Just my .02 cents:
In New York, joint accounts pass outside the will. That means that the money in joint accounts is not included or governed by the will; it becomes the sole property of the other owner listed on the accounts, not that anyone a cadet’s age has a will prior to deployment. In case of death, the joint owner can access the $ without any issues as all of it is legally theirs. A cadet’s account may not have a lot of $ in it now, or it may if college savings or other monies are deposited. In this highly unlikely event, what may not be a lot of money for some, may very well be to others. People have been known to change when $ is involved.
Short story: While off-duty, a female police officer in her 20’s was murdered . Her boyfriend was the officers’ beneficiary & was, sad to say, a person with a criminal past, in other words, a perp. He took all the $, gave her parents nothing, & a collection had to be taken to cover their daughter’s funeral. The reason I bring this up is joint ownership & beneficiaries matter. No one would have foreseen this occurrence. This one is, unfortunately, more common: The ex-wife collects because the deceased didn’t get around to changing beneficiaries upon divorce/remarriage. I believe that I am not the only poster on this forum who has seen this scenario play out.
I realize that this is a sensitive topic & is usually the stuff for older people, that cadets are only 18, 19 y/o or so, and it isn’t going to happen to my DD/DS. Parentally speaking, I sent USAFA a girl & got back a woman. And the change was pretty quick. She is in the military & definitely isn’t attending “just a college”. DW & I took some time, (as the posters here are doing), to do some one-on-one financial counseling, get some financial affairs, & especially a Health Care Proxy in order. They are adults now. The rules change. Who does your cadet want to make decisions about their healthcare if he/she is unable to? An 18 y/o is an adult & just because you are their parent, that in & of itself, doesn’t carry the weight it did just several months ago when they were, legally, a “child” i.e. a 17 y/o. HIPAA rules also apply. They determine how much patient info the hospital can legally release & to whom. With the Proxy naming you as their healthcare director, the ability for you to receive patient information & direct physician care is restored. One copy of the Proxy is in her personal papers @ the AFA, another we have at home to fax if need be. (In it, our DD named her mother, partly because she knows that it would be too hard for me to do.) It never becomes important until it does.
PS: Life Insurance for persons of a cadet’s age group currently not in the military is fairly cheap. Something you may want to consider some life insurance/investment combo in their name, if that works for your situation. We did.