My experience @ NETTTS today.

Jesus jumping Christ!! 540 hours of truck driving school? My god, what the heck are they teaching you, how to build trucks?

That is insane, ridiculous....no OUTRAGEOUS!

There is no reason to have a trucking program at 540 hours. Period...never, ever, complete waste of time.


Let me be clear, YOU WILL NOT GET A BETTER JOB with 540 hours of training over 160 hours of training.

Anyone who says otherwise is either uneducated or a liar.

I know students, right out of school getting dedicated runs, home every day, $1000 per week minimum with weekends off. I know other students breaking $70 to $80 thousand a year in their first year. All of them with 120 to 160 hours of training.


The reason why they do 540 hours HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A BETTER CAREER FOR YOU.

They do it so they can get Title IV funding, which is based on credit hours. They would not qualify with a 160 hour program.

They do that for them, not for you.


That is the scam.

 

Say what you want, and I am sure there are selfish motivations to the length of the program, but I came out of there knowing a lot more than my students who went to the 3 week puppy mills, and the OTR training schools...well we've all seen enough Prime road hazards....

will you get 540 hours with every second packed with content, obviously not. Will you learn more than the bare minimums to pass the test, yes. Pretty much the only thing I didn't know coming out of there was how to work the Qualcomm and keep lot lizards away.

 

Justify it however you want....you didnt come away with a $10,000 education. No school can teach you how to be a truck driver, none.....I dont care if it 5400 hours.

You learn that by doing. The school is ONLY good for getting your license and meeting the hiring standards of good companies that will then take you and put you behind the wheel of truck with an instructor 1 on 1, actually out there on the road, being a truck driver, doing the job....while you are getting paid for it.


And for those going to that 540 hour program, it didnt cost you $10,000....it cost you much much more. For that 12 to 13 weeks you are in school, guess what you are NOT doing....MAKING MONEY!

If I go to a 3 week 160 hour course and you go to a 12 week 540 hour course, that is 9 weeks of being unemployed. Average first year pay for drivers going to companies like TMC, DOT, YRC, Dart, Melton....just to name a few, is about $50 to $55k first year. Thats around $1000 a week.

So your 540 hour course costs you an additional $9000 in lost wages.

Thats ridiculous.

 

I didn't pay 10,000 went I went nearly 8 years ago, but like I said: I knew pretty much everything I needed to do my job.

I did complete the 8 week training program at Werner, and I was a trainer there as well. I agree you're going to need more than any truck driving school can provide. Are you going to get that from an OTR Trainer? Very likely not! You know how many horror stories I've heard about some of these guys? If they're doing classroom and road in 3 weeks, how much time are they spend teaching them about jacknifing? Bridges freezing? Empty vs loaded vs bobtail? That's barely enough time to teach someone a pretrip, and how to fumble their way through the maneuvers and road test.

i was fortunate to have gotten a very good OTR trainer who I'm still friends with years later. I gained experience, and learned how to deal with shippers/receivers but there was next to nothing to actually teach me about the operating of a truck that I didn't learn at NETTTS. There were even a few areas(sliding tandem/weight distribution comes to mind) where I knew better from NETTTS than my trainer did.

If if you want to advocate people go to Prime/CRST/England OTR "schools", or Roadmaster and the other 3 week mills, that's fine. Personally, I see enough terrible new drivers that either aren't "getting it" from school or trainers that Id rather see them at least go to a school that I know is doing there job. Despite the sticker shock, it's paid off for me and some of the other grads I know.

 

I Went To NETTTS Recently Graduated An Passed my State Road Test my First Time Now on a Bus Headed to Orientation with Prime Inc

 

I DID The 540 program which is 22weeks i worked Monday thru Friday an had School on sat an sun 7am-5pm an wed nights 5:30-9:30/10

 

Twin Screw I guess all you see is the 540 hours but did not read the rest of my posts. The 160 hours you must pay out of pocket I don't know about you but not working for 6 months I could not come up with the $$ out of pocket.
The 540 you can take out a loan, yes you are paying more but if driving is the path you want to take and don't have the out of pocket $$ you do the 540 class.

Also as posted not only by me but others you get so much more from the 540 hour class.
Now you may have a clue how to drive a truck but take most of the students in my class and some from the short class can hardly drive a car or know anything of a car or truck the longer class is a help.
I was helping a short class person that could not even back up or do PTI/D&H it was sad. Because he was holding me back I had to walk away from him.

As I also said to each their own and why they have the different class hours.
Dave ----

 

Yeah, because the 540 program qualifies for Title IV, so you took out a student loan funded with tax payers dollars. I am not saying you will, but the majority of truck driving school loans default....they never get paid back. So the tax payers are on the hook for the training they provide and make a killing from.

They are abusing the system and I hate that garbage.

 

I pay taxes so I am using my money!
Some say "abusing the system" others say "using the system"
My credit is vary good and I will not ruin it by defaulting on this loan, never have never will.
As funny as it sounds because my credit is so good I was limited to how much (not a lot) of money I could get thru a loan.
Dave ----

 

Like I said, not you I am sure. But the student loan industry is plagued with scams....Netts is one.

People willing to sign off on a $10,000 loan because you dont want to save $3500 cash. With interest included....you wouldnt be the first trucker Ive met that was paying their truck driving school loan off 10 years later.