Financial Aid Or Company Paid Training?

Hi guys, So the Trucking school im looking at attending is really pushing me to go through with financial aid as apposed to company paid training. They say most if not all companies that pay for training and make you sign a however many year contract are difficult to work with, and unreliable and or dangerous when it comes to the actual training its self. Is there any truth to this? do they make more money if i go the financial aid rout?

Hi guys, So the Trucking school im looking at attending is really pushing me to go through with financial aid as apposed to company paid training. They say most if not all companies that pay for training and make you sign a however many year contract are difficult to work with, and unreliable and or dangerous when it comes to the actual training its self. Is there any truth to this? do they make more money if i go the financial aid rout?

Quinn D.

Welcome to Trucking Truth, Quinn!

I'm not sure about the whole answer to your question but I can describe my perspective. I went to private school through my state workforce and got funded that way. I still had to pay for fuel to get there so obviously not all my expenses were covered. Once I got an offer from the company I hope to work for (I start in a week-and-a-half assuming all goes well with a thousand steps in between) it included a signing bonus. If I quit that company before a year is up, I have to return that bonus. Eh, the unanimous consensus here is, unless under absolute dire circumstances, stick with your first company for a year, no matter what, anyway. So I'm not going to lose that bonus, cause I'm sticking with it. From my standpoint, I'm glad I did it this way, because before I went to school, I thought I knew which company I wanted to work for. Even a couple of weeks after school, I thought I was sure and everyone here encouraged me to fight for it. But, I wasn't going to get the recommendation from my school, that I needed lalala, and I also found out that the terminal manager quit abruptly - (just walked right out - bad ju-ju) so the battle appeared to be fruitless. I also listened to the advice here that said, "keep your mind opened," and having done that, I feel I've found an even better company. (Right across the street, ha!) So far, I'm very happy with the way things went.

Brett will be able to answer the rest of your question, from the standpoint of starting with one company from the ground up vs. private school, as he will have perspective on both.

In the meantime, if you haven't yet, check out Company-Sponsored Training , How To Choose A School, How To Choose A Company, and definitely, no matter which track you decide to take, start studying High Road Training Program. It's fun and you should get through as much as humanly possible, before starting any school or company program. The resources here are invaluable.

You came to the right place. Best wishes and keep us posted, k?

-mountain girl

If I understand your post OP, then you're saying that a private CDL school is trying to tell you to come to them instead of going to a trucking company's paid schooling program? First off, realize they are a business and are trying to sell you their school. Nothing wrong with that. But keep in mind that they might be coloring your other options in a negative manner, so that they get your business. Hopefully that's not the case. There are plenty of folks who have gone through company-paid schooling. Granted, some are more crowded than others. If I were to go this route, probably would've rolled w/ Prime Inc. I went to a private CDL school. Only 6 students per class. Actually, since I signed up for their 8 week evening course, it was just me and another guy. Talk about individual attention at a relaxed pace! THere's pros and cons to private CDL school and company-paid school. You'll have to figure out if that private school was just giving you a sales pitch or not. Going so far as to say that training is unreliable or even dangerous at a company-paid school is a little over the top. You'll get what you put into it, and some instructors are better than others.