State Maritime Academies

Licensing-track graduates leave with three things: a bachelor's degree, a U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential (a Third Mate deck license or Third Assistant Engineer license), and the option of a military commission.

That commission usually comes through the Strategic Sealift Midshipman Program (SSMP) — a Navy program offered only at the maritime schools (and Kings Point). Participants take Naval Science courses, and on graduation can be directly commissioned as ensigns in the U.S. Navy Reserve as Strategic Sealift Officers (SSO) — the reservists who help crew the nation's sealift fleet. Some graduates instead pursue active-duty or other-service commissions, and several academies also host traditional NROTC units.

Money and obligation work much like Kings Point: MARAD's Student Incentive Payment (SIP) can provide up to ~$64,000 over four years, in exchange for maintaining the license, a period of maritime employment, and reserve service (an 8-year military service obligation for those commissioning).

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2024), the median for captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels is about $85,500, and for ship engineers about $101,000 — with the top tenth above $160,000.

For academy graduates specifically, that typically means an entry-level Third Mate / Third Assistant Engineer earning roughly $80,000–$100,000+, and senior licensed officers — Chief Mate, Master (Captain), Chief Engineer — reaching ~$150,000–$250,000+ on higher-paying deep-sea and specialized vessels. Mariners usually work rotational schedules (often roughly equal time on and off), so that income is earned in compressed sea time, and overtime and union scale push it higher.