Naval enrollment down

Not good:

The Naval Academy said yesterday that applications for the Class of 2009 fell 20 percent from the year before, a drop mirrored at the nation's other military colleges that some experts attribute to increasing combat casualties.

As of its Jan. 31 application deadline, the Annapolis academy had received 11,140 applications, down from 13,922 at the same time last year. The slump is the first in four years for the academy, which saw a surge in applications after the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Academy officials declined to speculate on why fewer students applied for admission, but said the number of applicants still exceeds the approximately 1,200 slots available and remains above the 2001 level.

But some experts say that like the National Guard and Army Reserve -- both of which have suffered low recruitment numbers as the death toll increases in Iraq and deployments are extended -- military service academies are suffering because of the conflict.