National Training

First off I love this school. They've treated me very well.

Heres how it all began.

I was 18 years old and wanted to get into trucking, I was working at a call center in Palatka, FL and it was going no where. I figured I'd give trucking a try since like many other's, it was my child hood dream. I went to an open house and met with Rob Nelson who would be my recruiter since I lived in Palatka. He gave me a brochure of the school and it sounded great. While I thought it was to good to be true I spoke with a lot of current and past students that went to National. So after deciding on National I signed the contract, paid $250 to get registered and began my online classes in September of 2009. I finished around October when I had turned 19. I had everything done, DOT Physical, CDL Permit in hand, and MVR.

To all my luck, my credit wasn't good enough to have the full $4795 financed. So after failing top find a co-signer, I gave up going to the school for the time being. I continued to dream about trucking. I found out since I had taken all the online classes I had to pay back $2,000 since that's what the online portion costs. I was fine with that. I paid $200/month to the school.

I ended up applying at the Sheriff's Office as a Corrections Deputy. They paid for the Academy School and paid me while I was going. Sounded great. So I became a Corrections Deputy in August of 2010. Starting Salary is $29,120. For a 19 year old, that's a lot of money when you don't have any bills lol.

So after I paid the school back for the online classes Rob Nelson contacts me again and invited me to the open house they had this past Saturday(30th). I go in hopes of getting back into trucking. I went to the open house and spoke with Andrew. They were able to give me full credit for the online classes if I wanted to re-enroll. So relieved and extremely happy, I re-enrolled into the classes with $2200 credit, all I had to pay was the $50 drug screen fee and a down payment on the Resident Training which was $300 and they would finance the rest.

So I'm currently enrolled in the online classes and I couldn't be happier. In 6 days I'm already about 60% done with the online classes. I've been studying non stop. Yesterday I went to the DMV and got my CDL Permit and 7-year MVR from the court house, today I'll be going to get my DOT Physical done. I know I'll be done with the classes before the 10th of this month at the rate I'm going. I can't wait. I think the only reason I'm shooting through the classes so quick is because I remember a lot of what I read the last time I did the online classes over a year ago.

I was scheduled for the October class but now I'm shooting for the September class. I'm Currently 20 years old, I was going to go to the October class because I'd be turning 21 in the middle of the class. If I do the September class I graduate the 30th then all I gotta do is wait 13 days until I'm 21. So I'm going for the September class. I just want to thank everyone on this forum for the advice they've given me.

Special Thanks to

123456 and BigJohn54



EDIT:
I was thinking about going to the Greencove Springs INN for the 3 weeks. I called and if your going to National then the rates are $650 if your by yourself or if your going to share a room with someone else in your class its $450 per person $900 total. I live 51 miles from the training grounds. I figured I get an average of 25MPG in my car. To compensate for the little bit of city driving ill be doing on my way there I figured 22MPG by 102 miles equals around 4.7 Gallons a day. 4.7 gallons X 3.80/Gallon for Mid Grade is about $18/day. I rounded up for more compensation to $20/day. $20/day for 3 weeks(15 days) would be about $300 for the 3 weeks. I figured I'll just go ahead and save money and stay at my house and drive to training each day. I live about an hour and 10 minutes from the school.

 

Yeah, I'll actually be done with the online classes by tomorrow. I got my DOT physical done today, it went by smoother than I thought. My blood pressure was very good and everything else was fine. Got a two year certificate. Passed my CDL Permit tests on the first try yesterday, and got my 7-year MVR. I go to take the drug test around the 20th, I know i'll Ace that lol

 

Are you already enrolled at the resident training?

It's a great school. I was there last Saturday at the open house. I like the instructor Mike, hes pretty cool. Reminds me a lot of my uncle.