The Academy advises parents to maintain health insurance for their midshipmen, if allowed by their health insurance carriers. This will ensure that midshipmen have health insurance if they leave the Academy because of illness or serious injury. Midshipmen are members of the Navy, however, and are currently eligible for military health care. Many candidates wonder how much spending money they should have when they report to the Academy. After I-Day, the first time plebes leave the Yard is on Parents' Weekend, except for a couple of trips to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.
Automatic tellers allow mids to have access to their money at any time.
Financial and legal officers are available to advise midshipmen. Every midshipman must participate in either a varsity or an intramural sport. There are 26 men's and 12 women's varsity teams and 13 intramural sports. Academy teams are very successful, which is impressive when you realize that most of the schools with whom the Academy competes are much larger schools. Midshipmen have gotten involved with a varsity sport even if they have not previously participated in that sport.