The Associated Press is reporting that West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy are all seeing a rise in applications for the incoming class of 2013. Why? Casualties are down in Iraq and the military is marketing more aggressively than ever before. In these troubled economic times, it also helps that tuition is free for students!

In a year that is marked by shrinking paychecks and an increasing number of layoffs, military academies are quickly becoming an attractive option for college students. The Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD experienced the most growth in applications. The Academy received 15,342 applications, which is an increase of 40% from the class of 2012. This was the highest number of applications that the Academy received since 1998! Applications to West Point and the Air Force Academy also increased by about 10% each from last year.

The recession has been good to the military academies. The Army, in particular, has struggled to make quotas in recent years. Not only is tuition free for students at the military academies, but they also receive free room and board AND thousands of dollars in stipend money from the US government!

While the economy is certainly a factor in the increase in applications, officials at the academies say that this isn’t the only reason why students are applying. Prospective students exhibit a high desire to serve their country, have an interest in working for the military as a career, or have parents that also attended a military academy.

The intense marketing campaigns certainly don’t hurt either! For the first time, the military academies have bought billboard space at airports in Los Angeles, Dallas-Forth Worth, Atlanta, and Washington, DC. The Naval Academy has also begun to actively recruit in urban areas like New York City. Not only have these efforts resulted in an increase in applications, but minority applications have also gone up!

This trend in an increase of military application follows the rise of applications at public colleges, where the tuition is often significantly cheaper than their private counterparts.