Noonecandenythatthecostofa
college or university education in
the United States is expensive. A
complex set of factors drives the cost,
including decreased state funding per pupil; new
government regulations regarding gender equality,
diversity, ADA compliance, and safety on campus;
recessions and fluctuations in the economy;
increased costs of operating and maintaining
a campus with numerous facilities; growing
administration bureaucracies; and greater student
enrollment.
Fortunately, the Maine Maritime Academy
Board of Trustees is cognizant of these circum-
stances and has worked steadily to mitigate them,
but cost of attendance is consistently rising. Direct
costs of attendance at MMA--including tuition,
fees, room and board--runs between $22,618
and $45,694, depending on a student's major and
in-state vs. out-of-state status. Families often must
identify multiple sources of aid that are available
and applicable to their financial situation in order
to pay for college.
Financial aid, a great deal of which derives from
scholarships established by alumni and friends of
MMA, is one vital tool available to help students
offset their costs. In this two-part feature, we first
examine the scholarship aid that is available to
MMA students; and in the next Mariner (2015-3),
we wil profile some of the students who have
received these scholarships.
one of Maine Maritime Academy's highest pri-
orities is to keep tuition at rates that are affordable
while at the same time providing a life-changing
education to students, regardless of wealth. one
way the Academy helps to keep our cost of educa-
tion affordable is by administering scholarships.
There are two main types of scholarships that we
maintain through generous donations: endowed
scholarships and pass-through scholarships
An endowed scholarship can be created with
an outright donation or established as: a pledge
over a five-year period; a bequest; or, through a
number of planned giving vehicles. Donors can
specify criteria for the selection of student recipi-
ents (subject to certain policies), such as choosing
potential recipients by region, amount of financial
need, area of study, or student lifestyle (regimental
Paying It
or traditional). The minimum amount necessary
to establish an endowed scholarship at MMA is
$15,000, however many endowed scholarship
funds are larger. MMA has a total of 138 endowed
ForwArD: scholarshipsforastudentbodyofapproximate-
ly 975. Sixty-six percent of MMA endowed
scholarships have been funded by alumni, and 21
represent alumni class year scholarships. In fiscal
Scholarships at MMA
year 2015, the Academy authorized $625,000 in
endowed scholarships for student aid. Merit-based
Scholarships, such as the Presidential Achieve-
By Laurie Stone, Editor;
ments Scholar Award and the Dean's Scholar
Kathy Heath, Director of Financial Aid;
& Leah Bishop, Donor Services

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