---
kind: "section"
citation: "14 U.S.C. § 1925"
title: "14"
title_heading: "Coast Guard"
number: "1925"
heading: "Agreement"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/14/1925"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 19 — Coast Guard Academy"
  - "Subchapter II — Cadets"
---

# §1925. Agreement

- (a) Each cadet shall sign an agreement with respect to the cadet’s length of service in the Coast Guard. The agreement shall provide that the cadet agrees to the following:
  - (1) That the cadet will complete the course of instruction at the Coast Guard Academy.
  - (2) That upon graduation from the Coast Guard Academy the cadet—
    - (A) will accept an appointment, if tendered, as a commissioned officer of the Coast Guard; and
    - (B) will serve on active duty for at least five years immediately after such appointment.
  - (3) That if an appointment described in [paragraph (2)](#a-2) is not tendered or if the cadet is permitted to resign as a regular officer before the completion of the commissioned service obligation of the cadet, the cadet—
    - (A) will accept an appointment as a commissioned officer in the Coast Guard Reserve; and
    - (B) will remain in that reserve component until completion of the commissioned service obligation of the cadet.
- (b)
  - (1) The Secretary may transfer to the Coast Guard Reserve, and may order to active duty for such period of time as the Secretary prescribes (but not to exceed four years), a cadet who breaches an agreement under [subsection (a)](#a). The period of time for which a cadet is ordered to active duty under this paragraph may be determined without regard to [section 651(a) of title 10](/usc/10/651.md?p=a).
  - (2) A cadet who is transferred to the Coast Guard Reserve under [paragraph (1)](#b-1) shall be transferred in an appropriate enlisted grade or rating, as determined by the Secretary.
  - (3) For the purposes of [paragraph (1)](#b-1), a cadet shall be considered to have breached an agreement under [subsection (a)](#a) if the cadet is separated from the Coast Guard Academy under circumstances which the Secretary determines constitute a breach by the cadet of the cadet’s agreement to complete the course of instruction at the Coast Guard Academy and accept an appointment as a commissioned officer upon graduation from the Coast Guard Academy.
- (c) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to carry out this section. Those regulations shall include—
  - (1) standards for determining what constitutes, for the purpose of [subsection (b)](#b), a breach of an agreement under [subsection (a)](#a);
  - (2) procedures for determining whether such a breach has occurred; and
  - (3) standards for determining the period of time for which a person may be ordered to serve on active duty under [subsection (b)](#b).
- (d) In this section, “commissioned service obligation”, with respect to an officer who is a graduate of the Academy, means the period beginning on the date of the officer’s appointment as a commissioned officer and ending on the sixth anniversary of such appointment or, at the discretion of the Secretary, any later date up to the eighth anniversary of such appointment.
- (e)
  - (1) This section does not apply to a cadet who is not a citizen or national of the [United States](/usc/14/2941.md?p=4).
  - (2) In the case of a cadet who is a minor and who has parents or a guardian, the cadet may sign the agreement required by [subsection (a)](#a) only with the consent of the parent or guardian.
- (f) A cadet or former cadet who does not fulfill the terms of the obligation to serve as specified under section (a), or the alternative obligation imposed under [subsection (b)](#b), shall be subject to the repayment provisions of [section 303a(e) of title 37](/usc/37/303a.md?p=e).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 115–282, title I, § 110(c)(1)(C), Dec. 4, 2018, 132 Stat. 4214.)