Officer Training Programs And Maritime Academies

Sea Power, Jan 2005

Costs: Upon entrance, each midshipman pays a fee of about $6,100 to cover student activities, personal services and the cost of a personal computer. Fees for subsequent years range between $1,634 and $2,520 per year.

Financial aid: Pay received by a midshipman is $792.60 a month during two training periods aboard ship. While the academy does not offer financial aid, its financial aid office can assist students with identifying and applying for assistance from external student loan sources.

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Office of Admissions

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

300 Steamboat Road

Kings Point, NY 11024-1699

PHONE: (516) 773-5391 or (866)546-4778

FAX: (516) 773-5390

WEBSITE: www.usmma.edu

State Maritime Academies

The six state maritime academies conduct training and offer academic programs that yield highly skilled deck and engineering officers for employment in the U.S. Merchant Marine. In addition to training engineering and deck officers, individual schools specialize in maritime port management, marine sciences, international business, logistics and other maritime-related areas of study.

By authority of the Maritime Education and Training Act of 1980, MARAD provides annual funding for student assistance, school-ship maintenance and repair and training-ship fuel oil (when available) to the academies, which are located in California, Michigan, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Texas (see below).

Qualified students are eligible to receive student incentive payments (SIPs) of $3,000 annually, for no more than four academic years, to help offset the cost of uniforms, books and subsistence. In return, SIP recipients must sail - or work ashore - for three years, accept a commission in the Naval Reserve or other reserve component of the U.S. armed forces (making these qualified seafarers available for sealift support) with a six-year service commitment and obtain a U.S. Coast Guard merchant marine officer's license. They must maintain that license for six years after graduation.

MARAD also provides training vessels to the five coastal academies for use in at-sea training and as shore-side laboratories. These training ships are critical to the ability of the state maritime academy programs to familiarize students with ship systems and train them in ship safety, firefighting and damage control. The training ships ensure that students are able to gain the practical experience of living and working aboard ship and are able to be put to sea more safely.

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Maritime Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation

400 7th St. S.W.

Washington, DC 20590

PHONE: (800) 996-2723

WEBSITE: www.marad.dot.gov/ Programs/state_aca.html

California Maritime Academy

Located on San Pablo Bay in Vallejo, Calif., the California Maritime Academy is a California State University campus that offers accredited degrees in business administration, marine transportation, facilities engineering technology, global studies and maritime affairs, marine engineering technology and mechanical engineering. In addition to earning a bachelor's degree, students earn professional licensing in one of several areas: as third mate or third assistant engineer, U.S. Coast Guard, or certified plant engineer-in-training.