Some critics of the U.S. Public Service Academy suggest that it would be more cost-effective to create an ROTC-style scholarship program whereby students would receive scholarship money to any school in the country in return for a commitment to serve in the public sector following graduation. The Academy supports creating more public service opportunities, but such programs cannot offer the culture, impact, or symbolic power of a Public Service Academy.
Culture: Disparate scholarships spread among various institutions cannot instill a cohesive culture. Existing institutions have their own set of priorities and procedures; scholarship money would benefit individual students but would neither alter the overarching mission of their institutions nor give students a transformational cohort experience. The military’s ROTC program is an effective supplement to its officer training at the academies, but it is precisely that: a supplement, not a substitute. Having a stand-alone campus is the only way to create a unique, unified campus culture that develops a strong esprit de corps around a public service mission. More than their peers at other civilian colleges, Academy students would be held to a higher standard of conduct suitable for future leaders, role models, and exemplars for the nation. The result? Students gain a more intensive, more focused, more rewarding education, while the nation gains stronger, better-trained, more dedicated young leaders required to serve their country for five years.
Impact: Once established, the Academy will become the nationfs flagship institution for public leadership, a locus of talent that will produce top-quality leaders for future generations. Its impact will grow over time, as alumni rise to positions of authority in public institutions around the country. Establishing the Academy will raise the visibility of public service and transform how young people perceive, prepare for, and pursue public service. As a prestigious, national institution, the Academy not only will offer a top-notch education to 5000 students, it also will encourage students across the nation to see public sector service as a noble endeavor.
Symbolism: Like the military academies, the Academy will become an integral part of American life, a powerful testimony to the importance of public service to the vitality and success or our nation. Congress already has created many public service scholarship programs, including scholarships named for Morris K. Udall, Ernest F. Hollings, Barry M. Goldwater, Benjamin A. Gilman, Thomas R. Pickering, and Federal Cyber Service. These scholarships are worthy, but limited . few students (and even fewer people outside of higher education) know of them and their impact is narrow. Even the most prestigious scholarship programs, such as the Rhodes, Truman, or Fulbright, do not carry the same cultural weight or have the same symbolic importance as the military academies. Creating another public service scholarship program ignores the symbolic importance of creating an institution that can send a powerful message about the value we place on public service in this country– much the way that refusing to create a Public Service Academy (while offering five military academies) sends the message to our young people that public service is somehow less important, less legitimate, or less patriotic than military service.