The War Department's Committee on Education and Special Training established the Students Army Training Corps (SATC) in the spring of 1918 as the National Army Training Detachments at 157 colleges, universities, and trade schools nationwide. The program was intended to educate draftees in a variety of trades deemed necessary to the war effort. It was soon revised in order to address the Army's concern about the lack of suitable officer material and educational institutions' concerns about falling enrollment and the associated drop in tuition revenue. At the beginning of the 1918 fall semester, 524 institutions enrolled about 140,000 men in SATC programs. The National Army Training Detachments were absorbed into the SATC as Section B (vocational), while new Section A (academic) units were established.

Section A students were required to fulfill the requirements of college admission and to matriculate at their respective schools. These enrollees were to be given 42 credit hours of instruction in such subjects as military law and war issues in addition to performing military drills. After completing their instruction, graduates were to be assigned to officer or non-commissioned officer training programs, placed with depot brigades, or permitted to pursue further study. The Army began dissolving the SATC after Armistice Day and formally completed the process on December 20, 1918.