The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), located in New London, Connecticut, is the U.S. service academy specifically for the United States Coast Guard. Founded in 1876, the academy provides education to future Coast Guard officers in one of nine major fields of study.

Students are officers-in-training, and are referred to as cadets. Upon graduation, cadets receive a Bachelor of Science degree and commission in the U.S. Coast Guard as an ensign. In exchange for their debt-free education valued at over $500,000, graduates incur a five-year active-duty service obligation, with additional years if the graduate attends flight school or subsequent government-funded graduate school. Out of approximately 300 cadets entering the academy each summer, around 250 graduate. Cadets choose from nine majors, with a curriculum that is graded according to their performance in a holistic program of academics, military bearing, physical fitness, character, and leadership.

Cadets are required to adhere to the academy's "Honor Concept," "Who lives here reveres honor, honors duty," which is emblazoned in the walls of the academy's entrance. The academy's motto is Scientiæ Cedit Mare, which is Latin for "the sea yields to knowledge". Its academic programs are accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.