General Information for Midshipmen
The Navy pays for the tuition, room and board, 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 $929.40 monthly, from which laundry, barber, cobbler, activities fees, yearbook and other service charges are deducted. Actual cash pay is $100 per month your first year, which increases each year therafter.
Leave and Privileges
The Naval Academy’s combined academic, military and physical development programs demand a lot of effort, requiring you to spend more time on campus than the typical civilian college student. But midshipmen enjoy Christmas and summer vacations (leave) plus shorter periods of time off (liberty). Free time to be away from the Academy is based in large part on assigned military responsibilities, performance in academic and military endeavors and class seniority. All midshipmen generally are granted leave during these periods:
- Thanksgiving leave
- End-of-semester leave
- Mid-term leave during spring semester
- A short liberty period at the end of spring semester and before Commissioning Week
- Three weeks of summer vacation
During semesters of the academic year, off-campus privileges fall into two categories: town liberty and weekend liberty. Weekend liberty permits you to take an overnight away from the Academy during the weekend, returning before the Sunday evening meal. You are not eligible for weekend liberty if you are assigned a military duty/watch (rotated responsibilities) or if you are having serious difficulty in academics, conduct or military performance. Town liberty curfews differ according to seniority. Generally, town and weekend liberty is authorized for midshipmen as follows:
- Plebes have town liberty on Saturdays (noon to midnight) and yard liberty within the Naval Academy complex on Sundays.
- Town liberty is granted for upperclass midshipmen in accordance with class weekends.
- A limited number of overnight weekends are granted to upperclass midshipmen based upon class.
Motor Vehicles
Restrictions apply to your use of motor vehicles as a midshipman. This is necessary because parking space is very limited at the Academy and in Annapolis. Also, you have limited time off in the first years to make use of a private vehicle. These are the current rules:
- Third-class midshipmen and plebes are not permitted to operate motor vehicles except when authorized leave, such as during Christmas vacation.
- Second-class midshipmen may have a car but must maintain and operate it beyond Academy grounds.
- First-class midshipmen may drive a car in Annapolis and on the Naval Academy.
- No midshipman is allowed to maintain or operate a motorcycle.
Alcohol and Drugs
As a future naval officer, you are expected to not abuse alcohol and to shun illegal drugs entirely. Plebes, regardless of age, are not allowed to consume alcoholic beverages. As an upperclass midshipman, you may drink if you are the minimum legal age for drinking (21 in Maryland). If you choose to drink alcohol, the Naval Academy will provide social occasions where responsible use of alcohol is permitted, such as at an official reception. The use of illegal drugs is strictly forbidden and results in expulsion from the Academy. As a midshipman, you are subject to random drug testing through urinalysis, consistent with Navy-wide policies and procedures.
Services
Almost everything you need as a midshipman is available on the Academy grounds. There’s a bookstore, uniform and tailor shop, cobbler shop, snack bar, barber/beauty shop, post office and recreation rooms. We also provide the following services:
Dining
The entire brigade eats at one time in a 55,000-square-foot dining area or wardroom, King Hall. Companies sit together, and food is served family style during the week. Other meals are served buffet style. King Hall offers a wide variety of healthy choices to ensure midshipmen have the proper sustenance for their high metabolisms. All of the food for the 12,000 meals served daily is prepared by our food service staff in the kitchens adjacent to King Hall.
Medical Care
Modern facilities for medical treatment are conveniently located at the Naval Academy. Besides routine medical treatment, orthopedics/sports medicine, podiatry, physical therapy, preventive medicine and optometry services are available. Specialists in gynecology, dermatology, neurology, cardiology and urology schedule visits to the Academy. Consultation and treatment including inpatient care, in all major medical and surgical specialties are available at several military treatment facilities, such as Bethesda and Walter Reed Medical Hospitals. Most emergency conditions are handled at nearby Anne Arundel Medical Center, a fully accredited civilian facility in Annapolis.
Dental Care
Comprehensive oral health care is provided by the Dental Clinic conveniently located in Bancroft Hall. The professional staff provides the full range of dental hygiene and general dentistry treatment. The specialties of Oral Surgery, Orthodontics (limited), Endodontics, Periodontics and Prosthodontics are also available. Emergency dental treatment if required is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by an on-call USNA Dental Clinic Dentist.
Midshipmen Development Center
A wide variety of training, educational and clinical services are provided to promote and enhance the adjustment, well-being, and professional development of midshipmen, including confidential individual and group counseling.
Legal assistance
The Office of Legal Counsel is available to assist midshipmen with personal and military legal questions.
Financial advice
Regular seminars offer information on savings, loans, insurance programs, investment opportunities and tax returns. Individual financial counseling is available from a Navy Supply Corps officer who serves as midshipmen financial advisor.
