No sir! NOT a FREE ride! Just financing for a ride. Having to pay a company back at 18% interest is never a free ride. Any out-of-pocket expense will be a true hardship for us until we start getting paychecks (sometimes 4-6 weeks after starting some schools)!

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"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it."
(From a short story by Michael Gartner)
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Free information: Sometimes it's worth what you pay for it!
(Anon)
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Hi,

I am almost finished at the Dallas Schneider school and I have almost the same info as above.

Here they gave us tickets for Lunch and Dinner at the cafeteria. Amazingly the food was filling for even me and I eat a lot.

They had most of my class ride a greyhound bus or take a van from West Memphis, AR. Bus was a little crowded but wasn't that bad for me anyway.

I did have to room with somebody at the La Quinta Inn. Lucky for me the room mate was ex army and was used to it. Also he was quiet and no problems.

Also in Dallas they have 2 school buses that pick you up each day at the hotel and take you home each night.

The contract in Dallas is 18 months. I am pretty sure it's like that all over too. The $200 they suggest you bring is mostly for things you want to buy, like snacks and stuff. You need the CDL permit fee. You begin being paid on graduation day, but the money isn't paid until the next Friday. It is $300 per week now. You can have a $100 advance for your Training engineer over the road training. The contract is supposed to be paid by payroll deduction of $12.50/wk and the company forgives $50/wk. Then at 18 months of working for them there is a bonus for the rest of the contract fees. So far I can't prove that is how it works, but that is what we were told. I'm not sure about the bonus part. I read that here I think.

TruckerJo is right, it is a good program. Even if it is like trucking boot camp. Frankly I think there were too many breaks. Less breaks maybe we could have put off school until the sun rose, and this was in May/June.

The thing is after your classroom graduation, which is the first 14 days, the food tickets run out and you buy your own food. I bought some lunch meat and bread for maybe $25 per week, and my TE had a cooler in the truck.

They way it works in general is this:
If you don't get a CDL permit in your home state they have you arrive 2 days early. One day is used for going over the CDL DMV book. It's a lot of information.

The next day you go to the DMV and hopefully pass all of the written tests. In Texas they are on a touch screen computer. If you don't pass one of the tests they tutor you and you try the failed test again. If you fail again at the DMV, they tutor you some more. Then you retest. If you still fail again, they have a chat with you about why you keep failing. They will probably tutor you some more. Then you retest. Hopefully you have gotten it by then. In Texas on the first try you get 2 chances to pass. I didn't fail any written tests, so I don't have actual experience with the retest process. This is what the prep instructor told my class.

The next day, usually Saturday the actual classes begin. Here they pick you up at 5:30am in the bus. For the next 14 days you do book work, simulators, lab, and driving with the in truck instructor. There were 26 students at first day in my class. We only lost 4 for various reasons during the 14 days.

After 14 days, which ended on a Friday, they have graduation. This is where training pay begins. You get boots and some final paperwork and testing. You also get your TE assignments. A lot of my class left that day to begin about 10 days of over the road training. I had to wait at the hotel until Sunday that week, but believe me a break is bliss. I was lucky to get "Family Dollar" dedicated account. I wasn't really lucky, that job is hell for me. You get to deliver to the stores, which is hand unload onto rollers that go into the store. It might not have been bad if it was March or October.

When you are done with your TE training over the road, you come back to school for SQT testing. That is the company test where you prove you can deliver loads and do the job.

After SQT, you take the driving part of the DMV test. If you go to Texas, I have heard it's the easy one to take. All the backing is blind side parallel parking and strait line backing. Believe me both are easier than they sound. There are exact ways to do it, not like a car.

This has all been my experience in the Dallas school, which I finish in 2 days from now. I was a little backward, since I took my CDL driving test first then Monday I do the SQT. There could be differences at other Schneider schools, but in Dallas, Tx this is the way it was from May 17th to June 22nd, 2008. Sorry if I am long winded, but this kind of post is what I wanted in May, before I came to school.

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Schneider employee, Dallas, Tx.
Meteorology student (no longer).
And I didn't fail, I quit! Just to make it clear
Ham Call: KD5GIV

Husband went to Roehl's training, past 100% on classroom and 98% on the range. Took cdl test and aced air brakes and backing and got 5 points on road test, so he did well. When it came to the Roehl test out he got a B on written test and 2 things wrong on road test, and was told wouldn't get hied with no explaination why. There were 5 others that took the test out and all were not hired, no reason given. Now we got a bill in the mail for the training, it said that he did not fininsh the course, which he did everything he was told and did everything with high marks and still no job. They want us to pay even if it he didn't break the contract. Why are companies getting away with this if they are the ones to break the contract, he wanted to work for them but didn't get hired. Is there something going on with these companies? I really don't feel we should have to pay because they did not hold up to their end of the bargain. Any advice? Has anyone gone to their training and gotten a job with them in the last month in Marshfield?

Red Fang you may want to take a look at Central Refrigeration. We are. They have a "barracks" they put you up in, pay for breakfast and dinner and first week's pay out on the road is about $450

Hi,

Well is it breach of contract for a company not to hire you if you pass their training? Isn't that part of the deal? I'm no lawyer, but it seems if that is the understanding that working for them is were the money is coming from. I don't know but be sure to read it and one word can void the contract. I am with Schneider and you are expected to pay $12.50/wk by payroll deduction, so it implies that you are an employee with them, since they can't deduct money from my check if I am not employed.

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Schneider employee, Dallas, Tx.
Meteorology student (no longer).
And I didn't fail, I quit! Just to make it clear
Ham Call: KD5GIV

Red-Fang, I know what you mean. We're broke, and options seemed limited. Things may have changed drastically for me, because of my smoking habit! Read my post #37 in the thread below:

h[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

By chance, I found a friend who will help me get my CDL without going to a school and paying big bucks! My situation is far different from most of you (I drove trucks before), but it illustrates how quickly your options can change. If you find the right "friend", your options can change too! Read the thread, then take a chance, next time you see a rig parked somewhere near your home!

Before schools, all training was OJT (on-the-job), and it does still exist!

__________________

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it."
(From a short story by Michael Gartner)
________________

Free information: Sometimes it's worth what you pay for it!
(Anon)
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check out CR England they take the bottom of the barrel but rember you get what you pay for

You will more than likely pay more than 18% interest!

Almost all schools have a cash discount price...... you need to take that added loss into account when you are figuring your expenses....... if you end up paying 30% - 40% more than someone else it doesn't matter what you want to call it (interest, discount, fee).....money is money.......

[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

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The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. — Albert Einstein

For now..........in some states........

There is legislation or something right now to make school mandatory in the entire country........

I don't think DOT would have gone to all the trouble of making all the rules and regulations for schools if they weren't going to move toward making them mandatory......... that doesn't make sense......

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The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. — Albert Einstein

Ain't gonna happen, Storyteller! Despite the "talk", CDL requirements are already more stringent than for a pilot's license, and formal schools aren't even mandatory for them! Legally, for a private pilot's license, all you need is 40 hours of flight training documented by any certified flight instructor, pass an FAA physical, the FAA written exam (all you need is a 70% score, and I think it's only 150 questions, if I remember right), and then pass your flight test. You aren't even required to go to a formal school for your Commercial or Airline Transport license, although most do (just take more training from a CFI and accumulate the required flight time). You can actually get a private pilot's license quicker than getting a CDL through most schools!

To require any more than this for a CDL would be ludicrous, and the trucking lobby (already more powerful than the airlines) wouldn't stand for it.

__________________

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it."
(From a short story by Michael Gartner)
________________

Free information: Sometimes it's worth what you pay for it!
(Anon)
________________