Chapter 6 Characteristics of Officer Accessions and Officer Corps -- Education

Education

The Reserve Component also tends to vary in the educational attainment levels of its officer accessions (Table 6.6). Overall in FY 2000, 86 percent of Reserve officer accessions were at least college graduates (bachelor and/or advanced degrees). The USMCR had the highest proportion of officer accessions with at least a college degree (over 99 percent). In the other components, the percentage of officer accessions with degrees ranged from 77 percent in the ANG to just under 99 percent in the Naval Reserve.

Table 6.6. FY 2000 Educational Attainment of Selected Reserve Officer Accessions and Officer Corps (Percent)
Educational Attainment*	Army National Guard	Army Reserve	Naval Reserve	USMC Reserve	Air National Guard	Air Force Reserve	DoD Total
SELECTED RESERVE OFFICER ACCESSIONS
Less than College Graduate	17.5	18.7	1.4	0.7	23.3	4.1	13.7
College Graduate (B.A., B.S., etc.)	70.4	61.6	58.9	78.0	51.4	56.1	62.5
Advanced Degree (M.A., Ph.D., etc.)	12.1	19.8	39.7	21.3	25.4	39.9	23.9
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
SELECTED RESERVE OFFICER CORPS
Less than College Graduate	14.6	21.4	1.5	0.9	5.0	2.5	11.8
College Graduate (B.A., B.S., etc.)	64.0	57.1	54.3	68.9	65.8	48.7	58.6
Advanced Degree (M.A., Ph.D., etc.)	21.4	21.6	44.2	30.2	29.2	48.8	29.6
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Columns may not add to total due to rounding. * Excludes unknowns. Also see Appendix Table C-28 (Education by Component).

Overall in the Reserve Component, the proportion of officers with at least an undergraduate degree is higher than that of its officer accessions, though the difference is slight. This difference is most evident, however, in the ANG where 75 percent of the accessions and 95 percent of the officer corps have a college degree.

Several factors help explain why more officers have college degrees than do officer accessions. A number of Selected Reserve accessions have college credits but have not yet earned a degree when they join the Selected Reserve. Because of Service emphasis on an educated officer corps, many individuals join to take advantage of educational opportunities and education financing (e.g., the Montgomery G.I. Bill), and many non-degreed officers complete their college education while serving in the Selected Reserve.

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