Work schedules that have a mariner offshore away from home six
to seven months a year deprive today’s offshore worker from many rewards, and
goals a person working on land is able to obtain without much difficulty. One of those rewards, almost unobtainable, is
a college degree — until now.
South Central Louisiana Technical College’s Young Memorial campus in Morgan City, La., has developed an associate
degree in marine transportation that the Louisiana Board of Regents recently
approved.
The degree contains courses needed for a mariner to move
along their career path from Able Seaman to Master. What makes the marine
transportation degree unique, the college says, is that it will give working
mariners credit for their time at sea.
The college says it recognized and created this degree so
that mariners working on their merchant seaman credentials could also be
working on a college degree. The marine transportation degree allows a mariner
to exit with a certificate of technical studies, a technical diploma, or an
associate of applied science in marine transportation. These credentials will
allow the mariner a chance to obtain the rewards not usually offered to an
offshore worker.