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United States invites democratic countries in Latin America and the
Caribbean to nominate students to compete for entrance into U.S. military
academies (the Army's U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY; the
U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD; and the U.S. Air Force Academy
at Colorado Springs, CO). The students are selected according to "the
same criteria applied to U.S. students."1
Foreign
cadets' tuition is waived for countries designated as "low
income" or "middle income" in the World Bank's annual
World Development Indicators report. All Latin American
and Caribbean countries qualify by this measure, as per capita income
in each is below the $8,626 threshold necessary to be considered
a "high income" country.
The
cost of educating students from these countries is paid by the armed
services' operation and maintenance accounts. The annual attendance
cost at the academies is $69,147 per student.2
Students
from Latin America and the Philippines have been attending the service
academies at no charge since before World War II. In 1983, the law
was changed to give the program worldwide reach, authorizing a maximum
of 40 foreign students per academy. As of 1997, 115 foreign students
were in attendance at the three academies.3
In
1997, the following countries from Latin America and the Caribbean
had students at U.S. service academies4:
- Barbados
- Colombia
- Costa
Rica
- Ecuador
- El
Salvador
- Guatemala
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- Guyana
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Peru
- Trinidad
and Tobago
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Three
similar sections in Title 10, U.S. Code -- one each for the Army (section
4346), Navy (section 6957) and Air Force (section 9344) -- govern
the practice of funding foreign students at U.S. service academies.
All
three sections limit the number of foreign students to 40 per academy.
Foreign
students, of course, are not required to serve in the U.S. military
after graduation.
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