AIT truck driving school

Eskimo359, please do not think I am bashing AIT they are good at what they do, they get people their CDL's, i went to GCC at 59th Ave. and Buckeye right here in Phoenix, I graduated this week, I'm in the accredited course and so for the next 8 weeks I will be sending in a report on what is happening to me after my schooling, I am going to Prime Inc. Springfield Mo. as soon as I can get there, Allow me to tell you what know about the AIT school here, I have heard and saw this as well, they are a 10 hour day course and in those 10 hours you get the classroom and then out for a drive with four(yes 4) fellow students with you in the truck, At GCC there is you one other student and the instructor with you in the truck, me and my driving partner even swapped out nights and I had the whole time and then I missed a day and he took the time with the instructor, So you get about about 20-25% of the time of you actually in the truck to drive and improve your skills the rest of the time you are sitting in the bunk seat belted in for the observation(ride) of your life, I do not know if they(your school) are a State Licensed location to issue your license upon you completing your course and testing or not, GCC is, I tested out Wednesday night in about an hour, Thursday I went in and got my paperwork and the all elusive "Envelope"(You will learn more about that later)At GCC the instructor you have during your driving on the range and on the road is the instructor who will test you for your license, This guy knew me like a book and knew exactly where to coach me when I was on the range and the road too, I did all three backings in about 10 minutes and buzzed thru the pretrip, He told me I got about a 98% because on the road test I nurfed a curb. I am not sure what your school wants for their course but GCC is the least expensive around. I went to the evening class and had Mr. Rich O'Donnell as my instructor, He has 35+ years of CDL driving and has been training for 6-7 years now. He is the best instructor anywhere west of Atlanta. If you need anything get in touch with me, I'm on here and off thru the day. Do you know where you want to go to work? Ask away, I'm very happy I went to GCC. By the way if you are familar with where AIT is GCC's range and classroom is a 1/2 mile away and only for registration etc. You NEVER go to the campus.

 

Thanks, I appreciate it, So are you going to AIT or where? Thanks. TD.

 

I had a little difficulty following this with no periods in your story. Did you ever go through the AIT course or did your school tell you why they are better than AIT?

 

This is a thread from July 2010... don't know if you'll get an answer or not.

 

Well regardless of how old it is, people need to know that there are way better options than AIT. Like truckerdaddy said, I am in no way trying to bash that school but they are heavily over priced for a CDL License school. No one should be paying close to $9,000 for a license even if they do offer federal aid.

I was researching the other day and Congress is thinking about cutting a lot of private schools from FAFSA. why?

- Private Schools (any kind, not just trucking) students make up 12% of all FAFSA users
- 93% of private school enrollees use FAFSA
- this 12% of FAFSA users makes up 44% of ALL student loan defaults.

The reason its so high is because they get people into Dental Assistance Courses, Truck Driving Courses, and other programs at very high costs; however, most jobs available for entry-level positions do not pay enough for them to take care of their loans.

For this reason AIT is bad. They are just a great business making use of tax payer funds to train people. I heard their training is great (4-5 months) but everyone knows, $9k for truck school...

 

My $.02. Just finished Southwest Truck driver training in Phoenix. Course was Mon-Thurs, 6:00am to 4:30pm. Two weeks classwork, two weeks on the road. 160 hours training. Had my CDL by the end of the 4th week, price under $4K. I was impressed with the instructors. I am now with May Trucking out of Phoenix.

 

I have done a lot of research on this school as well as others. I have been lurking in the forums here for about 4 months researching all along.

Yes there are other schools and there is also company sponsored training.

My situation may be different than some. I worked for a company for 16 years and got let go. Being a Utility company I just can't go to another and work as they have a monopoly in the major metro areas of Arizona. So after some in depth research I have chosen to become a truck driver.

AIT has several different options available. I have a Class A CDL already, just don't have any OTR experience. I tried several places and they all want experienced drivers. Yes they will try to get you to enroll in the most expensive class, but I couldn't afford it and it was also going to take to long.

I start at AIT on the 11th of this month. I am taking their basic truck driving course. It is a 4 week course and great hours for Phoenix.. 5:30 AM to 2:30 PM. Monday through Friday. They are a accredited school and I will receive my certification. I am self paid which is also cheaper. The cost of my 4 week course is $4240. Almost all the trucking companies will reimburse you for your training for some up to 6K.

They have been working with me since I first made contact with them and have helped me to send in applications to numerous companies. I currently have 5 prehires and I haven't started school yet.

I plan to post my adventure regarding school in this tread and tell it like it is. I will also be willing to answer any questions regarding the school. Once I am done and have a company to work for I plan to take my the rest of my training story to that company thread.

Hope to see you all out there. Looking forward to a new career. Drive Safe!

 

I went to AIT Phoenix. Wasn't bad. I got everything I asked for and I'm on the road with Knight Refrigerated right now.

Fortunately, Knight pays all of my tuition back over time... I just have to be responsible enough to send the money in when they give it to me.