Air Power

Provides Students Greater Access to College with Reduced Tuition Rates at Participating Schools

List of WUE Schools to Attend College in the West for Less: https://www.wiche.edu/tuition-savings/wue/wue-list-of-schools/

Out‑of‑state tuition at public universities is often 200% to 300% higher than in‑state tuition

     • WUE caps out‑of‑state tuition at no more than 150% of the in‑state rate, which reduces costs dramatically

     • The national average is around 250% of in‑state tuition.

     • Many states have out‑of‑state tuition that is 200%–300% of in‑state.

     • Some are even 350%+ (California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, etc.).

     • WUE caps tuition at 150% of in‑state - and many schools charge less.

WUE is the largest undergraduate tuition‑reciprocity program of the western United States

     • Over 45,000 students participate each year, saving over $400 million annually

     • Students from Hawaiʻi and 15 other western states can enroll at 170+ public colleges

     • 35–45% of colleges charge BELOW the 150% cap

     • Hawaiʻi is one of the highest‑usage states per capita (1,500–2,000 students per year)

     • NSA pays your full tuition for your last 2 years of college

     • You get a salary while in school and work full‑time two summers at NSA while in college (40 hours per week - Monday–Friday)

     • You get a guaranteed job at NSA after graduation

     • You owe them 1.5 years of work for each year they paid (2 years of college paid ×1.5 years owed = 3 years, but there is more to this)

     • The two summers you work at NSA while in college reduces your post‑graduation obligation, you typically end up owing closer to 2.5 years after graduation

     • You basically become a civilian NSA employee-in-training your last two years of collge

NSA Stokes - Allowed Degree Programs

     • Computer Science - core software, algorithms, secure systems

     • Computer Engineering - hardware, embedded systems, digital logic

     • Electrical Engineering - circuits, signals, comms, radio frequencies

     • Chinese Language - Mandarin-focused language analysis track

Benefits for the Student

     • NSA pays for your last two years of college

     • Students are paid as a federal civilian employees (with Hawai‘i locality) year round for the last two years of college - either GS‑3 ≈ $40,000–$42,000 per year, or GS‑4 ≈ $45K–$48K

     • Full‑time paid summers; 40‑hour weeks inside NSA, real work, real money

     • Guaranteed job - full‑time NSA position waiting for you after graduation

     • Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Intelligenge (TS/SCI) security clearance - NSA sponsors your clearance, worth tens of thousands

     • Federal benefits - health, retirement pipeline, locality pay, leave accrual

     • Career pipeline - direct path into cyber, intel, engineering, math, language roles

     • Reduced service obligation - summer work counts toward your required service

     • Professional experience - real classified mission work before you even graduate

     • Financial stability - salary + tuition = no debt and guaranteed employment

     • International employment opportunities - foreign assignments possible in ~10–15 countries, NSA does not publicly disclose specific nations for security

     • Language training - access to advanced foreign‑language schools and immersion programs

NSA has unused allocations (open seats) for this program each year becuase they don't get enough qualified applicants to fill them and almost nobody knows the program exists