Trucking Or College?

Thanks for all the replies everybody! It seems like the general consensus is trucking will always be there and college is something that will always be there but the older you get the more difficult it is to return to school for a lot of people. It'll be a tough decision, I'll let everyone know what I decide! Thanks, Ridge.

I was a high school honor student and a Lieutenant governor of an international.charity organization in 10th grade. i skipped college to "have a life" and totally regretted it. i then went back to college in my late 20s and it took 12 years of part time classes plus working 60 hours a week to get my degree. i graduated with honors but i never got the "real.college experience" i totally regret not going to college when i was young.

why not do both? get the degree and then use the motivation that afterward you could always go into trucking to get you through it. Perhaps you need to change majors, which is common.

all of the replies above show you that it is never too late to get into trucking. it can be too late to enjoy "college life" if you decide to go back.

things to consider about waiting for trucking: the more car drive time you have, the better judgment you have when driving a big rig. It is just an experience thing. You mentioned Alabama.... so have you ever driven a car in snow? i know quite a few new drivers who feel overwhelmed by northern winters because they were raised down south. that is when the years or decades of auto driving experience and judgement could come in. so entering trucking at a younger age could actually be much more stressful than at a later age.

You might not think that college degree is worth anything, but many employers see it as "not quitting". my friend had a BS im culinary arts but got hired as a buying manager at a big named store making huge money. it only mattered that she had a degree, they didnt care what the major.

Guess im going to play the motherly role here....(which is rare).... stay in school. go to parties, meet friends, go on spring break, enjoy your youth before you start getting into debt, buying houses, and having responsibities that will make you grow up too quickly. use the years in college to improve your car driving skills.

trucking is wondeful, but isnt going anywhere. and it is a very very serious and dangerous job. you can kill someone and yourself. or worse, kill someone and live to regret it. or wind up in jail for vehicular homicide. having relationships out here can be really difficult. meeting a new love can be almost impossible. dont waste that portion of your youth on the road either. many long time truckers have gone through several marriages for a reason.

you only live once...so do it all.

Thanks for the reply Rainy, some really great advice there that I'll consider! Even though I'm from Birmingham I was actually born in Cleveland and went to boarding school there for a couple years so I had the experience of making round trips from Alabama to Ohio during winter and summer months so I do have some experience in snow but not a ton (lol).

You can do both. Get your college credits through programs that offer them on-line. I have four degrees and have never set foot in a classroom on campus. Just my thoughts...