Reasons High School Graduates Should Consider Commercial Truck Driving

While college is a good option for many high school graduates, it's far from the only path that graduates can follow. Becoming a commercial truck driver is also a great opportunity, and it may even be preferable to college for some graduates. Here are some reasons to consider commercial truck driving as a long-term career if you're about to graduate from high school.

Start Your Career Soon After Graduation

First, you can start your career as a commercial truck driver soon after you complete high school -- and certainly in much less than four years.

Programs vary in length some, but Class A CDL courses last only seven weeks on average. These are the courses that allow you to drive many different trucks, including large ones, after you pass the license exam. Class B CDL courses, which are to drive straight trucks, are sometimes shorter and may take you less than a week to complete.

After you complete a course, you must schedule and pass a license exam. As long as you're successful in the exam, you could be a fully licensed commercial truck driver by the time summer is over. As your fellow graduates head to college, you may head down the road in a big rig (or straight truck).

Find a Job Quickly After Licensure

Second, you shouldn't have to spend much time on your job search. As of 2018, there were more than 1.9 million heavy and tractor-trailer truck driving jobs in the United States. With that many jobs, the industry has a constant need for new drivers. As a result, it shouldn't take you long to land your first position once you pass the licensure exam.

Avoid College Student Loan Debt

Third, you can enter the commercial truck driving field with little - if any - student debt. Although classes to become a truck driver aren't free, they're quite affordable because they last only a few weeks. You'll only need minimal loans to pay the full cost of tuition, and you may be able to go driver's school through debt-free. For example, you may be able to cover the cost of school if you:

• Complete a Class B CDL course first, and save up for a longer Class A CDL course
• Have money saved from summer jobs you did during high school
• Find a sponsor who will pay for the course if you agree to work for them

Regardless of whether you finish a course with minimal or no debt, you'll be in a much better financial position than the many college graduates who complete their post-secondary degrees with substantial loans. This debt will take many of them years to pay off completely.

Pursue a Well-Paying Career

Fourth, you can earn a good income as a commercial truck driver. Both starting out and as your career progresses, you can bring home a substantial paycheck.

The median hourly wage for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was $21.00 in 2018.

You might make a little less at first until you have some experience, but even the lower 25th percentile still earned $16.85 per hour. As your driving experience increases, there's plenty of room for raises - the 75th percentile earned $26.16 per hour and the 90th percentile made $31.38 per hour in 2018.

Moreover, there are ways to set yourself apart in the industry and potentially make yourself even more desirable to prospective employers. Depending on their needs, employers might pay more for drivers who have specialized endorsements.

If you want to enroll in a CDL training course, contact Commercial Trucking School to find out what the upcoming course schedule is.