It seems like any of the big 6 academies here in the states will end up costing $85,000 minimum.
How did you guys do it?
Go to Kings Point. It’s free.
If you are very smart, apply to the US Merchant Marine Academy, which is technically free, tho you do pay “fees” of $1-3000 per year which can be covered by student loans. It is a process, so plan at least the summer before your senior year in high school.
Same goes for the US Coast Guard Academy, regarding being free except for fees. Both are VERY competitive to get into and require service in the USCG or other services as well as in the maritime industry for a period after graduating.
The various state maritime colleges have very reasonable tuition and you can get instate tuition if you go to the one in your area (i.e. SUNY Maritime offers instate to those from NY south to Alabama). Tuition and various fees there (instate) run about less than $20k per year and if you are eligible for the Naval Reserve, you can offset most expenses. In NY state there are many full ride scholarships for high school students, as well as scholarships for those coming from the Navy (maybe other services as well).
Do a lot of research and contact your local Maritime College (Maine, Massachuetts, SUNY, Great Lakes, Texas A&M and California) and look into it by contacting them directly. College counselors may be unfamiliar with these, as they are relatively small. I highly recommend that you be in advanced math to do well in any of the schools.
Good luck!
That’s the thing i dropped out of school and got a GED which throws the idea of applying to the US Merchant Marine Academy out since they will never take a GED student.
I’m currently taking classes for Emergency Management and volunteering in my local firefighters department so this should help my case when applying to a Maritime Academy such as the one in Maine or Massachusetts.
I’m guessing through financial aid and loans i should be able to afford the 20k a year… but then again I’m not sure since my credit is not great.
By any chance are students able to work while being part of a regiment in a Maritime Academy?
If you’re going to apply, try for KP anyway. They have taken GEDs in the past. It depends on the circumstances. It’s not like you have to apply for only one school. Apply to all and see what happens.
You are right 
KP may be free tuitionwise, but you’ll pay for going there with the rest of your career. Imo, that is the worst of all the maritime schools and turns out more assholes than all the others put together. It is their f’ing regiment that does it to them. A KP’er has to overcome that burden and prove himself as an exception rather than the rule after he graduates.
The state schools turn out far more down to earth mariners. Give me SUNY or Maine anyday even if you have to borrow the money with student loans. Once you get the right seafaring position, you’ll be able to pay off those loans quickly enough.
Hope this helps.
Somebody always has to start some shit.
You’re right though. I wake up every morning with the burden of overcoming what an asshole KP made me. Really.
[B]I callz 'em as I seez 'em and most KP’ers be arseholes…[/B]
[B]arrrrhhh…that they be[/B]
[quote=weski;12781]If you are very smart, apply to the US Merchant Marine Academy, which is technically free, tho you do pay “fees” of $1-3000 per year which can be covered by student loans. It is a process, so plan at least the summer before your senior year in high school.
Same goes for the US Coast Guard Academy, regarding being free except for fees. Both are VERY competitive to get into and require service in the USCG or other services as well as in the maritime industry for a period after graduating.
The various state maritime colleges have very reasonable tuition and you can get instate tuition if you go to the one in your area (i.e. SUNY Maritime offers instate to those from NY south to Alabama). Tuition and various fees there (instate) run about less than $20k per year and if you are eligible for the Naval Reserve, you can offset most expenses. In NY state there are many full ride scholarships for high school students, as well as scholarships for those coming from the Navy (maybe other services as well).
[B]Do a lot of research and contact your local Maritime College (Maine, Massachuetts, SUNY, Great Lakes, Texas A&M and California) and look into it by contacting them directly. College counselors may be unfamiliar with these, as they are relatively small. I highly recommend that you be in advanced math to do well in any of the schools. [/B]
Good luck![/quote]
I’m more interested in Business and the actual Marine Transportation core classes as opposed to heavy math & sciences throughout the curriculum. Which Academy do you feel is more down to the point?
The USMMA grads are getting rare in the engineering end of the shipping industry. The power companies are grabbing them soon after school. The ones I’ve run across still sailing are good engineers; Maine Maritime puts out some very good ones too and the others do though not as many. Seems like the schools have a hard time getting young folks interested in the engineering curriculum which is pretty tough. Back when the USA designed and made things engineering was a highly sought profession, sadly it’s not as true any more.
Everybody wants to be an executive now.
[quote=tengineer;12799]The USMMA grads are getting rare in the engineering end of the shipping industry. The power companies are grabbing them soon after school. The ones I’ve run across still sailing are good engineers; Maine Maritime puts out some very good ones too and the others do though not as many. Seems like the schools have a hard time getting young folks interested in the engineering curriculum which is pretty tough. Back when the USA designed and made things engineering was a highly sought profession, sadly it’s not as true any more.
Everybody wants to be an executive now.[/quote]
Which cadets earn a higher income out of the academy? Engineering Officers or Deck Officers?
Yes its a lot of money, but its the same as a lot of other colleges.
Luckily the pay is high enough to get rid of the student loans in a reasonable amount of time.
“Which cadets earn a higher income out of the academy? Engineering Officers or Deck Officers?”
The pay is nearly equal or so close as to not be an issue. The main difference from my experience is the ability to transfer to a shore side job. The engineers seems to find parallel employment fairly easy. Another thing to keep in mind is supply and demand in any job market. There are fewer engineers and therefore the good ones, heck even the marginal ones, never seem to have trouble staying employed either ashore or afloat.
[quote=tengineer;12804]“Which cadets earn a higher income out of the academy? Engineering Officers or Deck Officers?”
The pay is nearly equal or so close as to not be an issue. [B]The main difference from my experience is the ability to transfer to a shore side job.[/B] The engineers seems to find parallel employment fairly easy. Another thing to keep in mind is supply and demand in any job market.[B] There are fewer engineers and therefore the good ones, heck even the marginal ones, never seem to have trouble staying employed either ashore or afloat.[/B][/quote]
Makes sense! there are over 4,000+ oil platforms in the gulf of Mexico alone.
This industry still allows you to start from the bottom and move up. Start as a deckie and work your way up if you end up liking this kind of work. Put the money you would of shelled out for academy tuition in the bank. Only downside of being a hawsepiper is working with all those KP arseholes!
If you’re going the engineer route I’d strongly advise that you get as much technical or engineering background as possible before beginning at sea career. Just knowing enough to pass a license test is not adequate on these increasingly complex vessels. Electronics and control education should be high on your list of subjects along with a good mechanical engineering education. A maritime academy will give you that education and a 3rd AE. Even then you’ll be in continuing education throughout your career. Crews are shrinking as automation increases but you have to know how to trouble shoot and repair all that damn automation.
KP may be mostly free financially, but they take their lump of flesh out of you by making four years of your life shit. The Federal schools are also exceedingly demanding academically… Also, since KP requires you to sail for four months every year, I believe that KP graduates burn out on going to sea four years earlier then state school grads. The average career appears to be 5-8 years. Just my personal theory…If you are serious about going to a state school look into the residency requirements for each state, pick your school and then move there. Once you are there take a few classes at the junior college and bide your time until you are a resident of whatever state you are in. I know guys that did this up in Maine and it worked out well for them. The school may not be happy about, but to hell with them. All you need to do is become a resident of the state. At Maine it would have saved me 75% on tuition if I had ever thought about doing this.
I would recommend engineering, if you can stand working in the E/R. Deck officers do well as long as we are going to sea, but coming ashore is difficult, since we have to compete with foreign officers that have moved to the US for a shore job and are willing to work twice as many hours for less pay.
Oh, don’t listen to all the BS about KP grads being assholes. Yeah, there are some assholes from KP and from Maine and from Mass, etc… Honestly, the biggest assholes I ever sailed with were both from California and I would still run them over if I saw them at the side of the road today.
I’ll back off on the blanket condemnation that KP’ers are generally all assholes. That is going too far but I will say that they are generally too uptight as mariners and carry a bit too much “I’m a Kings Pointer” around with them as they start going to sea and many keep wearing it years afterwards. That’s what I mean about the Regiment doing it to them. The maritime industry ain’t the Navy but KP’ers don’t seem to realize that.
As far as actually quality when they start out it all depends on the individual. The same goes for the state schools are well. Many men who choose to go to a maritime academy don’t have the temprement to go to sea and thus the vast majority don’t spend their whole careers sailing. It is those who do not have the personality to work closely with others in a shipboard environment are the ones that we end up labelling assholes. Those guys should realize it and get out of sailing and become ISM auditors or something like that.
Like KP’ers I’ve run across more often that not grads of Cal and Mass are also assholes but Maine, SUNY and TAMUG to be more suited to working at sea. Sorry to you Mass and Cal guys out there who are offended. but that is just a personal experience thing.