Comparing Career Paths: Truck Driving Versus A College Degree

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From TruckingTruth.com:

I decided to hypothetically put two people seeking professional careers, one a prospective college student, the other a truck driving school candidate, up against each other in a comparison of job training, annual salary, debt accumulation, and investment capability throughout their careers. We’ll start the time frame with the student entering college and the truck driver entering truck driving school.
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To be fair, we will base the cost of the college student’s tuition on an average of $16,000 at an in-state public university, and about $33,000 for a private school each year for 4 years. These costs include tuition, fees, books, room and board and other expenses.

The Cost Of CDL Training Versus A College Degree


The average cost of training at a truck driving school is around $1,500 to $3,500. Some truck driving schools pay for room and board and some truck driving schools sponsored by trucking companies pay the student wages while they are training. Trucking company schools will often pay for some, if not all of a student’s training if the student agrees to work for them for one year.
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4 years and 3 months later: Congratulations to our college student! Happy graduation! Your debt is $68,000 to $140,250, plus interest. Your starting salary as an Electrical Engineer is $54,599. Our truck driver has earned $60,000 dollars this year and his home value is up $12,500 above the purchase price. His investment portfolio balance is around $45,000 dollars.
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Now if you look at the college student’s $68,000 to $140,250 debt compared to the drivers balance of $65,000 plus home equity, we have as much as a $200,000 difference at about 5 years. The college student has the power of interest working against him, while the truck driver has the power of compounding interest working in his favor!
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http://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking_blogs/cls2009/2010/02/comparing-career-paths-truck-driving-versus-a-college-degree