Does anyone know what the actual benefit would be of having a lifetime parent's membership to the AOG?
We bought our son his lifetime membership as a Christmas gift his Doolie year, and we also got ourselves one while we were at it. At the time the cadet's was $600 and the parent's was $700 (or somewhere around that). Their guarantee was that if our son left the Academy at any time before graduation that we would get a full refund. We didn't have to take them up on that.
Obviously the program has changed since then. (Webguy was free to parents our first year, and then we got it free after that since we were AOG members).
There are many reasons why I feel it was worth it.
First, I think my wife got at least $700 off merchandise from the Visitors Center over the last 7 years. My daughter will be working at USAFA this summer and we will visit a couple of times so I am sure that savings will grow when my wife hits the shop again.
Second, Checkpoints Magazine. Once your kid graduates you will read the class news in every issue and see all of your son or daughters friends and what they are doing. I also read the class news for many other classes because I find it fascinating what many of the graduates are up to now. Many of the articles in the magazine are full of stuff that I would never know if not for having a subscription.
Third, USAFA is not like any other college. Someone said above that an alumni association is for alumni of the college. That is true for most colleges. We have found however that the experience of the Academy is truly a family thing. The parent's groups are valuable not just when they are at USAFA, but also afterward. It is really important to have someone who understands the things that happen to these young adults after the Academy and a place to be able to go to find them. AOG is just one of the resources to do that, but it is important. This is the same reason why we have state parent's organizations and why parents continue on in them long after their kids graduate. (Lance Sijan's mom was still a lifetime member of the Wisconsin Parent's Association up until her passing last year).
We also continue to get regular emails and updates from AOG about events in COS or our area which is really nice to have.
Everyone has to make their own decisions on if the cost is worth it. In our case we have benefitted greatly by being members of the AOG and I think it was worth every penny, and it continues to pay dividends now.
Stealth_81