The price of tuition is going up - to keep up with the price of fuel.

I just graduated from Sage in Denver area - if you've not decided on a school yet, I strongly recommend SAGE, - no matter what the tuition is. THe one-on-one in the cab while driving is a HUGE advantage. It's NOT something you can "learn by observing", as some schools would have you believe.

I don't know of any campus that actually has dorms. They'll generally have an agreement or some such with a local nearby motel. When you consider that said motel would cost a normal person about $1500/month, $900 isn't so bad at all.

OF course, if the school hadn't been just 10 minutes from my house, I'd probably have packed up the tent and sleeping bag, and 40 pounds of ramen.

(and, for the record, in order to be an instructor at Sage, you have to have at least 5 years behind the wheel of a big rig - so they're all ex-truckers. AND the school is PTDI certified)

Good to hear from a SAGE graduate! Thanks, Lurch!

LURCH, Hey I read your recent post about sage on here and wanted to ask a question. When the recruiters come in and visit you at school, are they all big companies, or some locals come in also? Just curious.
Thanks

Lurchgs - Thanks for the info and good luck!

__________________
When the chips are down the buffalo is empty.

IC40...

huh - I replied to your question... but it's not here. Oh well.

We had only the two big name companies show up with recruiters. The instructors were not really happy either one was there, because it's not part of the curriculum, and they have to work around the interruption.

As far as me, personally, I'd have not paid any attention to ANY recruiter. His job is NOT to make sure I make the right choice. All he wants is a body in a truck so he can get his commission. Ergo, anything he tells you is with that goal in mind.

I'm looking into the the SAGE at Mohave Community College in Kingman, AZ. The one on one training that SAGE provides seems like a distinct advantage. However, I noticed that they are not PTDI accredited. How much of an issue might that be in looking for a job after getting the CDL?

Sinclue

Interesting - I wonder if it's that campus. The school in Denver is accredited and was making changes to the curriculum (for the next class) to adjust for PTDI requirement changes. Can you confirm their lack of accreditation? I do note that Sage explicitly doesn't claim all their *courses* meet (or exceed) PTDI standards, but nothing about individual campuses.

I can't say for certain, though, about post-school. I don't THINK it would be an issue (just about every school has a success rate) - just as far as getting a job. It MIGHT make a difference as to which job you get.

Sinclue - The PTDI certification is given to individual programs at individual locations. For example if Bob's Truck Driving School had a location in San
Francisco and San Diego, each would have to be certified separately. Some of Sage's schools are certified and some are not. They have to be in operation for at least 2 years before they can be considered. One advantage of SAGE, regardless of their certification status, is they are all using the same curriculum. The SAGE name carries a lot of weight with employers. The best of all worlds is a SAGE school that is PTDI certified because it is doing all the things the carriers want a school to be doing. That is what PTDI certification means. If you are looking at any non-PTDI certified school then SAGE is a great choice. Good luck!

__________________
When the chips are down the buffalo is empty.

Sage will be the school that I attend when i'm ready to take the plunge, but can anyone give examples of what things a PTDI certified school such as Sage covers, that a non-certified school doesn't? Just curious.

Kiterig - thanks, I didn't know that.

Hitman - it's not so much a "covered" and "not covered" thing - it's that a PTDI school WILL cover certain known curriculum. You will, now, practice using partly loaded trailers (minimum 15k pounds), for instance. Safety, pre trip inspections, trip planning... and so forth; l certain specific tools and techniques are taught.

Other schools may conform to the same curriculum, but without the certification, there's no guarantee. So, actually, that's what you are getting as an employer - a known commodity.

( I don't know if PTDI requires single student in the cab, but they should)