The Navy pays for the tuition, room and board, and medical and dental care of Naval Academy midshipmen. You also enjoy regular active-duty benefits including access to military commissaries and exchanges, commercial transportation and lodging discounts and the ability to fly space-available in military aircraft around the world. Midshipmen pay is $764 monthly, from which laundry, barber, cobbler, activities fees, yearbook and other service charges are deducted. Actual cash pay is $75 to $100 per month your first year, increasing each year to $400 per month in your fourth year.
When the upperclassmen return to the academy in late August to begin the academic year, you begin a routine that becomes very familiar during your four years. A typical weekday schedule looks something like this:
- 5:30 a.m. Arise for personal fitness workout (optional)
- 6:30 a.m Reveille (all hands out of bed)
- 6:30-7:00 a.m Special instruction period for plebes
- 7:00 a.m. Morning meal formation
- 7:10 a.m. Breakfast
- 7:55-11:45 a.m Four class periods, one hour each
- 12:05 p.m. Noon meal formation
- 12:15 p.m. Noon meal for all midshipmen
- 12:40-1:20 p.m. Company training time
- 1:30-3:30 p.m Fifth and sixth class periods
- 3:30-6:00 p.m. Varsity and intramural athletics, extracurricular and personal activities; drill and parades twice weekly in the fall and spring
- 5:00-7:00 p.m. Supper
- 7:30-11 p.m. Study period for all midshipmen
- 11:00 p.m. Lights out for plebes
- Midnight Taps for upperclass
When you add to this schedule the time required for military duties, inspection preparation and extra academic instruction, you can see the demands on your time are considerable.