Tuition Reimbursement

Because of my lack of money I plan on attending a company-sponsored training program however Im also looking at other options. I'm curious about companies offering tuition reimbursement.

Private schooling seems out of my league due to about $30,000 of student debt that I already owe. It seems like that would limit my ability to obtain financial aid. I think the pace at a private school may suit me better but I have no idea how I could fund it up front.

Next, say I did get a loan to fund schooling. And I wanted to work for a company like Werner for example that will provide reimbursement. What if they don't want to hire me? Is a pre-hire letter a guarantee that they will hire you? I guess I would have my CDL at that point so I could in theory go find another company and pay the loan myself but that's going to add another bill to pay and I'd like to avoid that. I don't think finding a company will be too difficult. I have a solid work history, no criminal history and only two very old speeding tickets (not excessive speeding). I think that makes be a solid candidate for employment, its just funding the actual license that is killing me.

Anyone have any advice or been in a similar situation?

As far as I know, a pre-hire letter is not a guarantee that they will hire you. Look at it as more of an invitation to go to their orientation. Once go make it through their orientation and training you get hired.

pre hire letter is designed to hold you on the hook, until they decide whether you are the caliber of person they want, or if they need more trainees....It hold as much hope as you can put in it...about as good as tryin' to hold a gallon of water in a facial tissue. You can't count on anything until you get thru THEIR training, and their trainer, and you are assigned a truck. THEN your hired. You can check to see if the local employment division has any special programs that might pay for your schooling. If your ex military, possibly a GI loan is available. I had a friend who wanted to pay her own way thru school. So, knowing that she would be on the road full time, she yard saled everything, right down to her car. She got enough to pay for her school, and to buy a little 250 motorcycle to give her something to get around on when she's in the terminal. Just a few thoughts, get creative, it can't hurt.

I've been selling my stuff off via craigslist. I'm up about $300 which is nice. Ive been debating about selling my car. I'm still paying on it so I'm not sure I'd make enough off of it to fund schooling. The profits of everything I'm selling is going to survivng through the training phase in a company sponsored program. I think that's going to be my best bet to get my cdl. I considered getting a credit card to fund a private school but that's probably a horrible idea.

I've been selling my stuff off via craigslist. I'm up about $300 which is nice. Ive been debating about selling my car. I'm still paying on it so I'm not sure I'd make enough off of it to fund schooling. The profits of everything I'm selling is going to survivng through the training phase in a company sponsored program. I think that's going to be my best bet to get my cdl. I considered getting a credit card to fund a private school but that's probably a horrible idea.

You want to avoid the credit card route whenever possible. As for tuition reimbursement, most companies do it if their company is your FIRST company. In other words if you go the private school route, and end up driving for (as an example) Werner, then they will pay your tuition, up to a certain amount. However, if you quit or don't complete training, and go some place else, the new company might NOT pay your tuition.

Dave

I just graduated from a private driving school, United States Truck Driving School in Wheatridge, Colorado. I was looking at going to work for JBS carriers out of Greeley CO. But found out they don't do reimbursement, but instead pay the private school directly for your training then you go work for them. So, it sounds like the compromise you are looking for, a private school with no money up front. The Private school is three weeks, so if you could find a way to lodge and eat then you'd be set.

A pre-hire is not a guarantee of employment. It simply means they've looked over your application and based on what you've told them you qualify to work there. But they haven't done the serious background checks yet to verify anything. Pre-hires do fall through sometimes but as long as you're completely accurate on your application you shouldn't have too many concerns. We have an excellent article on the pre-hire process and you can find it here:

Understanding The Pre-Hire Process

Actually, putting the schooling on a credit card isn't that bad of an idea if loans & grants won't pay your way and you really want to go to a private school. I mean, a lot of credit cards will give you 6 months interest free. You can pay for the schooling, graduate, and be out on the road making money for several months before you ever owe a nickel of interest. In fact, depending on your other bills, you could possibly pay the schooling off before that 6 months is up and wind up with an interest-free loan. But even if you can't, you can often tranfer your balance to anohther card that is interest-free for yet another 6 months. The worst that can happen is you pay some interest. But in the grand scheme of things it won't be very much money when you consider what you're getting out of it.

And there are a ton of companies that do tuition reimbursement. As long as your background record is decent and you can land a job without too much trouble, you should have no problem at all finding a company with tuition reimbursement.

And don't forget, most company-sponsored programs aren't free in the end. You wind up paying some tuition and sometimes their interest rates are really high too.

In the end, remember you're going to wind up in a career that starts at $35k and will have you around $50k within 2 or 3 years. What's a few thousand bucks in tuition and interest when you look at your long-term prospects for a trucking career? In the end, that few thousand bucks won't amount to a hill of beans. So make the decision that suits you best for the long term and don't sweat the tuition too much. If it were $50k to go to school, that would be totally different. But you're not talking very much money in the end.

I make just under $20, 000 so the trucking pay is going to be good for me even as a rookie. Also considering that I can save another $400 per month not paying rent and not family to support I'll be doubling my income or more. Not to mention actually enjoying life. Its a win all around. Its just the upfront stuff that has me worried.

With a credit card I'm in the 'what if' state of mind. What if I just don't get the hang of it quick enough or something. Then I'm on rhe hook for the money plus intrest. But I guess even the copmany sponsored route I'd still be stuck with the repaying and possible intrest. I think driving is something I'm born for, I think I can learn in and be great at it. The failures of my past just weigh on my mind. Nothing is going to stop me from trying, I'm just trying to prepare for the worst and look at all of my options.

Also with no schools near me I have to deal with lodging. So that will limit my options a bit. I'll keep looking at schools and see what I find. Also, is there anywhere on here that lists companies with reimbursement? I have a few companies in mind that I see driving in my area I will look into.

Thanks for all of the insight guys, it helps a lot.

Well...lets look at this with the worst case scenario If you go with a credit card, you can pay for the school, and your room and board as you go. With a company school, they usually put you up, feed you 2 meals a day or so.

With a credit card, you will pay it back in monthly installments, and usually a horrid % rate. With a company school, you don't pay it back, but you have to stay there a given amount of time, or you will end up having to pay them back.

With a credit card....if you don't make it, you owe the $$ BUT...if you are forced into bankruptcy, the credit card can be included. With a company school, if you end up not making it into trucking for some reason, and have to do a bankruptcy, the school costs can not be included. They are just like any other student loan..you can't get rid of them, unless you pay em off, or die....

A lot of companies will offer tuition reimbursement if you start within 90 days of your graduation date. In my case, if I had gone this route, they would pay up to $6,000 in tuition reimbursement but I would have gone through their training. Instead I started as a "qualified driver" and got the sign on bonus, and went right to work as a solo driver. The trade-off is I am paying the tuition for schooling off myself.