College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (Scholarship Program)

Imagine having your college junior and senior years fully funded. Now imagine getting a salary while you complete your college degree.

That’s what the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) scholarship program offers college sophomores and juniors. Better yet, this scholarship provides students with valuable leadership, management, law enforcement, navigation and marine science skills and training. It also provides full payment of school tuition, fees, textbooks, salary, medical insurance, and other benefits during a student’s junior and senior year of college. The CSPI program’s goal is to train future officers for success and prepare them for the rigors of Officer Candidate School (OCS).

Each student is expected to complete his/her degree and all Coast Guard training requirements within 24 months after acceptance into the program. This includes attending Basic Training following selection, performing Coast Guard duties and responsibilities while completing college and adhering to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Coast Guard Core Values and physical standards. Upon graduation from college, students attend Officer Candidate School (OCS) training. Following successful completion of OCS, the students will be commissioned as Coast Guard officers, committed to 3 years of active duty service.

Furthermore, applicants who have received a selection to the CSPI program and are active participants have the unique opportunity to apply for the Wilk’s Flight Initiative (WiFI). If selected for WiFI, you are guaranteed the opportunity to attend Flight Training following OCS to become a Coast Guard pilot. Please visit the WiFI program information page for details and application eligibility requirements.

Benefits:

• May pay up to two academic years of college tuition
• Required textbook costs
• Required fees paid for up to two academic years
• Monthly salary of approximately $2,200
• Medical and Life Insurance
• 30 days paid vacation per year
• Leadership training

Application Requirements:

• SAT Reasoning Test: Combined 1100 on Mathematics and Critical Reading.
• SAT (taken prior to 2004): Combined 1100 on Mathematics and Verbal.
• ACT: Composite score of 23 or greater.
• ASTB: 4 AQR/5PFAR.
• ASVAB: GT score of 109 or higher (110 prior to 1 Jul 04.) GT consists of combining the VE and AR scores.
• Be between 19 and 27 (applicants must have reached their 19th birthday, but not their 28th birthday as of 30 September of the fiscal year in which the panel convenes.)
• Must be a sophomore or junior undergraduate student enrolled or accepted for enrollment in a bachelor degree program at an accredited college or university designated as:

1. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) click here for accredited universities
2. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) click here for accredited universities
3. Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) click here for accredited universities
4. The following colleges and universities located in Guam, Hawaii and New Mexico:
   (a) University of Guam
   (b) University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hilo, and West Oahu
   (c) Argosy University – Hawaii
   (d) Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture

• Meet all physical requirements for a Coast Guard commission.
• Maintain a GPA of 2.5 or better on a 4.0 scale.
• Must be a U.S. citizen.
• May not have more than six years of non Coast Guard active military service, or more than four years of Coast Guard service.
• Receive a favorable recommendation from an Officer Interview Board (coordinated by your recruiter).
• Must pass a commissioning physical exam.
• Must meet character standards and be eligible for a security clearance.
• Must meet financial standards.
• Must meet dependency standards (Single parents with sole custody or primary custody are ineligible).

Your college or university not eligible for CSPI? You may be eligible for some of the Coast Guard’s other commissioning programs, including Officer Candidate School. Talk to your recruiter or check out all of the Officer Programs.