My dad is trying to talk me out of going over the road, but I want my CDL

Nope; I was in similar circumstances. Go to your workforce development office and apply for WIA; the administrator at my office said there are plenty of monies not being utilized. It is pretty involved (lots of paperwork), but worth it.

 

At 19 you would not be able to go OTR for 2 more years. DOT regs.
Stay in school and learn something that will make you more money like a B.A. in logistics or business.
Just my $.02

 

Pay out of pocket, borrow, WIA, or go through a company sponsored school. So yeah, you might have to bite the bullet if you want to get into trucking.

 

Yeah that's what I'm saying. Good luck...

 

A lot of info on those 3 floating around in terms of trainee req'ts, pay, contractual obligations, etc.; I've seen a few posts give props to CR. One way to think about its: all you really need to do is break into he industry, get your 1 year of experience, and then a whole bunch of other opportunities open up. A lot of places give pretty good signing bonuses to experience drivers, so working a 2-year plan, that could be a way to recoup your tuition costs...