Should I go to private school, or company run to start?

It really doesn't matter where you get your CDL. CDL school is just to get your license. You learn 90% of what you need to know during training at your first company.

Your priority, before going to CDL school is to find a company you want to work at for 1 year. Find that company and then go to whatever school gets you hired with that company.

It really doesn't matter if you get your CDL by paying for it yourself, or going to a company CDL school where you get "free training" in exchange for a 1 year contract. Getting 1 year of experience at one company is the goal. No company is impressed you paid for it your self The only advantage to paying for your own school is you aren't obligated to start work with a company the week after you get your license, but that tempts some newbies to spend months picking a trucking company, there is a big difference between trucking companies, and then when they finally decide where to work, the company wants to know why you were unemployed for the last few months.

Keep working where you are working now.Check with your state unemployment office and see if you qualify for a WIA/WOIA grant that pays for vocational training for unemployed/underemployed low-wage workers. If you qualify use that grant to pay for CDL school AFTER YOU HAVE FOUND A TRUCKING COMPANY TO WORK FOR.

Do you want to be a sardine in a semitruck with a trainer and another student boucning down the interstate and crowded cities for 2 months before you get your own truck? Which company you start with determines if that is your future.

Google your city and trucking companies.Your chances of being happy depends on getting enough home time. And living in a city where your trucking company is located boosts your ability to get home. Newbies want to do EVERYTHING online. Online searches makes you think there are only Swift, Prime, CR England, US Express, Western Express, and a few others to work for. There are thousands of other trucking companies to work for and many are much better places to work. I wouldn't work at any of the companies above except maybe 1. The rest, IMO, are guaranteed to drive you from the industry before you get 1 year experience.

Find a first company and then decide how to get a CDL. School is the least important of the first steps.

 

I paid out of pocket due to having an in to a company with tuition reimbursement & made 85k my first year. If you have the money, go to a private school & pick a company where you’d recoup the tuition cost plus have the freedom.

 

Probably at least half of trucking companies have Tuition Reimbursement. They don't pay newbies student loans, but they will pay a certain amount per month in addition to the wages drivers earn.