You may not be able to get a scholarship until the Fall semester, but (as crowbar said) you can join as a college programmer anytime.
(Skipping back a bit) Our unit stopped wearing uniforms for about a week after 9/11 -- I guess our staff was afraid we would be targets? (We are in the middle of a big city). We've never had any problems on campus with people doing anything to someone in uniform. Our campus is pretty apathetic to just about anything political, though.