So is this par for the course when it comes to trucking schools?

I disagree with this.

I went through a company and had 0 payroll deductions for school. Contract was 1 year. I could leave at anytime and pay the remainder of my school balance to get my school cert. The balance at the beginning was $2700. Cheaper than any private school I could find. That balanced dropped every quarter as well.

Everyone agrees the first year is the hardest, and if you stay with a single company your resume will look so much better than someone that changed jobs every few months. I was paid average rates for a new driver and had better than average miles.

 

I paid about $2300 (incl books) at a vocational school that was about an hour- one way- south of me. I think its great that some truck drivers have been trucking since they were a zygote. However, there are others like me who may be a middle aged female, first generation American born and raised in a big city up north to immigrant parents. Although trucking was something I often thought about, it was NOT gonna happen.

Fast forward to 2014. Married, kids grown. Now it's all about me. I researched to find a school that would fit my needs based on the fact that I had ZERO knowledge of trucking. I picked the right school. It's true that my current company told me to forget what I learned in trucking school but, I'm glad I at least made the best of my school experience while I was there for those 9 full weeks.

 

Hi tex, sheesh, trying to look that up is harder than becoming a tax attorney. From what I gather, in Wis. you need to present a truck for the drivers test representative to the class of license you are applying for. For a class A, it must weigh more than 26,001 lbs and tow a trailer or other vehicle weighing over 10,000 lbs. It doesn't say anything about whether that vehicle is required to have air brakes, so I believe you are correct in what you did.

 

I went to a company-sponsored training and they charged me $3000, BUT if I stick with them a year they'll be fine with me only paying $1500

I got a free bus ride, I got free room (and no roommate for 10 of the 14 days) The hotel gave me free breakfast (well that is after I got to the hotel during the second week) and then 3 weeks later they would give me a paycheck.

I "spent" $3000 to make $15,000. I gave them $1500, they gave me $15,000

*does a bender-like giggle*

everybody criticizes company sponsored schools, but you borrow money from them for them to teach you something, and give you a bunch of free stuff, and then give you a job. Seems pretty fair

if you go to a private school a company will only insult your intelligence and treat you like they treat their new guys

 

$700 each for my wife and I. We utilized the Tenn. Powerball grant for CDL education at Tenn.College of Applied technology. It was a 8 week program. I borrowed the money from a family member, I paid them back within a month after school. We owe nobody now. We owe no time commitment to any company. Here is the kicker... we went to work for a company that repaid our school costs over a short amount of time. Research for options. Make calls to colloges and speak with financial aid departments. We got a good 8wk program for 0 dollars in the end. Companies accepted our educational institution immediately. .... Good Luck!!!

 

Why do people spend 45,000 on a 2014 F-350 Pickup Truck?

Why do people spend 200,000 to go to school to become a doctor of medicine?

Why do people spend 4000 to become a truck driver?

Why do people care how much money something cost when someone else is paying for it?

What matters is that you should be able to enjoy the things money can buy, even if it is just a job holding a steering wheel.

 

Hi Dusty, I don't know. It's one of the unexplained mysteries of Capitalism. I never borrowed a dime to get any job (well, I did borrow a thousand dollars from my old man when I bought my 1st truck). I always wonder why someone would piss away $900,000 dollars on a classic car, that sits in a heated garage. I guess the only answer is, because they can.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4267051]I know I'm out of the loop, but the whole concept of paying a lararound. e sum of money, ($5,000 is a lot of money to me) to drive a truck is just so foreign to me. Driving a truck, to me, has always been just a job. Something one didn't have to go to school to learn how to do. Either you had it in you, or you didn't. Years ago, if you weren't a natural born lever puller, you didn't go into trucking. I feel sorry for people that, for whatever reason, are forced to go into trucking, because it's the only game in town, and they are out of options, and these trucking schools are cashing in on that premise. I'm not saying some don't make it, they do, but the failure rate is huge, and many quit, with that big debt over their head, never repaying that and ruining what little credit they may have. In short, make sure this is what you want to do. As far as I'm concerned, you get hired by a company, in ANY line of work, ( and I'm not talking about a brain surgeon or a dentist, that really requires school) you should be getting paid from day one, not being $5,000 in the hole before you even start a job you probably won't like anyway down the road.[/QUOTE]

Hey semi... hope all is well with you... my shoulder is doing good and I am really enjoying be back out on the road... did t switched back to the intermodal account to give the shoulder more healing and strengthening time before I go back to flatbed. ..

I do get what you are saying. . But, I also must say that I dont feel the time and money I spent on school was a waste of time or money...of course I did research and went to a good school, paid cash up front and got a discount. . The school I went to was a good school... they taught you what you were looking for during a pretrip.. they had props.. they had pieces of equipment that they cut in half and you saw and learned all about it.. they had parts set up and had hands on learning.. for example we learned and did slack adjuster adjustments on a set up they had then on the actual equipment we drove... it wasnt just pictures and what to say to pass cdl test...
I have since run into drivers who really do not know how to do a true pretrip.. they dont really know what they are looking for...

Now, i have also learned a lot from old timers... which is the way it use to be... before the schools the older truckers whould show you things... and many still do.. but, only if they think you want to learn and appreciate the time they are taking to teach you.. I also learn a lot from the mechanics at our shop.. they know if my truck is in the shop for something I want to know if there was something I did or didnt do and what I can do or stop doing to prevent it.. they have always taken the time to take me to my truck and explain things and have showed me a lot...

Anyway my point is.. i did walk away with more than just a cdl from the school I went to..

 

I went to a private school... i didnt borrow money from anyone. .. heres the kicker... I worked for it... I did construction full time during the days and bartended nights and weekends.. every cent I made bertending I saved.. I paid cash for my school... cash I earned on my own... and yes, got tuition reimbursement when I got my first trucking job..

The private school I went to is a well respected accredited school.. it opened doors for me.. and I have never been insulted for going to a good private school... with the school I went to there are students who get their CDL, but didnt get their certificate of completion from the school because the schools road test is harder than the DMVs test.. same with their pre trip test...

There are good schools out there.. and there are bad one.. I researched and chose a good school... and I paid for it with my own money...

 

Hi Bren, I'm so-so, thanks, I'm glad you're doing better. I realize that people that want to go into trucking now, don't have much of a choice but to go to school. It was just something we never did years ago. Times were different, people that weren't farmers or gearheads or knew someone, like a family member that trucked, generally stayed away from trucking. Not to mention trucks with no power steering, or A/C or the comforts of today's trucks, kept people away as well. Only true gearheads, or leever pullers, were willing to spend 15 hours in a rattling door, manual steered, all over the road, Mack R model, that shook so bad, it popped out of gear( just described my 1st T/T truck I drove). The industry has changed, for the better, I must add, with these rolling apts. now, it allows people from all walks of life, to be a truck driver. People coming out of schools are good drivers, because they are taught what to do, as I can only imagine what horrors would be out there now, if there were no schools.