Good Afternoon MMA Students,

Although the key features of this message apply to the graduating Seniors in our License Programs, I wanted to share this information with all of you so that you understand the process for issuing diplomas and obtaining licenses from the Coast Guard.  Please note that the basic process is unchanged from prior years and it has not been unusual for the graduate licensing process to take several weeks after graduation before the graduate would actually have their license “in hand.” If you are not aware, it is part of Federal Law that we cannot issue Unlimited License Program graduates their MMA diplomas until their license has been issued.

As I mentioned in prior emails, we are working with the Coast Guard at the National Maritime Center (NMC) so that we can get Seniors their diplomas and licenses. To give some more insight into what is happening, this is how the Registrar has described the process:

• The Registrar’s Office is working diligently to complete graduation audits for seniors who have completed all of their degree requirements, but this will take a bit longer this year due to the challenges of remote operations.
• The USCG/NMC is also facing similar challenges with remote operations and limited staff for license production.
• Together, MMA and the USCG/NMC have an agreement that licenses will be provided in early June. This is designed to efficiently expedite the process and timeline for completed students to receive their licenses. Students who will complete their degree requirements at a later time are not included in this initial agreement and are not impacting this timeline.
• As the remaining Seniors complete their requirements, the Registrar will be following the same process for those students and will work to get their credentials issued as quickly as possible.
• Students who are eligible to receive their license may provide prospective employers with the Reference Number located on the photo page of their current MMC.  If the information on the NMC website is up-to-date, a prospective employer may be able to verify that a student has completed their exams, but this does not confirm graduation.
• Please be patient.  The graduation audit process is a multi-step project which must be completed to determine if a student has earned their diploma and USCG license.
• Please be courteous and do not call the NMC at this time.  Our agreement with the NMC has already placed MMA’s license production on a “expedited track” and individual student contact/calls will not change this timeline.

We fully expect that we will be able to provide diplomas and licenses to all Seniors who have completed all requirements in June.  Should there be issues that will impact that, we will let you know as soon as possible.

For non-licensed majors, we should be able to start issuing diplomas later this month as the audit process is completed. As I mentioned in a prior email, those diplomas will be issued in batches as they are ready.

We do understand how important this is to all impacted students and will make every possible effort to get credentials issued in a timely fashion.

I hope that helps clarify things.  I wish you, and your families, good health in these challenging times. Please let us know if you have additional questions.

Prof. Coté

CAPT Mark Coté, USN(Ret) PE
Acting Provost/Academic Dean
Professor of Engineering
215 Leavitt Hall or 212 BIW
Maine Maritime Academy
(207)326-2485 or 2102