Thinking about training with CRST...

There are many good companies out there that will pay for pretty much everything with no cost up front! They will pay for your transportation, usually from anywhere in the country and sometimes even reimburse you for an airline ticket. They will pay all lodgings (though you may be asked to bunk with someone) and usually a meal or two a day. They will pay for your schooling and usually expect you to sign a year contract or so with them. It really is a good deal if you would like to get into the industry with little money.

On the down side, you have a child! Don't listen to these recruiters when they tell you that you will be home every two weeks! Especially if you live in MN. You will most definitely be out more like 4-6 weeks. Also if you manage to get home every two weeks, you aren't going to be making any money. It is a huge ordeal for a dispatcher to arrange home time for a driver. If a driver needs to be home all the time, then the dispatcher will keep them fairly close and utilize them by having them pick up and deliver everyone else's loads. This will make you absolutely no money. Unless you can somehow get paid by the hour, in which they most likely will not do. If you drive 50 miles to pick up a loaded trailer then drive 20 miles to say Walmart and sit there for 8 hrs until unloaded then go to another shipper and spend another 4-6 hours getting loaded to drive it back to the drop yard and give it to a driver who stays out all the time, therefore getting the good miles. The drivers that want to stay out and make money are the ones the dispatchers favor because they aren't a pain in the butt and they know they can rely on them to run hard without interruption.

I would really put some serious thought into this. There are some unique companies like the one mentioned above but the poster lives in Illinois which is smack dab in the middle of the busiest freight lanes making it much easier to get home even if its for just a bit.