AUP Education offers a 2-4 year education, training, and leadership development experience to college students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Students complete a program of study incorporating basic Coast Guard and maritime education, operational training, leadership development, and more advanced maritime safety and homeland security topics.  Students acquire operational and leadership experience through their real-world duties on the water and at the waterfront, as interns in professional settings, and as emergency responders to incidents in their local area.  Graduates go on to serve part-time in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, apply to the active duty Coast Guard's Officer Candidate School, pursue careers in the maritime or homeland security community, attend graduate school, or enter the private sector. With no post-graduate military obligation, all have the opportunity to apply their Coast Guard Auxiliary training and their college education as successful leaders in whichever career they choose.

AUP Innovation engages cadets, graduate fellows, professors, and other maritime subject matter experts in the Coast Guard Innovation Program, directed research and development that matches students’ academic interests with Coast Guard strategic need, and robust cadet internship (often for academic course credit).  The innovation team is actively engaged not just with the Coast Guard, but with Department of Homeland Security and other maritime community partners in order to cultivate a wide range of cross-service opportunities and shared mission.  AUP Innovation projects have included knowledge management, marine pollution modeling, geographic information systems, arctic pollution research, strategic development, and public policy.

AUP Organizational Performance assists universities, Auxiliary units, and other Coast Guard commands in achieving Coast Guard goals for mission execution, mission support, and force readiness. Undergraduate and graduate business, public policy, and related concentrators have an opportunity to serve in meaningful assignments as “Organizational Performance Consultants” (OPC), working alongside active duty and civilian counterparts to advance the service’s organizational goals.  Drawing on the innovative work occurring throughout AUP and combining that work with tools such as the Commandant’s Performance Excellence Criteria (CPEC) and Coast Guard Business Intelligence (CGBI), these OPCs solve emerging challenges, operationalize new processes and technology, develop curriculum, and deliver training.