Lepak said during his time at MSU, the program has expanded from about 91 enrolled members to about 130 overall.

Lepak said MSU’s high-quality instructors have led to heightened interest in the program.

“The students really are our best promoters,” Lepak said. “If they’re enjoying the training, they’re more apt to talk about it.”

Those increases at MSU reflect a growing national trend that has seen enrollment in ROTC and other military programs climb in recent years, said Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman with the Defense Department.

“Many factors contribute to the changes in enrollment in ROTC programs, such as the economy … and public interest,” Lainez said in an email. “These factors also differ from region to region and year to year.”

News of the enrollment increase comes on the heels of the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell,” policy earlier this year by Congress.

That policy prohibited military members from revealing their sexual orientation. Since that time, prominent universities — including Harvard University and Stanford University — have re-established ROTC programs at their schools.

With the policy not fully in place, its effects on MSU’s enrollment remain to be seen, Lepak said. Of the cadets who enter the program at MSU, about 90 percent eventually complete it.

Across the country, about 5,100 cadets graduate every year, Lepak said. About 3,900 of those go on to active duty, and the remainder enter the National Guard or the Army Reserve.

In all, 489 units across the country host ROTC programs, with about 2,400 cross-town arrangements, Lainez said.

ROTC programs across the country have faced funding cuts in the past even as enrollment has increased, Lepak said.

“The budget crunch that we’ve seen here — it’s on a national level,” Lepak said. “The number of scholarships have diminished, actually.”

Kristin Pasch, a nursing senior and member of the Army ROTC program, said students will continue to enroll in the ROTC for numerous reasons.

“Students are looking for steady jobs, secure jobs and with the economy recently and some degrees, that’s not a guarantee,” she said.

The ROTC program remains an important component at MSU, university spokesman Kent Cassella said.

“I think (Greek historian) Thucydides said it best when he said, ‘A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools,’” he said.