Why don’t you go to Coastal Transportation or Western Towboat and start sailing as a deckhand right now? No MMC is required. They paid good. The voyages are relatively short.
You can make money now and acquire seatime toward AB. God only knows when NMC will do something as simple as issue your entry level MMC. It could be tomorrow or months from now.
After you have your MMC and other Certs in hand, then you can go to SUP or SIU