Navy ROTC Comes Back to Princeton University After 40 Years

Princeton Navy ROTC — The Navy ROTC program will begin this fall at Princeton University. (CREDIT: Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

For the first time since the Vietnam era, the U.S. Navy will bring its ROTC program back to Princeton University.

The news of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program’s return to Princeton came on Tuesday when U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus made the announcement at a ceremony on Princeton’s campus. According to NJ.com, starting in the fall, Princeton will partner with Rutgers University to offer the program.

“For too long we did not have a naval presence at some of our nation’s great universities,” Mabus told NJ.com. “So many of our nation’s leaders come out of universities like this … that’s why this agreement here today is so meaningful.”

Princeton students will be eligible for four-year NROTC scholarships and have an opportunity to earn Navy or Marine Corps commission after graduation. They will be trained by active duty Navy and Marine Corps instructors on the Rutgers and Princeton campuses.

The Navy ROTC program is offered at more than 100 college campuses across the country. The purpose of the program is “to educate and train qualified young men and women for service as commissioned officers in the Navy’s unrestricted line, the Navy Nurse Corps and the Marine Corps.”