<p>I'll contact Shirley Anthony who is the Parent's Association Coordinator and see if she can email the presidents of the various groups. I'll make sure it gets to the Mid-Atlantic Parent's Association as well.</p>
<p>My Congressman is on the list as well. I would welcome any and all "talking points" so that I can communicate our concerns effectively.</p>
<p>I would like to do what I can in support of KP, however I don't want to send a letter based on rumor. I think that what we need are facts that we can discuss and answers to questions such as:</p>
<p>Are there official discussions as to the future of KP?</p>
<p>Is the official budget for KP adequate?</p>
<p>Is KP receiving it's official budget allocation?</p>
<p>Are there any realistic cost savings opportunities at KP?</p>
<p>What is the government's payback on it's investment in the Midshipmen and how does that compare with the other Service Academies. (My guess is that KP stacks up very, very well!)</p>
<p>We could then discuss the importance and opportunities that this Academy has to offer such as; it's unique service to the military which would not easily be handled by the Navy, it's potentially unique ability to deal with terrorism threats from ocean going transport, it's potential ability to deal with alternative energy (this is the Dept of Transp, and KP has the Solar Home and lots of potential). </p>
<p>I think that KP's potential is great and creative minds would want to expand its functions not cut them.</p>
<p>I spoke with Vice Admiral Stewart yesterday and he did say that things are going to be tough for a while. He said rumors are making the m/n nervous and that he's had some come to see him and ask if the school is closing. The school is not closing! He welcomes the support of the parents. I've asked my son to get an accurate list detailing what the lack of budget approval has caused the school to cut back on. He and his roommate did say that the fuel for the Kings Pointer has been cut. The other issue that our kids are getting worked up about can be found in this link Help</a> Us Build the U.S. Public Service Academy | U.S. Public Service Academy. I won't make any comments since I haven't spent much time researching it but wanted to pass it along. As WYTL2009-B noted earlier, VADM Stewart does want the parents so write so I'm hoping that they will give us the facts that we need to include in the letters. Maybe Shirley Anthony will be able to gather that data for us. Suzannegra, can you ask her if she can provide us with a list of accurate facts that we can use in our letters when you call?</p>
<p>My daughter is at MMI and applying to USMA. My congressman is on that list. From my dealings with him and his office (he has been a MOC for 10 years and we have been through the nomination process twice) he is very supportive of all the service academies.<br>
He has appointed kids from our congressional district to USMMA who are currently there and have recently graduated.</p>
<p>Next month as soon as my daughter finds out about her nomination - I will write him a letter. What I have read in this thread bothers me a great deal.
If you would like to email/pm me specifics of what to include I will do just that - i.e. lack of heat etc.....(email might be better - my pm box fills up a lot)</p>
<p>My congressman is on that list too. We have a connection with him as my s (KP '06) graduated from high school with his daughter and they were acquainted. He did not nominate my s as he was not yet elected, since we were redistricted and a new congressional jurisdiction was created in our area. If someone provides the info from Shirley or a form letter, I'll be happy to use it and put some more personal stuff into it. When my s gets off his ship again I'll mention it to him also.</p>
<p>.........................as marine shipping is the only practical means for hauling any heavy goods worldwide, and an able and loyal crew is needed and the only way to ship these cargoes in an efficient and safe way, our Nation need always to promote service in the marine trades and continue to train officiers of the highest quality0 in the service of commanding our nations seafaring commerce....................</p>
<p>You can writethis stuff folks</p>
<p>I love it PROUDDAD2010!! Keep 'em coming. How about homeland security? There have to be a ton of more compelling reasons.....</p>
<p>
[quote]
.........................as marine shipping is the only practical means for hauling any heavy goods worldwide, and an able and loyal crew is needed and the only way to ship these cargoes in an efficient and safe way, our Nation need always to promote service in the marine trades and continue to train officiers of the highest quality0 in the service of commanding our nations seafaring commerce....................</p>
<p>You can writethis stuff folks
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't think anyone doubts the need for trained maritime officers, now or in the future.</p>
<p>The debate will be "should the Govt pay for them?"</p>
<p>Is a tuition-paying midshipman at a state maritime school more efficient and cost effective for the Govt than a taxpayer-funded federal service academy, and is the Govt getting their money's worth before these graduates leave after 5 years for high paying civilian jobs.</p>
<p>THAT is the mentality we are up against.</p>
<p>The same could be said for the other academy grads as well. I know of many Naval Academy grads that only remain active duty Navy for the minimum and then accept high paying civilian jobs too. If the mentality of "why should the federal gov. pay for schools" prevails then perhaps we should get rid of all the ROTC programs as well.</p>
<p>Folks, the debate about federally funded education has been going on for years. Once again because of the Congress not funding the budget we are feeling the pinch. If you recall this went on last year as well, and will probably go on for years to come.</p>
<p>But, we still need to write our representatives and stress the need for the Academy, because it's always a good thing to let them know what we think!</p>
<p>Good point Luigi59; that is the question that needs to be addressed in any letter that we send.</p>
<p>One could also argue that none of the Service Academies are necessary. They could be replaced by ROTC Programs and by the private military schools where students pay their own tuition such as VMI, the Citidal or Norwich. They could also be replaced by a Graduate Military Program like the British have at Sandhurst. However, there seems to a value in having a separate institution under the control of their respective branches. The value extends past the Cadets and Midshipmen to the institution itself which becomes a center for new ideas.</p>
<p>Also; Here is a thought on the School's value from Thomas Barnett author of The Pentagons New Map who visited the Kings Point last year and made the following comment; </p>
<p>"A substantial speech from Bush, much on Iran, at King's Point. Honestly, wouldn't cite just for that, except Enterra just signed a deal with the academy that sets up Steve as a visiting prof [press release] and has us team-teaching a grad course on global resiliency, which should offer us a great take-off point for deeper collaboration, plus far better understanding on how we turn this joint vision into a series of portable strategic concepts that can spread on their own.</p>
<p>The academy is a great place to start, almost the epitome of the military-market nexus, which naturally grew historically from global maritime trade."</p>
<p>Another interesting item. Check out this site:</p>
<p>US</a> Merchant Marine: Reviving A National Asset</p>
<p>It was written in 1992 but is still relevant. As the US Merchant Fleet dwindles, USMMA should become more inportant not less important.</p>
<p>Think everyone should take a look at that site that I noted in an earlier message. There are congressmen and senators that are supporting a brand new academy that will pay for students to become teachers, firefighters and policemen, etc. Maybe the Public Service Academy is a great idea (USPSA??) but not when they can't afford the ones that already exist!</p>
<p>Here is an interesting sight
ExpectMore.gov:</a> Maritime Administration - Merchant Marine Academy
that shows the goals of streamlining the academy mission and costs in the future (click on assessment details). One thing for example they are planning to do in the future is drastically reduce the number of setbacks allowed. Apparently the academy has already been tasked with reducing its costs. I'm an alumnus and a parent of a 2010 cadet and I have not heard or received anything from the alumni association that there is anything in the works to close the school. Im sure they would be all over that. The Admiral should do a better job of squashing those rumors. Making sure they get their share of the DOT budget has always been a challenge, some years more than others. The best thing to happen to the academy recently is that it was not moved to the enormous Dept of Homeland Security where it would be lost in the turf wars. At least it doesnt have to compete with another service academy for funding within the DOT. By all means letters of support to your representatives regarding funding for the academy should be encouraged and even automatic each year. In the end though it will be deeds that count not the words. It is important for every cadet and graduate to remember the mission of the academy. That is what they (the public) will judge us by.</p>
<p>.........................as marine shipping is the only practical means for hauling any heavy goods worldwide, and an able and loyal crew is needed and the only way to ship these cargoes in an efficient and safe way, our Nation need always to promote service in the marine trades and continue to train officiers of the highest quality in the service of commanding our nations seafaring commerce.......CLEARLY, OUR NATION NEEDS TO CONTINUE TO FULLY SUPPORT THE U.S. MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY AS ITS FIRST AND BEST SOURCE OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY OFFICERS POSSIBLE, TO OPERATE A FIRST RATE AND FULLY RELIABLE MERCHANT MARINE. </p>
<p>You can write this stuff folks.</p>
<p>Ok, I wrote my congressmen. easy.</p>
<p>but here's the real question- as I understand the whole problem revolves around congress' failure to pass a budget. instead they are passing temporary, stop gap measures for certain areas and the rest are left to use 06 budget numbers. If I'm right, that is what has created the problem at KP right now.
so the solution is pretty simple: get the transportation committee to submit a stop gap measure for KP. they are doing this for all the other aspects of the military.
it isn't that we have to sell them on the idea of USMMA. it's already funded! the problem is that because it's under DOT, it's not receiving special exemptions from the current budget wrangling in congress. So the folks at KP have to save $ until the budget passes. (unless they get a stopgap/emergency spending bill appropriation)
that's pretty much all that we need to focus on at this time right?</p>
<p>I think that there are both short term and long term budget problems at the school. I want to discuss my opinions on the long term ones now.</p>
<p>I spent some time looking at the Expectmore.gov website. I see that it is an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website. Ive tried to find OMBs assessment of the other Service Academies for comparison, but couldnt find any. FunnyI wonder why USMMA is being singled out?</p>
<p>I did see some interesting statistics at: ExpectMore.gov:</a> Maritime Administration - Merchant Marine Academy</p>
<p>Heres a quote from the report --The USMMA CPG (Cost Per Graduate) has consistently been the lowest CPG for all Federal academies since the statistic was developed by the GAO in the 70's. In FY03, USMMA CPG was only 51% of the average of the other four academies.</p>
<p>Here are some other statistics from that website:
School Cost per Graduate
USMMA $187,503
Coast Guard Academy $305,000
State Maritime Schools average $120,196</p>
<p>Yet USMMA received a low score on the question --Does the performance of this program compare favorably to other programs? --I wonder if it is possible for any service academy to be run as cheaply as a state school and still achieve their difficult standards.</p>
<p>Heres one more quote from the report that you might find amusing. --use of weekly midshipman count was used to develop lower cost method for billing for student meals (i.e. use of an actual count vs. estimate), resulting in reduction of food costs. --Right and also the lowest food reviews of any college in the country according to Princeton Review!!</p>
<p>My guess is that this is the type of long term problem that the academy is up against. I think that a well thought out letter to all of your Federal Representatives addressing both the extreme budget tightening that the Academy is experiencing and the absolutely critical service that the Merchant Marine plays in movement of military supplies is urgently needed. Its an election year and we will be watching!</p>
<p>The more things change the more they stay the same. Article from Washington Post 11/27/1997. Good reading and still applies today. One change from then, the Maritime Admin. does track graduates today and is going after a few that have not fulfilled their obligation. Sorry for the length but could not post a link to an archived article.</p>
<p>Preparing Students for a Sinking Industry
Merchant Marine Academy Remains Afloat in Sea of Federal Red Ink
[FINAL Edition]
The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Washington, D.C.
Author: Bill McAllister
Date: Nov 27, 1995
Section: A SECTION
Document Types: NEWS
Text Word Count: 2124</p>
<p>When Kara Mulcahy of Atlanta wanted to go to a military academy, she approached Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) about securing a congressional appointment. Which school would he recommend, she asked. Navy? Army? Air Force? Coast Guard?
Gingrich had a better idea, Mulcahy said. He urged her to enter a federally run school that sits among the big mansions overlooking Long Island Sound at the end of Steamboat Road. "Even Mr. Gingrich himself said it was America's best-kept secret," said Mulcahy, 21, now a junior.
The little-known school that the man who is now House speaker generously endorsed is the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The smallest of the government's five military academies in terms of budget, it is located on the immaculately manicured former estate of an automobile magnate. At the tuition-free, fully accredited four-year college, 938 students matriculate annually in Navy-style uniforms in return for five years of work aboard a commercial U.S. flag merchant ship. Failing that, they are supposed to perform military service or work ashore in a maritime job.
But faced with the precipitous decline of the U.S. merchant marine -- down to 351 ships from 3,644 ships in 1948 -- a number of government officials are questioning whether taxpayers should continue to spend $30 million a year to train workers for a private industry that is, by many accounts, dying. "It's a waste," said Randy Rupp, a National Institutes of Health legislative analyst, who served on a Clinton administration task force that two years ago recommended the school be closed. "My general conclusion was that, although it does provide a quality education, the need for it was outdated."
Transportation Department Inspector General A. Mary Schiavo surveyed the school this summer and recommended it be closed. She said the government could save $15 million to $26 million a year by sending students to the six state-run maritime academies the federal government also supports.
Echoing a theme first sounded by the Clinton administration's initial National Performance Review report, Schiavo labeled Kings Point, as the school is known, "an expensive academy." Moreover, she said, its graduates often fail to meet their commitments to work in the maritime industry or serve in a required military reserve program.
Alumni Lobby Congress
Thanks to a prodigious lobbying effort by the school and its friends in Washington, the academy has emerged from such challenges virtually unscathed. It is supported by both a Republican Congress and a Democratic president who have vowed to end questionable federal spending. This year, with the GOP in charge on Capitol Hill, Schiavo's challenges to the school went unheeded by key committees.
"We're stronger than ever," said academy superintendent Thomas T. Matteson in a recent interview. If anything, the threat to the school's future galvanized Kings Point graduates, who have considerable clout in the business world. According to a recent study by a Virginia college, the academy ranks among the top 25 colleges in the nation in the proportion of senior corporate executives it has produced.
A retired Coast Guard admiral, Matteson arrived here in the summer of 1993, less than a year after Army Gen. Colin L. Powell praised the school as "one of our great national assets." What he discovered was not a school basking in the limelight, but an institution under attack within the Clinton administration. As Matteson explained: "There is nothing like the threat of an execution in the morning to focus your attention."
When the Clinton administration toyed with a proposal to close the school in 1993, Lane Kirkland, then president of the AFL-CIO and a 1942 academy graduate, weighed in. School officials say he let Vice President Gore know he didn't like the idea of his alma mater being shut.
When the administration retreated and suggested instead that the midshipmen pay tuition, the alumni turned to Congress. Lawmakers responded by outlawing tuition at all of the government's five military academies. Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), who sponsored the legislation, claimed his law "saved" the academy.
School supporters say the law also shows that Kings Point has proved its worth. Critics counter that the school has survived because of the haphazard way the federal bureaucracy is being shrunk.
A Bargain Education
Either way, students and alumni agree that the academy is a bargain. Its staff of 194 is minuscule by comparison to the Naval Academy's 1,501, and at $118,200 per graduate, the cost of a degree there is cheap compared to the other service academies, which list their cost per graduate at more than $200,000.
"This school from day one has strived for academic excellence and has never retreated," said U.S. Maritime Administrator Albert J. Herberger, a Kings Point graduate who credits the school's "practical, hard-working approach" for his rise to three-star Navy admiral.
Despite the uniforms, parades and salutes, there are several major differences between Kings Point and the other four military academies. The students here are not paid by the government while in school, they are not subject to military laws, and they have to purchase a personal computer as well as pay fees of up to $1,600 a year.
Many students here acknowledge that Kings Point was their second choice among the military academies. Still, they love their school, exuding a cockiness that Herberger said comes from "the chemistry of early responsibility."
Students are challenged by an engineering-oriented curriculum that ranges from basics such as tying knots (to secure ships to piers) to thermodynamics. In order to graduate, students are required to spend one of their four college years at sea on a commercial U.S. flag ship, an experience that exposes them to the world of manual labor in a way few colleges match. "All of us here have been around the world and it really opens your eyes," said Michael Taylor, a 21-year-old senior from Valencia, Pa.
Given their world view, the midshipmen are baffled about why their school remains "the quiet institution," as Fred Sherman, an alumni president, once put it. "One of the things we fight is that the school is such a well-kept secret," said William Holmgren, 21, of Crofton, Md. Holmgren's solution: directing the plebes to write their congressional representative to urge support for the school's $30 million appropriation and express appreciation for their appointment to the academy.
While numerous projections show that the number of U.S. merchant ships will continue to decline, most midshipmen here are confident they can land a seagoing job. "If you want to ship out, you can get a job," said Marci Girard, 21, a senior from Medford, N.J., who worked on a tanker last year. "They said that if you have the will, there is {a ship} out there," said Joseph P. Kosteczko, 19, a second-year student from Gardiner, N.Y., who sailed the Atlantic this summer aboard a 495-foot container ship.
The school maintains a placement office that finds the students ships to sail and is supposed to help them find jobs at sea when they graduate. In the days of the Vietnam War, shipping companies would plead with the school to hurry graduations because they urgently needed crews for ships laden with war supplies, part of the boom-or-bust cycle that characterizes U.S. shipping.
Commitments Unheeded
Schiavo said the decline in the U.S. flag fleet -- probably down to 215 ships by 2000 -- and the technological sophistication of those ships will mean even fewer jobs afloat for graduates. Among her other complaints was the acknowledged failure of the Maritime Administration to determine whether the school's graduates live up to their commitments -- especially the requirement to work in the maritime industry. Inspectors discovered the agency rarely enforced the rule and found recent graduates working as mortgage lenders, patent examiners and lawyers.
Of the academy's 213 graduates in the class of 1987, inspectors said 204 failed to live up to their academy commitments -- some with more than one violation. Sixty-four failed to maintain a Coast Guard mariner's license for six years as required, 138 failed to serve in a required reserve maritime program, and 72 took maritime jobs ashore without first determining that there were no at-sea jobs they could fill. A dozen did not take maritime jobs.
"It's a knock we admitted," said Herberger, whose Maritime Administration oversees the academy. "The bookkeeping was horrid." Herberger said he has initiated new programs to better track graduates and said the agency will demand that any student who fails live up to his commitments repay the government for his education. The problems for Kings Point are more difficult than those faced by the other federal academies, where students who do not meet their commitments can be court-martialed.
Herberger called the inspector general's report on the academy "superficial" and his superior, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, agreed. Pena rejected the inspector general's argument against the school, declaring that Kings Point "makes a valuable and worthy contribution to the department and the nation."
Change in Mission
Today, with foreign ships carrying 96 percent of the oceans' cargo, school supporters say Kings Point's original mission has changed. "Step back and look at what we are. . . . Don't stop at `The Merchant Marine Academy,' " Matteson said, noting that the school now trains students for careers in transportation, not just ocean commerce. In 1993, the school revised its mission, giving less emphasis to what the admiral calls "port-to-port" shipping business and stressing the education of leaders for the "intermodal transportation system." New courses teach the economics of shipping by truck, train, plane and ship, and more students talk of working in the port business or shipping along the inland waterways, such as the Mississippi River, instead of the "blue water" oceans.
Schiavo, in her critical report this summer, took notice of the change but said the maritime industry remains the academy's "primary benefactor." No other private industry gets such support from the federal government, she said.
Schiavo's proposal -- to close the academy and let the nation's six state-run maritime academies assume its role -- infuriates many faculty members here, who say that Kings Point offers a far better education than the state schools. What the state schools have "just does not match what is here," said Jose Femenia, who spent 31 years on the faculty of the nearby State University of New York's Maritime College before becoming dean of the engineering department here. "We put out a kid that very few institutions can put out."
Besides, noted navigation instructor George Sandberg, who spent 19 years at sea, with the decline in U.S. ships the country needs a supply of trained mariners who could go to sea on commercial ships in times of a national emergency. That makes "the existence of this place even more important," he said.
Jobs were not an issue when Kings Point dedicated its campus here in 1943. There were thousands of U.S. ships then and little reason to question President Franklin D. Roosevelt's vision of the school's mission. "This academy serves the merchant marine as West Point serves the Army and Annapolis serves the Navy," Roosevelt declared in a 1943 letter on display in a small museum here. " . . . No finer traditions have been recorded in history than those of our seafaring men."
Rick Marriner, 21, a senior from Norfolk, Va., said that tradition was what brought him to Kings Point. Both his grandfather and father sailed. "As early as I can, I remember hearing sea stories and wanting to be part of the dream," he said. Now, Marriner said, he, too, will go down to sea. It's not a question of whether there will be enough ships, he said. "If you can be competitive enough, you can sail."
THE COST OF A UNIFORMED EDUCATION
The Merchant Marine Academy claims the lowest education cost per graduate of the five military academies.
[Table]
Academy Enrollment Cost per graduate
U.S. Air Force Academy 4,048 $250,000
Colorado Springs
U.S. Naval Academy 4,000 $203,000
Annapolis
U.S. Military Academy 3,962 $265,000
West Point, N.Y.</p>
<p>U.S. Merchant Marine
[Table]
Academy 938 $118,000
Kings Point, N.Y.
U.S. Coast Guard Academy 854 $215,000
New London, Conn.</p>
<p>Students at the academy are supposed to work five years aboard a U.S. flag merchant ship. The number of such ships has plummeted in 25 years.
Oceangoing commercial ships, at least 1,000 gross tons
1970: 843
1995: 351
SOURCES: Federal military academies; U.S. Maritime Administration</p>
<p>Thank you for an article that provides excellent information AND helps keep the current situation in perspective. As the parent of a Plebe, I am very impressed with the USMMA alumni I have met in the past year and with their strong support of the Academy and its midshipmen. Thank you to all of you who continue to give to Kings Point, long after you have graduated. I'm certainly proud to have my son attending an institution that has produced this caliber of leaders.</p>
<p>I wish the majority of us lived close enough to KP so that we could actually meet and get a task force started to move in the right direction. (Is that possible?) An interesting thought...as congress continues to not pass the budget, they are in the process of nominating the class of 2012. Ironic, no?? Our letter is in the draft stage but I'm also planning on calling my congressman. He was recently elected so I'm hoping that he'll be willing to take the call in light of the fact that December is when his committee starts the nomination process.</p>