<p>to my understanding, USNA and USMA both have an entrance fee, somewhere near 2000 dollars. why doesn’t USAFA have an entrance fee?</p>
<p>How USAFA works (up to 2011) is that you enter without an entrance fee, but your debt is a great deal. We (2010) accrued approximately $6,000 of debt which was paid off over our first two years. It limits the amount of money up front that you have to pay and it creates the possibility to have a different pay structure based on your class year. By the time you're at the end of your 2nd year, you have paid off most of your debt and can start getting paid in full each month. With an entrance fee, the USAFA debt would be smaller and in order to have a different pay structure for each class, you would have to withhold extreme amounts of money from each lower class.</p>
<p>USNA is following a similar structure this coming year, and eliminating the entrance fee...;)</p>