The United States Coast Guard will be opening a new recruit training facility in the heart of Dixie. The service, which is a branch of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, announced this month that it has chosen the site of the former Birmingham-Southern College (BSC), which closed in 2024 due to financial woes.
Former Secretary of DHS Kristi Noem made the announcement just days before she was removed from her post, but said that the facility in Birmingham, AL, would help support the Coast Guard as it saw recruitment for fiscal year 2025 (FY25) exceed its goals.
The U.S. Coast Guard is now on track to add 15,000 new members to its ranks by 2028, so an additional training facility is crucial to its mission.
“We must invest in our most valuable treasure—our people—to meet the increasingly complex maritime security challenges facing the Nation,” said Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, Commandant of the Coast Guard. “The acquisition of the historic Birmingham-Southern College as our new training center is a critical step in our Force Design 2028 strategy, providing the right facilities necessary to grow our service and ensure the Coast Guard stands always ready.”
Currently, all enlisted recruits train at Cape May, New Jersey, the service’s only training center.
Quick Selection Process
It was only last November that the U.S. Coast Guard issued a Request for Information (RFI) that sought potential locations. The Coast Guard had identified the key “minimum requirements” for any potential training center.
It called for a facility that could provide living accommodations for at least 1,200 recruits and a dining facility that could seat 400 personnel at a time.
It required a medical facility to support 1,000 personnel, with at least 200 medical and 200 dental encounters per day.
Another requirement was that it had an auditorium with a capacity of 500 or more students, along with at least 14 classrooms that can accommodate 30 to 60 students each.
The RFI stated that the facility would need to have office space for 400 staff members, be located on land consisting of 150 to 250 acres, and be within a 30-mile radius of a small commercial service or a larger airport.
Moreover, given the Coast Guard’s aquatic nature, the facility would require a pool with at least six lanes, a minimum length of 25 yards, and a minimum depth of 4 feet.
A “multipurpose gymnasium/athletic/sports facility” that could accommodate 1,200 personnel would also be needed. The service announced earlier this year that it would require a physical fitness test (PFT) for all its members.
BSC Fit the Bill
Clearly, a former university would meet the criteria, and BSC seemed an ideal choice, as its student body was approximately 975 when it closed its doors.
The private liberal arts school was founded in 1918 when Southern University in Greensboro, Alabama, merged with Birmingham College. The former had been founded in 1856, and the latter opened its doors in 1898.
In recent decades, the school has faced financial difficulties.
At one point, Alabama A&M had offered to pay $52 million to purchase the school, but the deal fell through. Other efforts included seeking assistance from the Alabama legislature, but BSC’s board of trustees voted to close the school at the end of the 2023-24 school year.
“While getting to this point has been a long, sad, and challenging journey for everyone who loves Birmingham-Southern, the Board of Trustees is confident that this is the right decision,” Keith Thompson, chairman of the Birmingham-Southern College Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “We welcome the Coast Guard to the Hilltop, knowing they will bring significant value, vibrancy, and security to our community.”
Although described as having an urban setting, with it located just three miles west of downtown Birmingham, the campus is situated on 192 wooded acres.
The land had been up for sale since the school closed, and Miles College had been in discussions to buy the campus, but that deal also wasn’t concluded.
Another Win for Alabama
The training center is just one part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Force Design 2028 initiative, which seeks to transform the service into “a more agile, capable, and responsible fighting force.” Alabama lawmakers praised the decision.
Current plans call for the BSC facility to be operational in early 2026.
“I’m thrilled that President Trump and Secretary Noem have selected Birmingham Southern as the new land-based training facility for the United States Coast Guard. This move will save the American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Senator Tommy Tuberville. “Alabama and the Coast Guard are a natural partnership. Alabama is already home to every branch of the military, and we have the infrastructure, resources, and personnel ready to make sure our United States Coast Guard continues to be elite.”
Senator Katie Britt, chair of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, shared a similar sentiment.
“I have long been dedicated to strengthening Alabama’s military installations and the warfighters they serve. This exciting announcement further positions Alabama as a national leader in supporting our incredible U.S. Armed Forces and law enforcement personnel.”
The decision to open the Coast Guard training center at the former BSC campus is the latest win for Alabama, which is also on track to be home to the future headquarters of the United States Space Command. However, just as that move has been opposed by lawmakers in Colorado, the decision to select Alabama as the future U.S. Coast Guard training site has already drawn backlash from a Texas lawmaker.
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) has requested information on the bidding process, arguing that the Coast Guard already had the BSC location in mind when it issued its RFI, and that the service failed to conduct a competitive bidding process.
“This competition must ultimately select the most deserving applicant through a full, fair, and merit-based process,” Gonzalez wrote in his letter. “The Coast Guard must follow a clear, established process to ensure fairness and accountability. If a preferred location has already been identified that determination should be communicated immediately.”
