EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR APPOINTMENT IN RESERVE COMPONENTS IN GRADES ABOVE FIRST LIEUTENANT OR LIEUTENANT (JUNIOR GRADE).

SEC. 519. EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR APPOINTMENT IN RESERVE COMPONENTS IN GRADES ABOVE FIRST LIEUTENANT OR LIEUTENANT (JUNIOR GRADE). Section 596 of title 10, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a), by striking out “an accredited educational institution” and inserting in lieu thereof “a qualifying educational institution”; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(c) Qualifying Educational Institutions.— (1) A qualifying educational institution for purposes of this section is an educational institution that is accredited or that meets the requirements of paragraph (2). “(2) (A) An unaccredited educational institution shall be considered to be a qualifying educational institution for purposes of the appointment or recognition of a person who is a graduate of that institution if the Secretary concerned determines that (as of the year of the graduation of that person from that institution) at least three educational institutions that are accredited and that maintain Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs each generally grant baccalaureate degree credit for completion of courses of the unaccredited institution equivalent to the baccalaureate degree credit granted by the unaccredited institution for the completion of those courses. “(B) In order to assist the Secretary concerned in making determinations under subparagraph (A), any unaccredited institution that seeks to be considered to be a qualifying educational institution for purposes of this paragraph shall submit to the Secretary of Defense each year such information as the Secretary may require concerning the program of instruction at that institution. “(C) In the case of a person with a degree from an unaccredited institution that is a qualifying educational institution under this paragraph, the degree may not have been awarded more than three years before the date on which the person is to be appointed to, or recognized in, the grade of captain or, in the case of the Naval Reserve, lieutenant, in order for that person to be considered for purposes of subsection (a) to have been awarded a baccalaureate degree by a qualifying educational institution.”.