A Bottom-Up Assessment of Navy Flagship Schools: The NPS Faculty Critique of CNA's Report

This report is a critique of the report from the Center for Naval Analysis CNA titled A Bottom-Up Assessment of Navy Flagship Schools. This critique identifies benefits of Naval Postgraduate School NPS programs that were overlooked in the CNA report including availability of government housing, year-round operation, rapid refresher, ability to efficiently transition officers to fields of study different than their undergraduate major, and higher course-loads. Cost analyses incorporating these benefits indicate that NPS is highly efficient at providing graduate education to naval officers at a low cost per student. Other ancillary advantages are identified including the military relevance of course materials and laboratory facilities, the professional military environment of NPS including the presence of officers from all services and international officers, and the production of research products that are useful to the Navy.