That is a stated objective, but in having spent some time there I would estimate, USCGA is a mostly New England area school with increasingly small representation from states west of the Mississippi. The student body is overwhelming from New England.
The USCGA policies even favor New England area cadets over others. Let me give a couple of examples:
1. Cars are not allowed until senior 1/c year, except for local cadets who may route and receive approval for a POV as an underclassman. This is a significant benefit for New England cadets.
2. Cadets are dismissed after their final exam to return home. However, unlike almost all other colleges who publish the final exam schedule at the beginning of the semester and include the dates in the class syllabus, , USCGA does not set the final exam schedule until approximately 4 weeks before finals. Which if you live in New England does not really matter, as your parents can pick you up by POV or you can Amtrak, etc., basically more options. But for west coast cadets, Hawaii and Alaska or really anyone again west of the Mississippi, it severely penalizes them as the late notice makes obtaining economical air fare home very difficult. USCGA is served by small airports and not being able to book Christmas break travel months in advance results in worse flight times, extra connections, and increased fares. USCGA cannot change their location, but putting out the finals schedule early and allowing distant cadets to shop travel well in advance would save each cadet hundreds of dollars per year.
Since the Academy staff and instructors are all local to the area, they don't feel the impact of these policy examples.