OTR and college is possible...I am doing it right now.

I have had a few questions both on the forum and in person about how I manage to do college and be an OTR trucker. I figured I would create a thread on one of the forums that gets the most traffic to reach the most people so here it is. The point of this thread is information, it is not a debate on college. If you believe that college is pointless that is awesome! I don't need to hear it though. Perhaps nobody will care about this topic and that is fine but google searches happen every day so it may not be useless after all. Some may ask, 'how is this related to this forum?' Well, loosely I'll admit but I am an experienced trucker and I am giving advise. That and the generous permission of the Admins and here it is.

A little about me: I am an irregular route, stay out for 5 weeks at a time tanker yanker. I have no idea where I will be next week and I don't really care. I sleep in my truck and I drive 2500 to 3000 miles a week. While I would never go so far as to pretend to know everyone's situation I would hazard to say that if I can do it so can many drivers on this forum. I simply convert some of my free time to school is all.

If you are going to do college as a driver then online education is absolutely a must. There are so many online schools available that I couldn't possibly name them all. Many public schools do online now as well. Typically there are three choices. Traditional, fully online and hybrid, Traditional is well traditional, you go to the lecture hall in person with other students. Obviously as drivers this is the least favorable option. The other is full online, which means you do it all over the net. The third, hybrid, is a mix and while every school does it differently it typically means the bulk the work is online and you test in person.

Here is how I do it, my method isn't the only one available but it works for me. I have two phones, one a T-Mobile and one a Verizon. I do this because I absolutely must have internet available. These phones cost me about 150 a month with a total of 10 gigs of hotspot which is plenty. I have a laptop which is essential and it cost me about 200 bucks. It's not fancy but you don't need a fancy one and I have a Kindle Fire which I download my books too. The Kindle has a search feature which helps more than I could even explain when looking up specific information in the book. I drive my shift and like all of you settle down for my 10. Two hours a night is more than enough to get the weekly work done.

Time is of course many peoples greatest reservation about school. Well there are ways that can be shortened. CLEP testing can be done for you entire general education classes. Most universities except up to 30 credits, that's a year done right there. CLEP testing takes 2 hours max per test. Of course you have to study but they are doable. PLA or Prior Learning Assessment is a portfolio you put together to be given college credit for life or work experience. Be warned though, that 30 credit limit will apply to this as well. So you can't do 30 CLEP credits and 30 PLA credits. CLEP tests cost 80 dollars and usually a 15 or 20 dollar sitting fee. You get that? That means if you pass you just took an entire course for a 100 bucks. That is credit that can be transferred anywhere. PLA cost vary but they are usually more expensive since they must be reviewed.

Many online schools offer 8 week classes and while these classes are certainly fast paced they are twice as fast as the traditional 16 week schedule and that means 2 years into one. Here is the other fun part. You don't have to have your general ed done before taking your core classes. This means you can be studying for CLEP the ENTIRE time you are going to school. So another way of saying it is 3 years into one if you wish.Two 8 weeks classes is considered full time but you can also do more if you want, or if you can handle it.

For you military guys; what if I told you that you were probably already a sophomore? Well you probably are or very close too it. JST or Joint Service Transcripts convert military classes into college credit. They are accepted at just about every institution. Did you retire from the military? Then you may already be a junior or close to it. You have to have it reviewed to see. Your G.I Bill will also pay for your books and a monthly stipend. Now this is where us online guys get screwed. I get 750 bucks a month, if I was going to class traditionally I would get 1500. Two classes is full time and you won't earn more by taking 3 or 4 at a time so there is that. Virtually every accredited school will have a more than willing veteran's department that will help you completely so don't let the process scare you.

If you want that degree and you can't afford to quit driving there is hope, you CAN do it I promise. Most schools have free tutoring services available. Plus there are study groups, forums and the Quad that will all help you. You can get work done at the dock, under the rack or while laid over. Most of the time I am done with all my work by Thursday so it's not like I don't have any free time. Download podcast to help you research, audiobooks for the same reason so that you can work and drive. It can be done, but like everything it takes work and effort. If anyone has any questions I will do my best to help you.

 

Lot's of people ask me how they correct for cheating online. Many ways actually. One method is to download a program that locks your computer from internet searches while testing, some use a webcam to proctor and some require you to go to a testing center and still others rely on nothing but the format. What I mean is that the questions on a final are typically asked in a way that you couldn't simply google them. Remember that even in traditional classrooms many tests are open book. Oh and of course the stupid time limit, spend all your time Googling and you will fail.

Also, you can't cheat an essay or forum post. Everything is checked for plagiarism and if caught you will be expelled. Basically it is not any easier to cheat online, you could cheat differently perhaps but it would still be as effective or ineffective as traditional cheating.

 

Picking a school can be daunting but it doesn't need to be. Not every school offers the same degree so decide what you want to do and that will narrow it down significantly.

Accreditation is obviously a must, especially regional accreditation. A simple Google search will tell you all you want to know. Also, don't rule out for-profit schools because here is a dirty little secret, they all are.

While many for-profits aren't good many are and are actually better geared toward the online experience. A day with Google and you will make a good choice I assure you.

 

Getting work done whenever possible is a must. I am a tanker driver and what happens is a lot of the time I have to go sit in a driver's lounge while getting loaded or unloaded. What I have is a laptop bag that looks like a backpack. I keep my computer, notebooks, Kindle, pens and spare chargers so all I have to grab are my phones and I am ready to work while waiting.

This method also has the benefit of making my wait times go by pretty fast too, lol!

 

Very difficult to answer because there are so many factors. But if forced and please don't quote me on this I would say about 40 to 50k if doing it without military. But if you CLEP a lot you can drop that down to 30 or so. It can be done cheaper but cheaper usually means longer.

 

If going for a Masters then 30 to 100k. I've never seen any Masters program cheaper than 30. But if you look at the stats a masters degree tends to increase your earnings potential very favorably.

 

I want to add that I didn't address cost because there are so many variables that it would be almost useless for me to do so. Cost is something every person will have to figure for themselves. There are programs, grants, non-traditional credit, military, employer benefits. Simply a myriad of possibilities.

 

I'm getting a Logistics degree. Want to move into management once that's done. Logistics in in the field of Business so a lot of schools may call it a business degree with a Logistics track.