FAQ
For most families, there is a big learning curve when your son or daughter enters the maritime academy. Just when you finish the freshman year and you think you have it down, you find out that each year is unique in many ways. There are some questions that seem to come up each year, and so this page is meant to help address those common issues.
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We pay a lot for our student's education! Why are we not kept informed about grades?
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or FERPA is a federal LAW that prevents the university or any of its employees from sharing personal information with anyone other than the student. In a nutshell, when your child turned 18, the right to review their school records transferred from parent to student. By law, all records may be viewed only by the student unless the student agrees to allow access to another specified individual. This is also why you are not supposed to use your student's HOWDY account. You need to get permission from your student to have your own HOWDY account with access to their information. You can learn more about FERPA and postsecondary education here:
Why doesn't Texas A&M Maritime Academy send important documents to parents?
In addition to the FERPA issue mentioned above, there are a couple of things that need to be considered. First, there are several ways that cadets get information
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ZOPT - required class for all cadets; Attendance is mandatory! This class time is when important information is passed along. Many cadets decide that they are not going to attend ZOPT for one reason or another and then are surprised when they don't know something important.
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e-learning accounts
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student e-mail
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company meetings
So, chances are pretty good that your cadet will have had the opportunity to access important information.
The second thing to consider is this: your son or daughter is training to operate or command a very large vessel in very challenging and sometimes dangerous conditions. It's imperative that each cadet develops a sense of personal responsibility.
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What are the expenses associated with being a cadet?
This really depends on which program your cadet belongs to (NROTC, SSO, LO, D&C) so it's hard to answer this question. Since the course catalog is no longer printed, we have to access this information online. Pages 37-44 of the course catalog address most of the expenses associated with the different programs offered by the maritime academy. Some of the expenses in 2013-2014 included:
$1500 for initial purchase of uniforms
$7500-$9000 for summer cruise (license option cadets)
$750 for Fire School Training (license option cadets)
Travel expenses for two march-ins
You can access the course catalog here:
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How does the cost of attending Texas A&M Maritime Academy compare to other maritime academies?
Using the information on the websites of the other five maritime academies, I calculated the average cost to attend for a resident cadet. The cost to attend Texas A&M Maritime Academy was approximately $1000 below the average of all the schools. It certainly isn't cheap, but it seems to be a good value, comparitively.