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Education.  More Selected Reserve NPS recruits completed high school than was the case for their civilian peers, as indicated in Table 5.6.  Approximately 98 percent of FY 1997 Selected Reserve NPS accessions were in Tiers 1 (high school graduates) and 2 (alternative credentials), compared to 79 percent of 18- to 24-year-old civilians. Differences between Reserve Components in FY 1997 high school graduate NPS recruits were generally small.  In the Army National Guard, with approximately half of its recruits without military experience, 83 percent of NPS enlistees were high school diploma graduates.  In comparison, the Air Force Reserve, with relatively few NPS recruits (as shown in Table 5.1), accessed 98 percent NPS high school graduates.  The percentage in Tier 1 for all Components except the Air Force Reserve decreased from FY 1996 to 1997, with decreases ranging from less than 1 percentage point to 7 percentage points.  The Army National Guard had the highest proportion of Tier 2 accessions (17 percent), which is a large increase from the 9 percent of FY 1996.  At the same time, the Army National Guard experienced a significant decrease in Tier 3 accessions from 1.2 percent in FY 1996 to 0.1 percent in FY 1997.

Table 5.6.  FY 1997 Selected Reserve Non-Prior Service Enlisted Accessions, by Education Tier and Component, and Civilians 18-24 Years Old (Percent)
Education Tier	Army National Guard*	Army Reserve*	Naval Reserve*	Marine Corps Reserve	Air National Guard	Air Force Reserve	Total DoD	18-24 Year-Old Civilians* *
Tier 1: Regular High School Graduate or Higher***	82.7	93.6	95.1	97.0	92.8	98.4	91.1	78.8
Tier 2:  GED, Alternative Credentials	17.2	3.8	4.0	2.8	6.4	1.7	7.2
Tier 3:  No Credentials	0.1	2.6	0.9	0.2	0.8	0.0	1.7	21.3
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
College Experience (Part of Tier 1)1	2.5	4.3	31.7	3.6	5.5	5.8	5.1	45.5
Columns may not add to total due to rounding. * Service provided data from Recruiting Commands.  Data presented in this table may differ slightly from the data shown  in appendix tables which are taken from DMDC's RCCPDS file.  ** Civilian percentages combine Tiers 1 and 2.  ***Tier 1 includes members still in high school. 1 These military data represent only Selected Reserve NPS enlisted accessions.  Officers, who usually have college degrees, are not included.  See Chapter 6 for a discussion of Reserve officers. Also see Appendix Tables C-7 (Education by Component and Gender) and C-8 (Education by Component and Race/Ethnicity). Source:  Civilian data from Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey File, October 1996-September 1997.

College experience refers to individuals who have completed at least one semester in junior college or a 4-year institution.  The USNR had, by far, the highest proportion of accessions with college experience (32 percent).  Most enlisted occupations are generally comparable to civilian jobs not requiring college education.

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