Naval O.C.S. Restrictions Eased for Grad Students

The Navy has eased its requirements for entering Officer Candidate School.

Graduate students who will not receive degrees at the end of this semester and "who do not anticipate a return to graduate school at the beginning of the next academic year" may now enroll in OCS, according to a directive issued by the Department of the Navy yesterday.

The directive revises a policy which only permitted enrollment of graduate students in the final semester of their last year.

Chief Dennis of the Navy Recruiting Station at Government Center in Boston said that Lt. General Lewis B. Hershey's recent revision of the graduate student deferment policy was primarily responsible for the change.

Students formerly applied to OCS while requesting continued deferment from their boards. If the deferment came through, as it usually did, Navy OCS was dropped, according to Dennis.

But now student deferments are rare. "You can't tell a guy, 'You can't process your application with us.' We figure everybody's putting their applications in with good faith," Dennis remarked yesterday. Applications to Navy OCS have jumped 1000 per cent in the last two months.

Two days ago, the Navy Department announced a new program for students currently enrolled in, or accepted by, an accredited law school.

After graduation and admission to a state Bar, students receive appointments as Ensign in the Judge Advocate General's Corp of the Reserve. A six-year commitment is required, with four years of active duty.