Students may want to pay more attention to those military recruiters pacing the Concourse.
As the armed forces continue to tighten recruiting standards, more college graduates are being sought out to join the military.
"We need intelligent people," said Jason Long, recruiter for the National Guard. "The days of people joining the military to get out of trouble or because they had no other option ... are over. We need more educated people and a higher quality soldier. College graduates are exactly what we're looking for."
Students may be intimidated by the prospect of pursuing a military career after focusing on other professional goals, but Long said it might be an ideal option for those with overwhelming student loans.
Once a student joins the military, it's possible to have $50,000 worth of loans repaid by the government, and most college graduates who do well on the military's aptitude test, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, can be commissioned as officers.
Long said many students don't take this path, however.
"If a student hasn't come into the ROTC program already, it's a little harder to get a college student to come into the military," Long said. "It's unfortunate because that's really what we're looking for. We're looking for educated people, and right now there's a shortage of officers in Alabama's National Guard."
Ron Burgess, assistant admissions officer for ROTC, said only about 3 percent of Auburn's student population is enrolled in ROTC.
"You're not joining the military when you do ROTC," Burgess said. "It's a path to becoming an officer. You complete the requirements to commission as an officer while you complete the requirements for your degree. That's much different from enlisting or joining."
A.J. Wilkins, junior in computer engineering, isn't in ROTC, but has decided to enlist in the Air Force.
"It was something I'd been debating since about the 11th grade or so," Wilkins said. "It's not a decision you can make on a whim. It can affect your present, it can affect your future. They can call you any time to take you away from college. It just depends."
Wilkins is a member of the reserves and has not yet received a call to action, but he's become a kind of "weekend warrior," training and working for the military on set weekends each month.
"One of the main reasons I did it was that I'd really been wanting to serve my country for a while, and I couldn't put it off any longer," Wilkins said. "I had that desire in my heart and my head to do it."
Burgess said the military is a good option for students, but they must make sure they are dedicated to fulfilling their duties before joining.
"Many have a misconception about what it means to serve and what you're going to do and where you're going to go when you're serving in the military," Burgess said. "There's also many who would like to do it who, when they register for ROTC, don't want to do what it takes to be an officer. There are also those who wish to serve their country in a different way."
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