Tuitio reimbursemant and per diem. Good or bad??

companies do NOT give you a lump sum usually they will split it up to around 100 per month so you would not be locked in

 

Tuition Reimbursement: some companies might cut your miles, but thats an easy fix, do your research and go to a good company!


Per Diem: your just ripping yourself off


You will not be locked in if your getting the reinbursment, you just wont get anymore money from them or your future employers.



American Trucker

 

Every tuition reimbursement (TR) I've seen isn't worth doing. For example, the companies I researched that paid TR based on monthly mileage wound up paying the driver less than the companies that paid no TR and driver repaid his own loan. Do the math for yourself to see if TR is a good deal or not.

Every CDL school can tell you what students typically pay for the loans they arrange. In my case in the early 1990s I repaid about $135 per month. Compare that to a company TR plan. Also compare that to non-TR if you drive 2500 miles per week or 10,000 per month times mileage pay.

TR is not necessarily a good deal. Do the math to see if it makes sense. If driving doesn't pay you far far more income than your current pay plus the loan payment for school you really don't want to be playing in traffic like the rest of us.

 

Per Diem is intended to be a convenience to the driver. Rather than non per diem where the driver waits until the end of the year, saves his log books, files IRS Form 2106 and deducts his meal expenses while OTR, he's given an amount roughly equivalent to daily meal expenses upon which he pays no taxes. The benefit is he has the expense money during each pay cycle rather than at the end of the tax year.

However, there are drivers that seem to focus on maximizing their Social Security inputs, and plan on receiving disability payments and other such things that report accepting per diem reduces these types of "benefits." That is probably true, but to me that is like driving your car so as to maximize the judgement you will receive when you have some future/possible traffic accident. I usually prefer NOT to receive per diem and process the simple tax forms and keep my own records straight. But I would not likely even consider per diem if two similar companies were involved. If company A offered per diem and company B didn't offer it or gave me the choice, there would have to be other things for me to decide where to work.

Some drivers report they feel they are being taken advantage of by getting paid per diem. But then most drivers are about 3/4 of the way into conspiracy before they get into trucking and then hear from people just like them "They are out to get us" so I'm not sure of these reports.

 

My company does not even have per diem as an option.

 

I started with a company that had a flat TR every month and the CPM was fair, per diem is just a scam at most of the companies. IMO, its a no...

 

I'm doing per diem with Knight for my first few weeks. I'll decide wether I like it or not and opt out if I say nay to it.