Pay For School Vs. Company Paid?

We need help, my husband and I are wanting to become team drivers. No more kids at home, and tired of being in the office. We have money to pay for school but will be so broke living on ramen noodles during training and a bit worried about covering bills at home. Or we can apply for company paid cdl school and have more than enough for bills. The question is, reading all the reviews online we aren't real hip on being treated like slave labor from a company that pays for training. Anyone that can give us a little insight on what is it really like or are most of the bad reviews just disgruntled employees. Is seems like all companies might be pretty much equal for the first year.

If you can afford to pay out of pocket thats the way to go you dont have to take company BS

Thank for your input, that's what my husband keeps saying, but i'm the one that pays the bills and my conservative side says go for free but I guess technically its nothing is really free

Generally if you go company you have to pay it back by staying with that company for 1yr or more if you pay out of pocket your the boss

Generally if you go company you have to pay it back by staying with that company for 1yr or more if you pay out of pocket your the boss

Ok, that's massively misleading. You're not the boss of cr*p as a new driver, I don't care where you went to school. You can up and quit a company regardless of where you went to school. If it was a private school you'll still owe tuition. If it was a company-sponsored program you'll owe them tuition. You're in the same boat either way.

Welcome Janet!

Listen, we're very well aware of all of the negativity out there about Company-Sponsored Training and I highly encourage you to clear your mind of any garbage you heard and we'll give you the straight scoop.

First of all, private training is nice if you can afford it. The pace is a bit slower and of course you'll have your choice of companies when you graduate. But if funds are tight there's no reason to avoid the company-sponsored programs. They're an excellent opportunity to get your career started with almost no money out of pocket. And naturally if we had pockets full of money most of us wouldn't be looking for a new career, now would we?

Now you guys have one huge advantage ... the golden words in trucking ... husband & wife team. Heck yeah....that's what companies are after. That's where they have an opportunity to turn some serious miles, give their customers incredible service, and turn a profit at the same time using the truck efficiently. So all companies that run teams really covet husband/wife teams.

Now understand this about company-sponsored training....it's like a tryout to make a team more than it is a school. Yes, obviously they're going to train you. But from the moment you arrive they're also evaluating whether or not they want to continue putting time and money into training you. It costs these companies a lot of money to run these schools and the only way it pays off is to have drivers turn out to be safe, productive drivers for the company. That's why they have you sign a contract....to repay them for the training. You get trained for a new job in a new career and they get a new driver. Everyone wins.

However, a lot of people that show up for these programs will never get past the first week. Many will fail their physical or drug test. Some of them lied on their application to get the opportunity in the first place. And many of them come in with the wrong attitude and don't have the work ethic the company is looking for. Suffice it to say, maybe 25% of the students make it through these programs, and maybe 10% are still with the company after one year. What happens to the rest of em? They feel cheated. They're embarrassed. Nobody expects to get sent home and nobody wants to get sent home, but a lot of people don't want to do what's expected of them either. It's that "attitude of entitlement" people seem to have, like the company somehow owes them something or has to prove themselves to a rookie driver before they'll give it their all. Well that's not how it works and they find that out the hard way.

So if you guys are ready to work hard, have a great attitude, and show them you're excited about the opportunity then you'll do well at these company-sponsored programs. And quite honestly if that doesn't describe a person they're probably not going to get far in trucking regardless of the route they take getting their career underway.

Read through our entire Truck Driver's Career Guide if you haven't already and follow all of the links you come across. You'll learn a ton about the trucking industry and what it takes to get your career underway.

Welcome Janet,

You have found your way to the best site for help getting into trucking. I had read your thread about 30 minutes before Brett's post. I was going to read the other new posts and then respond here. But when I saw that Brett was posting on other threads I held off because he is so much better at explaining things and speaks from experience.

Like you, I am looking into a possible career in trucking and have been reading on TruckingTruth since August. After I found TruckinTruth I stopped checking most of the other trucking web sites and quickly found that Brett and the others on this site are right about what it takes and the best way to get started in this field. I went back and read the first year or so of threads here, and I found that the folks who reported the best success were doing it the way Brett says. And there were also many examples of folks who had started trucking after only reading the other sites, and some of them had real problems trying to get themselves out of the holes they had dug themselves into. If you read all the sections in the Truck Driver's Career Guide link that Brett shared, you will find all of the right things to do to be successful in trucking, and get info you need to make sure you are a good fit for trucking.

Brett and the other experienced drivers here say trucking is more of a lifestyle than a career, so you need to make sure that trucking is a good fit for both of you before you commit or spend any money on training. I think most of us have a pretty good idea what trucking is about before we start looking into it, so the lifestyle concerns probably won't be an issue for you. But there are a few threads I read about folks realizing that an aspect of trucking wouldn't work for them and they were greatful to have figured it out before they spent money or had started company training.

You and your husband seem to be at a great point in your lives to make the move to trucking, and you were already realizing that all of the garbage on the other sites couldn't possibly be 100% accurate, so you've already got a good start. And now you have the found the site to help you figure out the rest!

Anyway, good luck, and keep coming back here with questions. Also to let us know how things are going for you as you go down this path.

Paul

Hey Janet,

I definitely agree with Brett and all his wisdom. I may have missed it but didn't see any mention of tuition reimbursement. Most companies offer it once hired. Keep in mind, though you will be reimbursed, it will come incremental installments on your guy's check over a period of time. I've seen 6 months and I have seen a year, maybe more. On the positive note, those installments are coming in double time because there are two of you. As well as company sponsored programs, I would defiantly check out the companies that offer the reimbursement option and see how those installments would keep you two in the black, financially, while getting things in the grove. I wish you guys the best of luck!!