Well yes.

Mostly because President Ford DIDNT Enlist in the strictest sense of the word, as in he did not then serve as an enlisted sailor in the USN.

He was instead commissioned an Ensign(lowest officer rank) and sent to instructor duty. Now that can happen where as I believe Ford did, at the recruiting office they see his qualifications and tell him he can go be, or perhaps pressure him into going to a certain pipeline over another, some of them are just specific to officers. Since the Naval Academy, ROTC, and the existing reserve were nowhere near enough in terms of numbers.

Even today and still very true in WW2 a college degree was one of the primary screening requirements for if someone would be accepted to an officer training pipeline, namely some form of OCS, or a direct commission if the person had participated in some of the early forms of ROTC.

So while officers without college degrees were not then unheard of to be sure such as instances of battlefield promotion, with only a high school degree you are virtually assured to not be able to commission when you first join.

This is a sort of important distinction, as in some navies, such as the USN, certain jobs like piloting aircraft, were almost entirely done by officers.