COMDTINST 5354.6A
MAR 25 1997
b.
The Coast Guard Academy is a Federal military college where students earn both a four-
year Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as an officer in the United States Coast
Guard. The program's curriculum is based primarily in the sciences, engineering,
government and management. Moreover, the Academy provides rigorous military
structure along with a focus on professional and character development to graduate junior
officers prepared to serve and lead in the world's premier maritime service. Its graduates
enjoy increasingly challenging and rewarding careers in a successful, multi-mission
organization which combines a sea-going military structure with regulatory duties at sea
and ashore. The Coast Guard's major mission areas include search and rescue, enforcing
laws and treaties, marine environmental protection, marine safety, aids to navigation, ice
operations, and defense readiness.
c.
The Commandant of the Coast Guard's Direction is to change the composition of the Coast
Guard workforce to better reflect the U.S. population. Furthermore, our Workforce 2015
goals are to have the Coast Guard's officer and enlisted population reflect the diversity of
America in terms of ethnic and gender composition. Because of the nature of our assigned
missions, members of the Coast Guard workforce interact with the general public on a
daily basis. As part of the Commandant's goal to place diversity within the Coast Guard at
center stage, the Coast Guard Recruiting Initiative for the Twenty-First Century is
designed to increase the number of minority applicants to the Academy.
5.
DISCUSSION.
a.
CGRIT's major focus is to increase the pool of qualified applicants seeking appointments
to the Coast Guard Academy by providing one year of funding to students for their
collegiate education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and
minority institutions (MIs) enrolled in the program.
(1) The training program includes full tuition, textbooks, some routine fees, monthly pay
at the E-2 rate, and standard allowances which enable the student to pay for on-
campus room and board. The initial training phase is a one-week orientation at the
Coast Guard Academy. Students accepted for the CGRIT program must apply to the
Academy and accept an appointment, if offered.
(2) CGRIT cadet candidates who receive appointments to the Academy undertake the full
four-year educational and professional development experience in step with their new
classmates. Because of this important unifying philosophy, articulation agreements,
for example, do not exist between any college or junior college and the Academy.
Entering Academy cadets may validate one or more courses by taking Academy
placement examinations or an advance placement examination approved by an
Academy Department Head or presenting a transcript showing the student earned a C
or better in an equivalent Academy course from an accredited college. Placement
examinations are given only in critical prerequisite courses: Calculus, Chemistry, and
English. The intent is to promote success by ensuring the cadet is properly situated in
2
Previous Page
