I have not gone to a Swift academy, but from reading posts here, If you go to a Swift Academy for CDL training, you are not committed to stay with Swift for any period of time after. If you did decide not to stay with Swift after training, you would have to pay the tuition, just as you would at a CDL school. I believe most of the Swift schools are PTDI accredited? Considering that PTDI schools are reputed to be the better schools, I am surprised that Swift drivers get such a rap for being so poorly trained. Most of the company schools tuition seem cheaper than cdl schools, although community colleges are usually the cheapest (if you can wait months rather than weeks).