Tuition Reimbursement Eligibility?

Greetings everyone,

I see that companies who DO and DO NOT offer Company Sponsored CDL Training promote Tuition Reimbursement. Does this apply to new CDL holders whom are hired on immediately after completing private CDL school? In other words, after I complete my program at a local community college my new employer will reimburse me my tuition? Am I understanding this correctly?

Yes the tuition reimbursement applies to those who recently graduated. It is exactly who that applies to. How tuition reimbursement works is a company will pay xxx amount of dollars per month up to a certain amount. Not to exceed the amount of your tuition.

Let's say you owe $6,000 in tuition. You hire on at a company that pays $200 a month for tuition. They pay a max of $10,000. So your tuition is less than that. Your company will put $200 on your pay check at the end of each 30 days of employment. To get your tuition completely paid for you will have to work for said company for 30 months.

You are still ultimately responsible for paying any loans, if you have them. The company doesn't pay them directly. You pay your loans. The company pays you each month, to help you pay your loans.

Tuition reimbursement is a bit of a gimmick. With the high turn over in this industry, most people will never collect anywhere close to their full tuition. A lot of people give up trucking within the first 6 months.

To put a little perspective on it, company sponsored training usually has a 9 month to 1 year contract. I can't remember which company, but 1 deducts schooling cost for a year, then pays you that back during the next year. Your break even point is 24 months. Compare that to the 30 months break even point for the previous example. You break even 6 months earlier. Some companies you just sign a 1 year contract. After 1 year the debt is forgiven. That makes your break even point at ONLY 12 months. Tbh, the ONLY people I would discourage from doing a company sponsored training program to are veterans with education benefits remaining. Simply because they will lose money that way.

Anyways, thank you for reading.

Drive Safe and God Speed.

"I can't remember which company, but 1 deducts schooling cost for a year, then pays you that back during the next year. Your break even point is 24 months."

Swift does it this way. Not sure if anyone else does.

Swift is currently in the top 5 of my list. I have several recruiters lined up to meet me at my school. I almost went to the Swift driving program but decided to just wait the extra 2 weeks for my private school start date which is November 21. It's coming up fast and I can't wait.

Hey, Patrick.

Thanx for your time and input. If I graduate from private CDL school, paid out of pocket, I simply present my receipts to the company I sign on with? I mean, I'll have official print outs from the cashiers office at the community college I'll be graduating from and the such.

Wuz'up Bill,

Happy to hear you start driving school Nov. 21. I see that you had considered attending company sponsored CDL school yet decided to pay out of pocket. Am I understanding that correctly? If so, would you share your reasons as to why? Just curious is all. I ask because I myself had considered that route but decided to pay out of pocket.

Hey, Patrick.

Thanx for your time and input. If I graduate from private CDL school, paid out of pocket, I simply present my receipts to the company I sign on with? I mean, I'll have official print outs from the cashiers office at the community college I'll be graduating from and the such.

That's what I did with Schneider. Make sure you know what the company policy is. Schneider's is $150/month until paid. That can take a few years. Stevens Transport offered students at my school $200/month and they'd pay the balance off after two years. So make sure you know their plan.

Phil,

I am not paying out of pocket. I am using my G.I. Bill.

I had a few reasons why I decided to wait. The main one was that my father made a follow doctors appointment on the 18th that I need to take him for. I had made arrangements for someone else to take him once I started school on the 21st and sadly they were not available on the 18th. Other deciding factors are that I can now choose a company based on benefits and home time and types of freight. I still have free medical through the VA through March 2019. Tuition reimbursement is nice but is at the bottom of my list of pros. However, it will be a talking point when I talk to the recruiters that come to my school. I was informed we will have 10-15 recruiters coming to my class and I have already emailed, phoned, or both 5 recruiters that are coming. I believe that number was higher when I was scheduled for the June class. Also, when I was signed up for the June class, the school had a student apply to 100 companies and by the time he finished had heard back from 84 companies that said he could start with them upon completing the course. At least that is what my admin rep told us. So when the people here at TT say to apply to as many companies as possible, it is great advice. However, I don't know if I would have the patience to do 84 pro and con lists myself.

I would ask your school how many recruiters are coming and see if they know from which companies. This will give you some time to research each company that is coming you can have talking points with each recruiter. You should also do a little research on each company so if they ask questions about there respective company you will be able to give an intelligent answer. I know it is not common practice anymore, but I still send out thank you cards to folks that interviewed me. It doesn't cost much but it does leave lasting impressions.

Sorry, got off topic.

Bill

Bill, I ask how long you have been out of service and how muchremaining G I Bill do you have? Reason for this is there are companies out there that are approved for military apprenticeship programs. You will get paid your BAH stipend from post 9/11 benefits on top of your pay you get from the company. The amount of the BAH stipend is based on several factors though. How much benefit is remaining, location of Companies HQ, and it does get progressively lower during the course of the program. The apprenticeship programs last 12 to 24 months. Dependent on what a particular company is approved for. That may be a big Go/NoGo point for potential employers. It was for me.

Plus, any company that does tuition reimbursement will pay you for the tuition Uncle Sam paid.

If you have been out less than a year (by the time you finish school and get hired on) you may want to give Schneider a real consideration. They will pay you extra for military experience. I also believe they have an apprenticeship program and tuition reimbursement. Schneider will give you 1/1 experience if you were in a driving MOS and 1/4 in a non driving one. Up to the max of 5 years experience. That means they will start your pay as if you had X many years experience as a truck driver. It is a way to start out making good money.

Patrick,

I have been out almost 3 years now. I had my HMMWV license and ammo license and a Kuwait drivers license while I was in. However, I was in a non driving MOS. Infantry assaultman=my job was to blow up stuff. Thank you for the info about the Apprenticeship programs. I had known about them previous and am not going that route. Currently, I plan to drive for 10 years and go back to school for boat building. Probably seems odd, but that is my current plan. Schneider is in my top ten. I had actually contacted them back in 2008 and was told to contact them once I separated from service and had my CDL.

Bill

If your driving you won't have much time for classes. There are times you will get a lot of downtime, but it not in the lane of consistency. Besides, if you have VA disability rating over 30%. You qualify for Voc Rehab. If you have GI Bill benefits left when you use Voc Rehab it uses that time up, BUT if you use all your GI Bill benefits up first you can still apply and use Voc Rehab. Just some food for thought.