At a time when only 23% of young Americans are deemed physically and mentally eligible for military service, the United States faces a critical talent shortfall in its armed forces in 2025.

Make no mistake: Recruitment goals are increasingly out of reach, and public perception is only making matters worse.

A recent RAND Corp. report found that 54% of Americans would now advise against military service — particularly in the enlisted ranks — despite continued high regard for veterans.

This is a massive disconnect that has contributed to recruitment struggles across all major branches of the military.

Yet, encouraging signs remain: nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said they would support their 17-year-old entering a military academy or ROTC, which ties service to higher education.

In short, to meet the growing national security demands, the U.S. must simply better position higher education as a pathway both into and beyond military service.

Education not only increases the value of service members to the military while enlisted, it also enables smoother transitions to civilian careers.

One major barrier, however? The outdated tuition support provided to active-duty service members.

Consider that the military’s Tuition Assistance program covers up to $250 per credit hour, a cap unchanged since 2002, even as average college costs have more than doubled in that time. Today, the national average per credit hour is $477, with many private institutions charging far more.

Yet this gap is far more than just financial — it’s a policy failure that causes many service members to leave the military prematurely in order to access better education benefits as veterans.

Consider these action steps to reverse the decline:

1. Raise Tuition Assistance caps

Congress must modernize military education benefits. At a minimum, the $250 per credit hour cap should be adjusted for inflation, with a tiered structure that aligns benefits with high-need programs such as cybersecurity, health care and engineering — sectors critical to both military and civilian infrastructure.

2. Incentivize retention through education

Rather than encouraging exits, policymakers should reward continued service by enhancing educational opportunities for reenlisting personnel. Tuition incentives, stackable credentials, and partnerships with accredited universities that recognize military training should form part of this strategy.

3. Expand credit recognition

Many service members hold certifications, licenses and real-world experience that should translate into academic credit. Institutions need to embrace and streamline credit for prior learning, military coursework and national exams like CLEP and DANTES to accelerate degree completion.

4. Address the civil-military skills pipeline

The nation’s demand for talent in cybersecurity, information technology and nursing aligns closely with military training. Programs that build upon these existing skills can bridge the gap between military service and careers in defense, health care and infrastructure security.

For example, cybersecurity roles in federal agencies are critically understaffed, even as cyber threats escalate. Recognizing this, the National Security Agency has designated select universities as Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense — a step in the right direction, but not nearly enough without broader policy and funding reforms.

5. Support the transition to civilian life holistically

Education should be part of a full-spectrum support system that includes career coaching, benefit navigation and peer networks.

Veterans often face difficulty adapting to less-structured civilian environments. Institutions that understand and design for this shift are essential, but systemic federal support is also needed to scale these efforts nationwide.

The current approach to educating our military is ultimately shortchanging our national defense. If we want to attract, retain and empower the next generation of American service members, we must invest in education as a strategic asset, not an afterthought.

However, there are exceptions to the trend outlined -- Excelsior University, in Albany, N.Y., for example, has made sacrifices and created structures to uphold its role as a military-friendly institution, even as many institutions of higher learning are indeed faltering from funding shortfalls.

The institution’s commitment to military education is so strong that 31% of its alumni have military backgrounds. Further, as found in a 2024 survey, 86% of Excelsior alumni reported career advancement one year after graduating, with 39% of those graduates reporting a pay increase.

The university has, since its founding half a century ago, granted degrees to more than 57,000 veterans and active-duty personnel out of the nearly 200,000 total degrees granted by the institution.

Approximately 40% of Excelsior’s current learners are moreover active-duty military or veteran students.

Military students further choose Excelsior partly because many colleges do not put in the effort to cater to them -- their Tuition Assistance Top-Up program for example allows funds from the GI Bill Active Duty or Post-9/11 GI Bill to be used for tuition, and to address fees for high-cost courses not fully covered by Tuition Assistance Funds.

Steps in the right direction, an example that is replicable, to be sure -- but this is not about any one institution — it’s about building a nationwide infrastructure that enables military service and higher education to mutually reinforce one another.

The cost of inaction is steep: continued recruitment shortfalls, weakened readiness, and lost opportunity for thousands of Americans ready to serve — if only the system served them better.

Duggan Flanakin, a senior policy analyst at the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, writes on a wide variety of public policy issues.