Mandatory fees#
USCG original lower-level officer endorsement: $100 evaluation + $95 examination + $45 issuance if you test at a REC. CG-719K physical: $80–200 depending on provider. Drug test: $50–80. TWIC: $124 for a new card or in-person renewal. CPR / First Aid: $60–100. If you are not sure the voyage needs a federal credential at all, check whether your boat or yacht needs a captain's license before budgeting for the application package.
Optional but common#
Test prep ranges from $0 with self-study to roughly $400–900 for an in-person intensive; the USCG-approved course vs REC guide explains which classes can substitute for the Coast Guard exam. Sea-time-letter notarization: free if you have a notary at the bank, $5–10 elsewhere. Travel to a Regional Examination Center if you take the exam at the REC instead of a third-party school — see the USCG REC locations guide for the closest center to your home port.
What you pay at each stage#
The fees don't hit all at once. You spend on the CG-719K physical, the drug test, and the TWIC pre-enrollment before the application is even mailed to the NMC. The $100 evaluation fee posts when you submit. The $95 examination fee is due before testing at a REC. The $45 issuance fee posts after you pass and before the NMC prints and mails your Merchant Mariner Credential. Approved course providers may bundle exam administration into their course price, so verify whether the REC examination fee applies before paying twice.
Budgeting tip: front-load the physical, drug test, and TWIC because they each have their own lead time (TWIC fingerprint appointments can be a 2–4 week wait), and a stale CG-719P drug test will expire before the NMC review finishes if you wait too long to start.
Cost differences by credential tier#
USCG original lower-level officer fees are the same across OUPV, Master 25, Master 50, and Master 100: $100 evaluation, $95 examination, and $45 issuance. What changes is your prep cost and sea-time burden, not the fee. The dedicated Chart Plot module is on every OUPV and Master exam — it is not a Master-only add-on — so plotting prep applies to both; the Master tiers test a broader question bank and require more documented sea time (a Master under 100 GT baseline is 720 days versus OUPV's 360), which is where most candidates spend the extra prep weeks. If you upgrade from OUPV to Master 50/100 later, the raise-of-grade table is $100 evaluation, $45 examination, and $45 issuance, and you only re-test on the modules required by the ATT letter.
Near-Coastal endorsements cost no additional fees over Inland, but they require additional ocean / near-coastal sea time and you test on the COLREGs (International) Rules of the Road instead of the Inland Rules.
Merchant Mariner Credential vs "captain's license" — same document, same $240#
There is no separate fee for a "merchant mariner credential," a "captain's license," an "OUPV," or a "six-pack" — they are the same federal document under different names. The USCG issues every recreational-through-Master-100 captain a Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC): the passport-style booklet that carries your endorsement and rating. The mandatory MMC fees for an original lower-level officer endorsement are fixed at $240 by 46 CFR 10.219 — $100 evaluation, $95 examination, and $45 issuance — regardless of which name the search engine used to get you here.
That is why "how much is a merchant mariner credential," "six pack license cost," and "uscg captains license cost" all resolve to the same $240 in Coast Guard fees: the credential and its fee don't change with the credential's nickname or its tonnage. The only line items that move the all-in figure into the $600–1,200 range are the supporting paperwork (CG-719K physical, drug test, TWIC card, CPR/First Aid) and an optional prep course. The $240 in USCG fees is identical in every state, too — a "Florida captain's license" and a "Texas captain's license" are the same MMC at the same price; the state-by-state captain's license guides cover the local Regional Examination Center and scheduling.
How much is an MMC card by itself — the $45 fee, ratings, and replacements#
As of July 2026, the USCG fee to produce the physical Merchant Mariner Credential — the passport-style booklet — is the $45 issuance fee under 46 CFR 10.219; a full original captain's endorsement (OUPV or Master, the "captain's license") only reaches $240 in USCG fees once the $100 evaluation and $95 examination are added on top of that $45. So "how much is an MMC card" and "how much is a merchant mariner credential" don't have the same answer as the all-in $600–1,200: the card-production fee is $45, the original officer package is $240 in Coast Guard fees, and the $600–1,200 range only appears once the CG-719K physical, drug test, TWIC card, and CPR/First Aid are added.
The Merchant Mariner Credential is also one document that covers everyone from an entry-level Ordinary Seaman up to a Master, so the fee depends on the endorsement you request, not just the word "captain." An entry-level rating endorsement is a separate, lower-fee category that carries no officer examination fee at all, while the OUPV/Master officer endorsements are the $240 tier. And if you already hold the credential and only need the card replaced — lost, stolen, or damaged — the USCG charges the same $45 issuance fee to reprint it, with no fee at all for a duplicate MMC lost as the result of a marine casualty (46 CFR 10.219).
Renewal cost vs initial issuance#
Once you have the credential, the 5-year renewal cycle is materially cheaper than the initial issuance. The USCG fee for a basic lower-level officer renewal is $95 ($50 evaluation + $45 issuance) if you document 1 year (360 days) of sea service in the last five years and avoid the renewal exam. Candidates who can't show recent sea time can renew via the open-book Rules of the Road exam; that adds the $45 renewal examination fee, bringing the USCG total to $140. For the paperwork sequence, use the renew a USCG captain's license guide.
The recurring out-of-pocket costs are dominated by the TWIC card (also a 5-year cycle: $124 in-person, $116 online renewal when eligible), the CG-719K physical (24-month validity at issuance, so 2–3 renewals per credential cycle), and keeping CPR / First Aid certs current.
Hidden time costs#
Money isn't the only cost. The NMC application review takes 4–8 weeks once a complete package is received; missing forms or unsigned sea-service letters can push that to several months. After review, the NMC issues an Approval to Test (ATT) letter, which is valid one year — you have to pass all required modules within that window or the ATT expires and the evaluation fee is wasted.
Other time-bound items: the CG-719K physical is good for 24 months at issuance, so if your application stalls for a year and a half, the physical can expire before the credential is issued. The TWIC fingerprint appointment has its own queue at TSA enrollment centers (commonly 2–4 weeks). Building the sea-time package from owner/operator signatures can take longer than the exam itself if you sailed on multiple vessels.