Baltimore cabbie checking in!

Been driving a cab in Baltimore county for about a total of eight years. I've been leasing and working my ### off but it's dangerous at times and I'm getting really interested in making the move to trucking ever since my uncle got robbed and had his cab stolen a while back. I got my cdl permit a few years back but I knew I wasn't ready to go otr for weeks at a time. Well I'm 33 now and I think it's time to make this career move and maybe lease to own a truck in a few years from now instead of buying a cab.

Another concern is the drop in pay at first. Right now I make about $150-200 cash daily after expenses but I drive about 14 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Sounds like a lot of time but its not bad.

My main reason for coming here is find the best 3 choices in schools that a new driver can't go wrong with. Where can I get a solid education without paying up front AND a decent job for noobs like me. This seems to be a good place to start from what I've been reading.

Any advise, suggestions, and tips are welcomed and greatly appreciated because even though I've been on the road for years as a semi-pro, this is still pretty intimidating and I really don't want to start off on the wrong foot and get discouraged quickly from a bad experience that could have been avoided by talking to drivers first.