WAYNE, Pa. – Valley Forge Military College (search), the last all-male military college in the country, will accept women beginning next fall.
The decision will allow women into ROTC (search), military service academy prepatory programs, the two-year transfer college and the Army Early Commissioning Program (search), where cadets earn Army commissions in two years.
School officials estimated enrollment for women could reach 20 percent within five years. Valley Forge Military Academy, a boarding school for boys in grades seven to 12, will remain a single-sex school.
"The research says there is still a good benefit for single-sex education at the high school level, but we believe the time has come for a coed program at the college level," spokesman Rod Hill said.
Several area private schools have gone coed in recent years, including Chestnut Hill College, Immaculata University and Harcum College.
Military colleges such as The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute went coed soon after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that they could not bar women and still receive public funds.
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