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The National Security Agency (NSA) began designating colleges and universities as Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) in 1998 if they met several criteria [1]. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now works with the NSA to designate schools as centers of excellence. CAEs must be able to map their curriculum to the government’s standards and demonstrate they have the faculty, organizational structure, scholarship, and commitment to developing a rigorous program. The schools committing resources to obtaining this designation are making a major multi-year commitment and need to get a return on investment. Many schools assume that this return comes in increased student enrollment. To justify this assumption, this project will attempt to determine if the CAE designation impacts the school selection of students.