The story of a sailor's school that nobody knows. Money edition

The story of a sailor's school that nobody knows. Money edition

"Vocational schools cost a lot of money, right?"

When I tell people I'm going to a sailor's school, that's usually the response I get.

I get it. I thought so too.

But when I actually looked into it, that common assumption was easily proven wrong.

I attended the National Shimizu Maritime Polytechnic. It's a two-year school in Shizuoka run by an independent administrative institution. It is a national educational facility for training domestic merchant mariners.

There are only a handful of similar schools across the country.

Its name recognition is almost zero. But the content is the real deal.

And above all—it's cheap.

First, how much did it cost for two years?

Entrance fees, tuition, textbook costs, food expenses, and dormitory fees. Including almost everything required for school life, it was about 1.5 million yen.

The breakdown is roughly as follows.

Entrance fee: 50,000 yen, Tuition: 166,800 yen x 2 years = 333,600 yen, School funds (training fees, textbook costs, etc.): about 720,000 yen for 2 years, Food expenses (1st year): about 370,000 yen, Dormitory fees: about 12,000 yen for 2 years

Actually, at this school, the school funds are higher than the tuition. This includes the costs for training and teaching materials, which is an expense unique to a school that handles ships.

Even so, adding it all up, it stays within 1.5 million yen.

At this point, you might think, "That's cheaper than a national university." But that's just the beginning.

The true strength of this school is not the amount of money. It's in the time.

If you go to university, it takes four years. This school takes two.

The year my peers entered university, I entered the sailor's school. And by the time my peers were still in their third year of university, I had already graduated and was earning a salary on a ship.

It's not just that the tuition is half. In the remaining two years, you can work and earn money.

This difference isn't visible if you only compare the amounts.

And there is the most interesting point about the money talk.

It's food expenses.

I wrote earlier that 'the food expenses for the first year are about 370,000 yen.' Three meals a day are provided at the dormitory for this price. That alone is cheap enough.

But what you should pay attention to is the second year.

In the second year, you board an actual ship for seven months. And during this boarding period, food expenses are completely free.

There is a reason for this. There is a law called the Mariners Act for sailors, and it includes a provision that 'food expenses shall be borne by the shipowner.' This also applies to students during their boarding training.

Even though you are a student, your meal costs are free by law. I don't think there are many schools like that.

Let's summarize.

Entrance fees, tuition, school funds, food expenses, and dormitory fees. Including almost everything needed for living, it's about 1.5 million yen for two years.

The year my peers entered university, I started walking the path of a sailor. And by the year my peers graduated from university, I had already been working at sea for two years.

The duration and the costs are completely different from the normal route.

And what's more.

What happens when you board a ship with the qualifications you can get at this school?

According to statistics from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the average annual income of domestic sailors is said to exceed 6 million yen. By the way, my own starting salary as a new graduate was an annual income of 5.2 million yen.

Furthermore, while on board, you don't have to pay rent or utility bills. You don't have to pay for food either. Just like when you were a student, it is decided by the Mariners Act that food expenses are borne by the shipowner.

In other words, the money you earn remains in your hands.

Get qualifications cheaply, earn well, and have low expenses. When you line it up like this, it starts to look like a dream job.

——Of course, it's not all good things. I intend to write about that properly in an article called 'The Reality of Sailors' eventually.

And I haven't talked about the crucial 'qualifications' yet.

In the next article, I will write about what kind of qualifications you can earn at this school. The more you learn about it, the more surprising it is.

If you could support me with a like or follow, it would give me the strength to write the next part.⚓️
ーーAfterwordーー

Thank you for reading the second part as well!

I thought money would be the thing you're most curious about, so I decided to write about it. Actually, I was able to attend by working a part-time job and using a scholarship, so I think it was quite reasonable.

Of course, the payments were tough, though haha.

But with a sailor's salary, I think paying back the scholarship will be easy! Actually, there is also a system where part of the repayment is exempted if you join the union.

Next time, it will be about qualifications. Look forward to it~⚓️