I went to an orientation today

Most companies won't hire you unless you go to an accredited school. Not sure what you mean by private training. As for pay by mile all companies pay by experience. Once you complete a school like Bates you will get hired on by a company and placed with a trainer for about 4-8 weeks. Usually during the time you ride with your trainer you will be paid a flat fee. Maybe around $350.00.

 

How you obtain your CDL is not all that important as far as what your going to make money wise. In fact after your first job no one will care. So take the route that makes the most economic sense, vocational training through the local community college is normally the easiest on the wallet.

 

If Bates is offering a 12 Week Course as Opposed to a Private Co rushing you through a 6 Week Course. go with Bates because you're going to need every minute you can get behind the Wheel prepping for the CDL Test. IMO, any Tech or Community College CDL Courses are going to be better in the long run.

 

I just completed a 10 week course for my C.D.L. myself, and let me tell you 10 weeks still isn't enough!. I don't know how some of these schools can teach driving and all the other stuff in 3 weeks!.

 

A very noticeable difference between a private school that may cost thousands and one offered through a community college...is the student to teacher ratio, and the 1-on-1 time you get. Many of the paid schools (such as SAGE) offer 1-on-1 pretty much throughout your coursework and training, and thus...they can do it in 4-5 weeks as opposed to a 10-14 week course from a community college.

Coming from experience, I went through Central Refrigerated's "school" and the day's consisted of 30 people in the yard with 1 trainer going through the PTI, and then each of you taking turns in the truck to back and perform maneuvers. It got very old sitting around for 2 hours in the yard twiddling your thumbs watching others drive while you waited your turn. I would assume that many of the community college courses are very similar, due to the lack of state funding as they are not-for-profit.

However I think the community college programs are great, as you still get to obtain your CDL with good instruction, and don't have any strings attached or stipulations to go work for someone for X amount of months with threat of having to repay otherwise. Pretty much the largest reason I left the Central Ref school a week into things....the training was terribad and I wasn't learning a whole lot, and wasn't going to be on the hook for $3995 by them learning nothing, and not being able to take that with me to the next job.

 

The main difference that I have noticed in my research are the daily hours. The local CC here is 7 am to 2 pm where company schools tend to be 10+ hours per day to get the 160 hours required.

 

The Tech College I just graduated from was a 10-12 hour a day 5 days a week school and each student was assigned his or her own truck. Also, the advanced students with a C.D.L. were permitted to ride along with IP holders so all students got lots of miles. I believe I spent 400+ hours in school and received 1100 logged on road miles.We also received 16 hours of advanced skid pad training. Total cost for all schooling and driving including my CDL tests and hard copy plastic with all endorsements except hazmat was $0.

 

Addicted2asphault is right! The companies insurance requires a certain amount of hours of training before putting you behind the wheel on the road. I know the 3 week schools consist of like 12 hour days. The other schools may be 12 weeks but the days are probably shorter.