Consider the California Maritime Academy

A maritime academy is a college that teaches you how to become a ship’s officer or captain. Although there aren’t as many jobs on ships as there once were, the skills you learn at maritime academies (basically engineering, project management, leadership and business administration) are broadly applicable in today’s economy.

The smallest and most specialized of the California State University campuses, the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo enrolls about a thousand students.  That makes it about the size of our high school!  But our school doesn’t have a 67-acre campus and a 500 foot long ship.  To go there you have to like boats and ships of course, but with majors like business administration, global studies and engineering you don’t necessarily have to become a ship’s captain or officer after you graduate.  Cal Maritime says it has a nearly 100% job placement rate for its graduates, with much-higher-than-average starting salaries.  (This is true for all maritime academies.)  They also have really good water polo and sailing teams.  And, you get to cruise the world on their training ship the Golden Bear.

There are several other maritime academies in the United States:
Maine Maritime Academy: http://mainemaritime.edu/
Massachusetts Maritime Academy: http://www.maritime.edu/
United States Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point, New York.  (This one is free!): https://www.usmma.edu/
United States Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut. (It is also free, but you have to serve in the Coast Guard afterwards): http://www.uscga.edu/
State University of New York Maritime College: http://www.sunymaritime.edu/
Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Michigan: https://www.nmc.edu/maritime/
Texas A & M University Maritime Academy: http://www.tamug.edu/corps/