I am sorry to hear that Interstate doesn't pay for CT residents to go to school. Hubby and I are starting with Interstate in January. We had also talked to C.R.England and CRST but I am sooooo glad that we didn't go with CRST.

there is place called expedite solutions .. they run straight trucks but with a condo tractor.. at least you can get the feel of life on the road and get some experience with a smaller truck ... its an idea.. they only run teams ... check them out.. if you google them they will come up ...

bubba trucker

my 24 week full stress police academy didnt cost that much, with emergency vehicle op as well! Got a new glock 21 from it too. totalled $6400.00 for uniforms, equipment, instruction, pt, shoot range, etc. from march to the end of august...24 weeks. not 7k.....7K! sounds like some fancy accounting to a guy that got his class A for just under 1k.
I can't imagine what would cost 7k...

It really pays to look around. My girlfriend and I are just finishing up school for our CDL. I looked at 4 schools priced from about $4500 all the way up to $7500 per person. I would suggest checking out your community and technical colleges in the area. I think they are cheaper that way, or at least you'll get more bang for your buck. I paid $4800 for a 320hr, 3 month long evening course. We have put on about 1000 miles over the road in traffic with this school and that does not include the time we spent on the schools driving range and the countless hours we spent perfecting backing and such in the yard. Tomorrow we get to use the skidpad to practice skid and jacknife recovery. We earned our CDL about halfway through the program and did quite a few solo runs with another student as well. Sure, we could have taken the 160 hour course but I feel much more comfortable with a truck now which will help me make the cut when I'm with a company instructor.

To give you an idea why it pays to look around, I also visited another private school who offers a 160 hour course for $4500. So for another $300 I doubled my time. I also looked at another private school who offered a 200hr course for $7500! They don't even have a skidpad. So check out those colleges and see if they offer the training.

As for team driving, we are going with Werner. We also had a little trouble finding a company so we kind of got stuck with Werner. I beleive they hire from all over. They don't have the best reputation, but everyone says they really hand out the miles to teams and thats what we want. We are supposed to get some nice bonuses for teaming up as well.

Later,
Mike

I spent $7800.00 for an 8 week course in Manchester Nh in 1991. The school was called Northeast career Schools but is no longer in business. Do not let the price deter you. The fact is you will make 5 times the tuition amount your first year in trucking. Within 5 years you should be making between 50 and 60 grand plus benefits.
College students spend several thousand dollars per semester and do not have a job lined up in the field of their choice and will have tens of thousands in student loans due after graduation which will take several years of hard work to pay off.
Truck drivers on the other hand go to school for 4 to 6 weeks then spend 4 to 6 more weeks with a trainer and then start earning money for themselves in their own assigned truck. Pay should be around 750 per week to start depending upon cpm rate and miles driven. The sooner you get started the sonner you can start making a decent paycheck.