Point, New York. Commissions into the Army.
- United States Naval Academy — Annapolis, Maryland. Navy and Marine Corps.
- United States Air Force Academy — Colorado Springs, Colorado. Air Force and Space Force.
- United States Coast Guard Academy — New London, Connecticut. No nomination required.
- United States Merchant Marine Academy — Kings Point, New York. Graduates owe a service commitment that can be met in the merchant marine, the armed forces or the maritime industry.
If you are already enlisted
Each military department runs a ten-month preparatory school, and those were set up in part to get enlisted service members academically ready for an academy. You do not apply to the prep school directly — candidates are selected out of the academy applicant pool. If you are young enough and serving now, that is the route worth asking your chain of command about.
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