Hitting a speed-bump on the trucking thing.

[gridlore]

Went out to look at Area Truck Driving School and spoke with some of the staff. Very nice. The weekend program is largely self-paced (hell, it's largely based on getting the materials and doing home study on things like the DMV test and pre-trip inspections.) The idea is that I come in and work on driving skills. They offer life-time employment assistance, and their "wall of fame" covers most of the office!

The drawback? It costs $3,805. Now that covers everything.. no fees for "truck rental" or fuel. The only thing I'd have to cover is the DOT physical (which I'll have to research a bit to see how I can cover that.)

Obviously, I'm going to need a student loan. Which is something I'm completely ignorant of. Really, all I know about student loans is that somehow money appears and you are require to pay it back. No clue about who gives them out, or where to start.

At a job site today a trucker mentioned that the Teamsters have their own school. That gets paid for through your dues once you are working. Have to look into that.

Any advice on how to start this process? I fully admit to not knowing what I'm doing.

Comments

[brigideire.livejournal.com]

Hi-friend of friend who happened to see this. I used to work at Western Truck School (just do a search-they have a website). I didn't deal with the financial end too much but I know the school helped the students get the financing. I think their programs were more expensive but they had some deals if you paid one way or another. I can try to look for some info I might have on some of the places they used for financing if you like. You can start here though- https://www.key.com/html/H-1.3.html Check the Continuing Ed Loan link. I've heard their rates are pretty good. Also your own bank or CU might have a program for it as well. Let me know if I can be of any further help. Good luck!