How do I find a reputable school? Are there any?

I'm having the same problem here in Florida too. I live in a very small town so I know I will have to travel about 2 hours away or stay with relatives. I am very interested in a specific company but the two schools I have found don't meet this companies standards. Like you the one school I "interviewed" with talked about what a great school they were and made all kinds of promises about how much we would be making the first year. It was expensive too: $4500 - $6500.

 

Most reputable schools?
Try to Google Community Colleges in your area. Under Continuing Education.
Funding is available, for those who qualify.

There are many threads and post, just like yours, that have many of the answers you may need.

Best to all!

 

Hi if you don't have a teamsters training school near you. then go with a company that offers the tranning at least you will have a job after. I looked into CRST and CR england but I have a Teamsters training school near me and it was free. My husband found it first and whent there and now I just got my CDL last week. One on one training was wonderful.

 

Stay away from the big advertised schools. they have to pay for there training institute somehow and its gonna be you who pays for it. there alot of community colleges out there that offer training and classes. Most qualify for student financial aid and are much cheaper. some even offer night classes so you don't have to lose income while training. Sage is a common one offered thru Ivy Tech Community College and others. Just google community college and search them for truck driving classes. Oh by the way most of these allow you to get actual college credits for the classes as well.

 

You may have a job after but what will it pay and for how long ? Give them any reason to terminate you within a year and you'll owe for schooling . Get low miles and gross $400 a week or less and you have to stick with it or quit and owe them a few thousand dollars .

 

I've been in the same boat as the rest of you for several months now, trying to find a good decent school that isn't going to end up screwing me in the end. I've come to the conclusion that regardless where I (you) go, there's going to be some screwing. I think how much screwing depends on you. I've seen good reviews and bad reviews all for the same schools. The only difference is the individual student and what he/she puts into it and takes out of it.

With all that said, I will now say this. From my research, I have found you want to avoid the contract schools/companies. Example, the first place I was looking into was Drivers Solutions. DS actually works like an agent, placing a student in a school (in my case C1 in Indianapolis) with a prehire contract from a company (in my case USA Truck). This contract states that the trucking company will pay for most of your training as long as you work for them for at least one year. If you leave before your year is up, you become responsible for the full amount of the tuition. Also, these companies know you are locked into them, so they will treat you like slaves and give you the loads that no one else will take or are seemingly impossible to complete on time. One story I heard was the company expected the driver to take a load from Cincinnatti to Michigan in 2 hours. That isn't possible even in a perfect world. So the driver quit and now has to pay a ton of money. So beware of these companies. It sounds great going to school for no money, but you'll pay in the end one way or another.

Another thing I learned in my research is the difference between school length. Many of the big name "driver mills" offer 3 week courses. At first, I was thinking this is a great thing. 3 weeks of school and I'm in a truck doing the otr training for a company. The problem with this is there just isn't enough time to get proper training before you go out in the big bad world. The first week at these schools deals with getting the physicals and cdl permits out of the way, then the classroom teaching. The next two weeks are in the truck, the second week works with manuverability, parking, backing and stuff like that. The third week gets you out on the road. Sounds great, right? Well, there can be anywhere from 4 to 6 students in one truck all vying for drivin time. That can mean very little time you spent actually behind the wheel. You can't learn if you aren't driving.

Many of the state or community colleges offer a truck driving course and these courses are usually 5 weeks long. Some of the private schools also offer 5 week courses. The school that I've finally decided to go with offers a five week course. It has 2 weeks classroom study, then 1 1/2 weeks manuverability and 1 1/2 weeks road driving...with only 2 students per truck. One student drives in the morning, the other student drives in the afternoon, 4 hours each. This sounds like a lot more experience to me. Also, look at what is included in the tuition. The 3 week school I was concidering, the tuition was either $6500 or $4500 (I'm not sure, I never got a straight answer on that...redflag!), plus I had to pay out of pocket for the physical, cdl permit, background checks and other fees and stuff. about a total of $350 I think. The school I decided on, the tuition is $4195 and all that other stuff is included, including the cost of the cdl. The only out of pocket costs is lunch.

So look around and, most of all, ask ALOT of questions.

 

hi I live in So cal and my husband and my self went to the Teamsters training school in our area. it was free and I got 139 hours of one on one training, 5 hours in the am and 5 in the pm, and my husband got 184 hours. you go at your own pace, they work with you until you get it, and not just to pass the test by to drive. I got all my endoresements haz, d &t, tanker, bus. we did pay all DMV fees and finger prints for the Haz-mat well I did my husbands company paid his because he got his after he started to work because in his company you have to have it. hope this well help someone.

 

Now do some research on the first quarter reports of the trucking companies and the freight index for the past year . Freight has been steadily declining for the past year and is at its lowest level in 7 years . Werner reduced its fleet by 4% and still will have to cut more . J.B. Hunt has cut its fleet by 20% and is running 900 less trucks than last year . The more students schools turn out the greater the odds against you getting a job . Run a search on prehires in the forum here and see how many people have had carriers back out on the offer after they started school and how many were either rejected at orientation or by a trainer . Graduating from school by no means guarantees a career .