About The U.S.C.G.A. Parents Association

Our Association

A brief description of who & what we are. Thanks to Bob Pray (CAPT, USCG Retired) (past CGAPA President) for the following

:

I would like to urge all parents and guardians of Coast Guard Academy Cadets to join the Coast Guard Academy Parent’s Association. Our Association motto is "Sumus Vobiscum" or "We are with you." Our Association has two primary goals:

1. We provide support to our cadets during their arduous four year adventure at the Coast Guard Academy.
2. We provide a support for parents and guardians during what can be four very stressful and exciting years.

The National Association has an executive council that meets three times a year at the Academy. The national council gets a half day briefing from the Superintendent and his senior staff about current goings on at the academy. There is also a question and answer session afterwards. The notes from these meetings are posted on our web site for all members to see. We also publish a quarterly newsletter. Every year at Parent’s Weekend, we hold a general meeting for all member parents to attend. The executive council comes from all over the country. They are available to answer questions from the rank and file members about anything going on at the Academy that you would like to understand better. This periodic interaction is unique among the four federal service academies. As a result, the parents of Coast Guard cadets are better informed about what their cadets are going through, than the parents at the other academies. This gives you helpful insight when your cadet is having a problem at school. You will be better prepared to support your cadet through the resources of the association. We believe that the association has helped dozens of parents and their cadets to solve problems that might otherwise have caused the cadet to leave the academy. The National Association has a one time dues payment of $50. This one payment is good for the entire four years your cadet is at the academy. We also sponsor an annual fund raising campaign to benefit cadet activities at the Academy. In recent years we have purchased several vans for the cadets to use on liberty, club outings and sporting events. WE helped the school newspaper to get started. We also bought new furniture, stereos and TV sets for company day rooms.

The Association has sixteen regional chapters and two regional affiliates. Regional chapters hold periodic meetings and provide face to face support for parents in their local area. The regional chapters send snack bags to cadets and host cadet club and sports teams when they travel to their local area. They arrange receptions for cadets in port cities when the Cutter Eagle visits them in the summer. They also maintain a travelers network to help out stranded cadets at airports and train and bus stations during leave periods and summer travel.

If it sounds like we are busy, well we are! But it’s a labor of love and it’s the best time and/or money you will ever spend. The Association has no rented or owned office space and none of our officers or workers has ever received a salary. We are a 100% volunteer organization. Every dime we raise goes to give our cadets some comfort of home that the Spartan life of a service academy does not provide. Sometimes parents ask me, "Why should I join the Parents Association?" After I explain our organization to them I always ask, " Why wouldn’t you want to join?"

Your Membership Dues

There are three organizations that you can join when your son or daughter becomes a cadet. One is the CGA Alumni Assn., which you can join as an associate member. Your dues include a subscription to the Alumni Bulletin, which is published periodically, about every two months. Alumni Association Associate membership dues are $42 for one year or $110 for three years. Alumni Assn. membership is separate and not mandatory to be a member of the Parents Association, but you would miss out on a good Academy related magazine and the opportunity to help support their contribution to the Academy.

You can also join the CGA National Parent's Assn. Which, we hope all parents would want to do. Our one time $50 membership fee covers your dues for the entire time you have a cadet at the Academy. Your dues go to running the organization, which is primarily a support network for parents and cadets. We do have a newsletter that goes out about once a quarter. I fear that with the amount of junk mail that most of us get these days, our newsletter often goes unread. We also conduct a fund raising campaign every year to raise money for various activities and gifts for the Corps of Cadets. Last year we bought a new liberty van for the cadets. They now have a fleet of about six vans for free transportation to movies, malls, restaurants, athletic events and etc. None of the other academies have these vans and it's all due to the generosity of our parents. We also do other things like supporting the cadet newspaper, putting new stereos and TV's in cadet dayrooms etc.

You can also join a local Parent's Assn. Chapter. Technically you have to be a member of the National Parent's Assn. to join a local chapter and attend their meetings, but we have never enforced that. Local chapters have periodic meetings - some have newsletters, websites and do some fund raising. Their level of activity and any dues are based on the local level of interest.

Hopefully, this clears up some of the confusion. Please let us know if you are a paid up National member and not getting our newsletter so we can get that straightened out.

With Regards,
Bob Pray
CAPT USCG-Ret. - CGA ‘70
(Chris '01)