Crowder College?

I went to Crowder in 1989. Yep, that is not a typo. Here is the reasons I like Crowder.

Crowder Truck Driving School is located at Crowder College. Crowder College is a two year community College located in Neosho, Mo. So the Trucking Division is located right on the campus. I think being at a state college, gives Crowder some good credibility right there. Also, the Trucking School has to be 30 to 35 years old. How many schools can say that?

When I attended, we drove a truck the first day! Well, we just practiced hooking and unhooking a trailer. But still, we were in a truck the very first day.

I know some schools give you a lot of book learning, but the real way to learn how to drive is get behind the wheel. Also, getting behind the wheel costs a lot more (fuel, Instructors, Equipment Maintenance, etc) than just sitting in class reading a book.

When I attended Crowder, my tuition was $2500 for instruction, room, and two meals a day. It has gone up since then. Now the same thing costs about $3750. But what hasn't gone up the last 25 years?

The rooms we stayed in were old Army or National Guard Barracks. Drivers room together maybe two or 3 to a bunk house. But that is not bad. You will meet new friends, and you will all have the same thing in common. Learning to drive a truck. You can also network with them, and learn where they are going to go to work, and get some ideas about different trucking companies. It helps to have a car there, but it is not necessary. Some guys without cars would hitch a ride with others. It is good to have friends sometimes.

Meals- At the time, we were allowed two meals a day. You will eat in the same dining hall and eat the same food the college students eat. The food was good. You can go down there almost flat broke and survive just fine.

A typical day at Crowder, was two hours of classroom and the rest of the day riding and driving in trucks. You take turns driving and then watching other students drive. I think we got one day off a week for free time.

Another good thing Crowder has. They have their own driving range. I would guess it was about 20 acres with their own paved roads to drive on. This private driving range is where you gain confidence. The have good instruction on backing a tractor trailer, too. The had barrels set up to back in between. They would also have two trailers to back in between. Good stuff.

After a couple of weeks of range driving, they will take the whole class in 3 or 4 trucks and drive up and down Hwy 71. We also made trips to Joplin and back to get some city driving in. We also got on Interstate 44 and did some highway driving. You will get plenty of driving in by the time you graduate.

Financing- At the time, I financed my $2500 loan with Sallie Mae. The Crowder people had all the paperwork and it was a very quick approval. Sallie Mae mailed me a book of payment coupons that I had to mail one in each month. My payment for $2500 was just $50 a month. That was an easy payment, even back then. Since tuition and room and board is now about $3750, I would guesstimate your payment might be $75 a month. That is not bad at all. You will have to call and ask them to be sure.

Crowder is located a few mile south of Joplin, MO. If you are not familiar with that area, it is like the Ozarks somewhat. There are rolling hills, and big beautiful trees. It is a beautiful area. I would much rather go here, than go to a school in some big city.

So I would get a list of of questions written down, and give them a call. Ask about financing, housing, meals, how much do you do classroom a day and how much driving a day. What trucking companies do they work with in the placement of Student Drivers? And any other questions you can think of.

Conduct- No drugs or alcohol on campus. Forget it. You have to conduct yourself in a respectful manner to the staff, other students and everyone. Look nice and act nice and your instructors will give all the trucking knowledge that they have to you. They give you just as much respect as you give them.

A previous poster said that the instructors were burned out truck drivers. When I was there, all the instructors were really nice to me. I would guess that some had ten years experience. Some have 15 to 25 years, too. And there might be an instructor who might be a little cranky sometime. I doubt it, but it is possible. But you students are in "boot camp" anyway. For the next 6 months, you may have to take some crap from a few people. I will tell how you CFI ( now known as Con-Way)did it. You went to trucking school about 5 or 6 weeks. Then you went to driver orientation for a week. They ask you all kinds of questions. Then, if you are hired, you went back home and waited for a Driver Instructor to become available. That may take about two weeks (no Pay). Then when one becomes available, you have to run team with him/her. The DI is going to give you crap sometimes as to how he thinks a truck should be driven. Whatever the Driver Instructor says, just go along with it. And then after 6 weeks or so with an DI, you might have to run "student team". You and another student driver might run team for up to 50,000 miles. And it you are successful at that, you get to go solo. And that is when you will start making some decent money. You will be a lot happier getting your own truck, because you will have the freedom to make the decisions. So just keep that solo thing in your mind, when someone down the road give is giving you a bad time. From the first day at school until you solo may take up to 6 months. Maybe less.

Going to Crowder is one of the best decisions I ever made in trucking. All in all, in my opinion only, it may be the best unknown Trucking School in the country.

Below is a couple of links to Crowder. There may be 3 or 4 webpages about the trucking school, but here is a couple.

http://www.crowder.edu/academics/departments/truck-driving/

http://www.crowder.edu/academics/departments/truck-driving/fun-stuff/

 

I'm Currently at Crowder so I can clear up a few points. My class of 8 is about half Conway and half other companies. Many companies actively recruit at Crowder so it should be easy to get a job. If you work things through Conway, they pay half your expenses. Room, board, tuition and transport to Neosho. Crowder has housing for trucking students. They are apartment style dorms. Two to Four private, bedrooms that share a common living room and bath rooms. They no longer use the National Guard barracks as far as I know. Food is 3 meals a day in the cafeteria. Food is good enough. Weekends it's brunch and dinner so two meals Sat and Sun. So far I would rate the instructors as just fine. They care about the students and take time to make sure each student understands stuff. The driving range is old military base roads. a bit rough but a nice safe place to get started. The backing, obstacle course and skid pad are on large paved lots that just got resurfaced. Very nice and brandy new.

A few things in Crowders favor: The staff are DOT certified examiners. They will be testing you for your CDL. Although they have to switch off - your instructor can't also be your examiner. But the point is that they all know exactly what to teach you. Another point related to Conway is that Crowder's teaching and obstacle course are straight up Conway. So if you pass Crowder you are primed to pass any tests that Conway gives you.

Hope this helps... Cheers

 

Since we are talking about Arkansas, has anybody heard of anything in reference to the UACCH University of Arkansas Community College of Hopes cdl program?

 

Crowder is in Missouri

 

This is why I mentioned Arkansas.

 

The dope (Clinton ) was from hope.. I'm from Arkansas and the best school I could find in this region would be Crowder in Mo.

 

HI

I was wondering how many students are in the truck with you when your on the range? How many in the truck when your out on the street?

Nap

 

There are eight in my class. So far we use 2 or 3 trucks. So it could be 4 in a truck or 3 or 2 depending. The trucks have the sleeper furniture removed and 3 seats installed in back so max is 4 plus one instructor. They have plenty of trucks so it seems to be whatever the instructors want to do. The max class size seems to be eight. Also your first week or two the previous class is still testing out so that uses some of the instructors and equipment during that period. Sorry there is no simple answer.

One note. Observing the previous class. They work hard with students at the end. They will not let you test until they think you can pass. One student tested on Tues of the last week and passed. Several others were still working on specific skills on Fri and were not testing until the following week. In other words the crowder teachers seem to be going the extra mile to get people past the test.

 

Do they have other students in the rig when driving on public roadways?

 

Pikespeak:
Yes. Instructor rides shotgun. There could be zero to three other students in the back seats. So far when we do something new, the instructor drives and demonstrates for the student passengers, then we take turns do the thing. We learn from each other. Backing maneouvers, driving a route, whatever. It works well so far. It also deals with not having one instructor and truck per student (no school does).