Educational Opportunities Remain a Major Draw for New Military Recruits

In an ongoing survey, Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) asks a key question: What made you want to serve?

The over 8,000 respondents were active-duty, reservists, part of the National Guard, or veterans. Fifty-three percent, the largest majority, said the reason they joined the armed services was the educational benefits.

Disaggregating that data shows that 62% of women, 62% of African Americans, 61% of Latinx and 71% of Asian American/Pacific Islanders listed educational benefits as their number one reason to enlist.

Dr. Corri Zoli is the director of research at Syracuse’s Institute for Security Policy and Law. She also co-leads research with the IVMF. Zoli says that educational benefits making the number one motivator spot is “consistent with tons of social science and research that shows motivation to serve is very much bound up in the promise of educational benefits.” Recruiters, she says, know this, and often use educational benefits “as a carrot.”

Daniel Opreza joined the Navy in 2011. He says that 90% of his decision to join was based on education. The other 10% was But U.S. Army recruitment numbers have been dwindling slowly over the last few years, recently amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Army had to shutter roughly 1,400 recruiting stations during 2020. In July, the Biden Administration announced its plan to make a community college education free and accessible for all. While the impact of this new opportunity on military recruitment is “difficult to predict,” Zoli says she doesn’t think it’s likely free community college will send recruits running for the doors.

The reason for this, says Zoli, is the combined power of other motivators that are unique to the armed forces. In the IVMF study, two other motivations for enlistment came in at a close second and third place: desire to serve one’s country and a longing for adventure, travel, and new experiences.

“Those who chose to be recruited and join,” says Zoli, “they’re folks who [have] an adventuresome spirit.”