EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY FOR ENLISTED MEMBERS FOR INSTRUCTION AT NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL.

SEC. 543. EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY FOR ENLISTED MEMBERS FOR INSTRUCTION AT NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL.(a) Certificate Programs and Courses.—Subparagraph (C) of subsection (a)(2) of section 7045 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking “Navy or Marine Corps” and inserting “armed forces”.(b) Graduate-Level Instruction.—Such subsection is further amended—(1) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (E); and(2) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following new subparagraph (D):“(D)(i) The Secretary may permit an eligible enlisted member of the armed forces to receive graduate-level instruction at the Naval Postgraduate School in a program leading to a master’s degree in a technical, analytical, or engineering curriculum.“(ii) To be eligible to be provided instruction under this subparagraph, the enlisted member must have been awarded a baccalaureate degree by an institution of higher education.“(iii) Instruction under this subparagraph may be provided only on a space-available basis.“(iv) An enlisted member who successfully completes a course of instruction under this subparagraph may be awarded a master’s degree under section 7048 of this title.“(v) Instruction under this subparagraph shall be provided pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Secretary. Such regulations may include criteria for eligibility of enlisted members for instruction under this subparagraph and specification of obligations for further service in the armed forces relating to receipt of such instruction.”.(c) Conforming Amendments.—Such section is further amended—(1) in subparagraph (E) of subsection (a)(2), as redesignated by subsection (b)(1), by striking “and (C)” and inserting “(C), and (D)”; and(2) in subsection (b)(2), by striking “(a)(2)(D)” and inserting “(a)(2)(E)”.120 STAT. 2214(d) Deadline for Submission of Previously Required Report.—The report required by subsection (c) of section 526 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (Public Law 109–163; 119 Stat. 3246), relating to the rationale and plans of the Navy to provide enlisted members an opportunity to obtain graduate degrees, shall be submitted, in accordance with that subsection, not later than March 30, 2007.(e) Repeal of Requirement for Report on Pilot Program.—(1) Repeal.—Subsection (d) of section 526 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (Public Law 109–163; 119 Stat. 3246) is repealed.(2) Conforming amendment.—Subsection (c)(2) of such section is amended by striking “, particularly in the career fields under consideration for the pilot program referred to in subsection (d)”.(f) Report on Use of NPS and AFIT.—Not later than March 30, 2007, the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the Air Force shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a joint report on the manner by which each Secretary intends to use the Naval Postgraduate School and the Air Force Institute of Technology during fiscal years 2008 through 2013 to meet the overall requirements of the Navy and Marine Corps and of the Air Force for enlisted members with graduate degrees. The report shall include the following:(1) The numbers and occupational specialities of enlisted members that each Secretary plans to enroll as candidates for graduate degrees each year in each of the two schools.(2) A description of the graduate degrees that those enlisted members will pursue at those schools.(3) Other matters that the two Secretaries jointly consider to be useful for the committees to better understand the future role that the two schools will each have in meeting service requirements for enlisted members with graduate degrees.