Local college CDL school

Hello all. Had a question about that I'm sure has been asked before. The local university, Lamar Institute of Technoolgy, has a Professional Driver's Course that seems to span about 6 weeks. The cost is around 4,000 and gives the person a Class A with X endorsments. I contacted the veterans admin and was told the GI Bill benefits do not extend to this course because it is considered continuing education and not a creditable course. That was more of a rant. My question is this; I have looked at numerous locations that require 2 years "verifiable" expreience; a trucker academy meets one year experience. The other is 2 years "verifiable" OTR experience. Now this does not apply to the mega-carriers like Werner, Schnider, Swift, Crest, Knight...etc. The school instructor send me, in an e-mail, that companies requiring the 2 year experience are talking about(his words) "first seat" experience and that the school does meet all requirements. Since that message I haven't been able to get any other response. Any feed back on what that means or why the companies require 2 years vs the academy training? My goal is to drive fuel-bulk liquid tankers and I know thats different that a dry cargo van. The academy has the bulk liquid training so why the 2 year requirement from most liquid carriers? Thanks for any advice,
Jesse