As the shipping industry continues to boom the trucking industry is booming with it, and as a result the need for truckers continues to grow. As a result the interest in driver training and not surprisingly, truck driving school grants, is growing along with it.
The average truck driving school is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, and many aspiring truck drivers require some form of financial assistance in order to complete the training program and pursue a career as a commercial truck driver.
Luckily, government and private industry assistance is available to aspiring truckers and truck driving school grants come in several different forms.
Table of Contents
The Federal Pell Grant System
Truck driving school grants are much the same as federal education grants and scholarship programs.
The Pell Grant system is designed to help lower-income individuals and families afford the cost of a community, college, trade school, or university, and it’s available to any aspiring truck driver who attends a school which is registered with the federal Department of Education and is eligible to receive government financial aid.
The grant is distributed based on an applicant’s adjusted gross income as reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA (learn how to submit this application online, click here!).
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
The most recent economic recession wasn’t good for anyone, or any industry. But one thing that did benefit from the economic uncertainty of the late last decade was worker training and funding programs.
The government designed the Workforce Investment Act to specifically provide financial assistance to those worker who had no marketable skills, or those whose skills were no longer in use by the mainstream labor force.
It is designed to fund further and higher education in those individuals so that they can acquire the skills necessary to reenter the economy and make a sound, full-time income above the nation’s poverty wage.
Truck driving school grants within this category are a bit harder to secure, as the future driver must prove that they currently have no skill usable by the job market or they’ve simply become “outdated” in their field of choice and they’re no longer needed.
The paperwork required can be taxing, but that’s no reason to shy away from this federally-funded form of truck driving school grants which is specifically designed to help recipients earn higher wages and enjoy better job prospects.
State Truck Driving School Grants and Financial Aid Programs
Much like the federal government, which offers forms of truck driving school grants that take into account a worker’s economic situate and marketable skills, states have begun evaluating both of those characteristics in new financial aid programs.
State-based economic stimulus programs are increasingly re-training works to perform new and usable tasks, and truck driving is one such task.
These truck driving school grants do vary on a state-by-state basis, and those aspiring to achieve one of them would be well-advised to do their research.
If interested in a state source of truck driving school grants, be sure to contact the state’s Department of Education and inquire specifically about sponsorship programs, grants, and scholarships.
Employees of the agency are trained to help learners of all levels and ambitions fund their ambition with state programs.
Employer-Based Truck Driving School Grants & Paid Training
Though there are a number of new state and federal programs to fund the cost of a truck driving school education, the leading source of funding remains the truck driving companies themselves.
Often, these companies are the ones who operate truck driving schools and they’ll pay for students’ education and provide paid training so long as those students agree to work for the company for a period of several years upon completion of the program.
As an example for you to check out, Pam Transport offers such a program.
CDL Training also offers tuition assistance.
The only downside of this source of truck driving school grants is that it restricts occupational freedom upon graduation.
Many students simply may not want to be tied to just one employer for several years when they could get better hours, wages, or benefits elsewhere.
For this reason, it is widely recommended that students look into state and federal truck driving school grants before they pursue an employer-sponsored option that may restrict their ability to get the job they really want.
Resources
Job Outlook and Details (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
