Trying To Decide What School To Attend To Get My CDL
Topic 15665 | Page 2
Morning, Thanks for all the great advise. I've been looking into a few schools like swift, prime, cr England, and before I make a final decision which way I want to go, I will definitely be calling PETE the recruiter and cxl my appointment for Monday with financial aide. I can't believe the difference in price. The bottom line is I want / need a CDL to start my next chapter in life. So now it's just a matter of choosing a company to apply to for schooling. Be safe. Mark
The other thing to consider is - no matter HOW LONG the non-company school is - you are STILL going to have to get on with a company as a "recent grad".
Which means, teaming with a trainer for finishing as no company is going to solo someone right out of school.
540 hours may be a great course - but it's kinda overkill (especially the price). Requirements are 160 hours - most Vo-Tech courses are twice that.
Course I did at McFatter (in Davie) was 320 hours - including 1,000 miles on the road.
Rick
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.
Here is our information on Paid CDL Training Programs. Each company listed has four or five pages of information so read through it and see what the various companies have to offer.
The reason that school you're speaking with is five months and $10,000 instead of a month and $4,000 is because they've set up a course that's long enough to qualify students for Federal backing on student loans. The Feds won't back a loan to a program unless it's a certain length. Most truck driving school programs are plenty long enough to teach you the basics for getting your CDL but they're not long enough to qualify for Federal backing for loans so their students rarely get any sort of financial aid.
So there's no reason to go through a long, expensive program like that other than to qualify for a student loan. That's why they offer that.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Gotcha, Thanks Brett. Appreciate the help! Be safe Mark F
Here is our information on Paid CDL Training Programs. Each company listed has four or five pages of information so read through it and see what the various companies have to offer.
The reason that school you're speaking with is five months and $10,000 instead of a month and $4,000 is because they've set up a course that's long enough to qualify students for Federal backing on student loans. The Feds won't back a loan to a program unless it's a certain length. Most truck driving school programs are plenty long enough to teach you the basics for getting your CDL but they're not long enough to qualify for Federal backing for loans so their students rarely get any sort of financial aid.
So there's no reason to go through a long, expensive program like that other than to qualify for a student loan. That's why they offer that.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
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The other thing to consider is - no matter HOW LONG the non-company school is - you are STILL going to have to get on with a company as a "recent grad".
Which means, teaming with a trainer for finishing as no company is going to solo someone right out of school.
540 hours may be a great course - but it's kinda overkill (especially the price). Requirements are 160 hours - most Vo-Tech courses are twice that.
Course I did at McFatter (in Davie) was 320 hours - including 1,000 miles on the road.
Rick
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.