Students at these academies are organized as cadets, and graduate with appropriate licenses from the U.S. Coast Guard and/or the U.S. Merchant Marine. While not immediately offered a commission as an officer within a service, cadets do have the opportunity to participate in commissioning programs like the Strategic Sealift Officer Force (Navy) and Maritime Academy Graduate (Coast Guard).
Four institutions are considered military junior colleges. These four schools participate in the Army's two-year Early Commissioning Program (ECP), an Army ROTC program in which qualified students can earn a commission as a Second Lieutenant after only two years of college. The four Military Junior Colleges are:
