Seeking Advice on trucking career

Hi, all. I have been pondering for sometime on how to approach my problem but both option seems to have negative side effects to them. I'm 21years old, i have my CDL class A permit and i'm a college student. The issue is how to get my cdl license and land a job. As far as i can tell i have 2 options. to sign up with a company, recieve training and work for 2years for them to help pay my school loans down or i could rent a truck for $150 each time and practice until i feel confindent enough to take my skills test and pass it. Also trucking school seems to be out of the question due to the added expense and no possible way to pay for it.

The issue with the first option is that i must sign a contract to work for a company for at least a year or 60,000 miles ( or something along those lines) not mention the fact that i go to school full time ( online) i worried that i may not have time for either. ( i suppose if i chose this optioin it may not be to bad, due to the negative economy i wont get many miles anyway and can do school work in those sitting periods plus my current expenses are low to none existant) Although i'm not sure i like the idea of contracting into a company and after a few months i feel i hate working for them but i think i may be a necessary risk.

the issue with the second option is that will i do have friend that is truck driver that has been driving for as long i have been in school (14 years) however he does have his own job and he must attend to that. fortunately he has agreed to "train me" so i can pass the road test. the bad side is he lives upwards of 600 miles away from me and for me to practice on a rental truck i need a CDL Class A holder with me. Seeing how he is the only one i know off, i'm screwed on this front too. If i go this path i will have issue with finding work, however i do know a few local companies that will hire to haul things, mostly straight truck.
If i go with this option, i suppose i could simply get a CDL B license to drive straight trucks. however i would very much like to OTR instead.

My question is there a tretary option here that i'm missing? or do i choose one of the above?

thank you for you time and consideration

 

thanks for your replies everyone

Gas hauler, I would very much love to go to a trucking school, however i dont have 3000 to 5000 to put down on a sturdy foundation of driving in a formal setting. i thought about going to sage truck driving school if i could afford it, its close and i hear its an excellent school.

As far as after i obtain my cdl, i plan to find some work in my local area to build experience. I do realize that most companies will not hire me due to lack of experience, but there are a few smaller ones that might. i also thought about team driving with my friend. I also thought of signing on to a large carrier like roehl, Swift or JBhunt and gain experience that way.

bisonboy, i will definately look into the military option. it seem viable, but i must do some research on it first, of course.

Allowme, i will look to see if thats true but i dont think Indiana has something like that.. or for that matter Illinios.

padddington, i'm interested in driving a truck becuase i would like to pay off my tuition for college. also it can be used as a back up career if in the rare case something goes wrong with a carrier in IT.