Going to trucking school may be one of the best decisions you make. For one, trucking school will give you a leg up toward a new future in a career field that is always hiring. Two, it will give you the opportunity to further yourself with an education that you will be able to use all over the United States in the trucking/shipping industry. And third, it will help you to earn competitive wages while providing job security for you, which will better your quality of life and help you to make the kind of living that you have always wanted.
A lot of people like the idea of driving a truck because it is a job that pays well, offers great benefits and also offers the unique opportunity to travel and see new places. Some truck drivers only drive within a radius of a few hundred miles during their every day jobs but a lot of truck drivers drive all over the country, getting the opportunity to see all kinds of countryside as they do so. This is perhaps one of the main reasons, besides the money, that people decide to be truck drivers. People also choose this profession for the longer hours and the incredible demand that the shipping industry has for educated drivers. A good driver will always be able to find work, no doubt about it.
However, as with any profession, not everyone can become a truck driver. In order to drive for a good company, you usually need a degree or certificate proving that you have been educated and you also need to have one or more special kinds of licenses. There are a lot of schools that offer trucking degrees but they are definitely not cheap. A lot of them will work with you to help you pay for cdl training in the manner that suits you best but sometimes you need even more help! This is especially true if you have recently been laid off or if you barely make enough right now to cover bills. Before you can better yourself, you need to get an education so that you can get a better job. This will, in turn, help you to live a much more comfortable life. But education costs quite a bit of money, so it is actually a vicious circle!
State grants, however, can help to make trucking school a reality. State grants are state funded financial aid grants that help students better themselves by helping to provide education. Some state grants are small, while others are larger. State grants are also different from federal student aid, because they are state funded and not funded by a larger federal program. In order to get a state grant that will help put you to trucking school, you will need to do a little bit of leg work. Do not be daunted and most of all, do not give up! Your future as a truck driver depends on it!
First, you should consider exactly what trucking school you want to go to and check to see if they have financial aid offices where there are counselors who can help you acquire the funds you need. Even small financial aid offices, equipped with a few good advisers, can make all the difference in the world by hunting you down grants and aid that you would not normally have been able to find. So, checking with the school and asking them about possible funding options is a definite route you should take, even before deciding which school to attend.
Another thing that you will need to do is look at your state individually. Since state grants are state funded, each state is different. Just because one state offers a particular type of grant does not mean that the next state will and so on. Since all of the states are different, it is important that you look very carefully at the benefits that your state has to offer in terms of state grants. If it does not look like your home state has a grant to fit your needs, you may want to consider relocating to a different one. This might seem like a rather intense option but consider the results, moving to a state where you actually qualify for state grants may get a good part of your CDL school paid for!
One thing that you need to remember about state grants is that they are characteristically difficult to obtain for CDL training, mostly because trucking companies usually pay students back for education. For this reason, it is hard for many trucking school students to qualify for state grants. You will be much more likely to qualify for a Pell grant or a college loan before you would ever be able to get a state grant. But, getting a state grant is not necessarily unheard of, it is just not very common. Talking to your trucking school’s financial aid office is probably your best bet for getting a state grant in your state or at least getting a good lead on one. You can also visit different government run websites that give you information on state grants and these can be found for every state.
The most important thing that you need to remember about getting state grants for trucking school is not to give up! There are a lot of grants out there that are set aside for education and it is perfectly possible to get some of them for your schooling, but you will not be able to if you do not keep at it. If you are denied one grant, go for another one. Do not just apply for 1, apply for 10 and your odds of getting accepted for one will be a lot better!
Trucking school, like any school, will put you into a position to work at a job that pays you much better than most unskilled jobs. That means a substantial pay-raise for you, plus longer hours and better benefits. The education you need for this is actually not too expensive (compared to typical college courses) but it is definitely not cheap either! If you are looking to further yourself and your career by going to trucking school, then there just may be a state grant to help you pay for it. Between finding the right school, speaking with your financial aid office and browsing state government grant websites, you may just find the money that you need to take your career to the next level.
