Letter to the Editor: Student Loans
Having worked in the trucking industry for over 15 years in recruiting and the past three years in the driver-training industry, I am amazed that it took this long for the funding crisis to come to a head. However, I feel the cause of the problem is not the same as the tone that I felt was being projected by the article, “Funding Loss Imperils Driver Training Schools” (3-25, p. 1).
The current default crisis is not a result of the finance companies making poor credit decisions based on unsecured loans. The increasing default rate is a direct result of some schools’ recruiting and training students who would never be qualified to work in the industry because of criminal, driving and employment backgrounds that would not meet the hiring requirements laid out by the trucking companies.
Additionally, some schools have recruited individuals who may have met the qualifications but were never suited for the lifestyle of a professional driver.
n my previous recruiting positions, I continually counseled school owners and sales managers on the allegations that were made by their graduates, such as encouraging them to lie on their employment applications, omit criminal records, fabricate employment backgrounds, all in an attempt to try to place them in driving jobs.
To blame the finance companies for approving loans for students that their business partner, the school, recruited and trained — for an industry that would never hire them — is ludicrous. Would that school owner have enrolled those same students if he were loaning the money, knowing they would not have the ability to repay the loan? The answer is no.
Unfortunately, there were many good training programs that do follow the rules that also were affected by these events. We can only hope they will survive the current crisis.
I do believe that the truck driver training industry will survive and actually be stronger for this dilemma. The good programs will take a look at their recruiting efforts and their retention efforts. Placement is the goal of every program, and schools will need to look at “re”-placement. All too often a placement department thinks its job is done after the initial pre-hire is issued. The better schools will engage in re-placement activities after or even before their student quits his first job.
The schools that understand the student’s future employment prospects are their responsibility will find that new financing options will surface. The schools that feel that their job is to train anyone who wants to be trained, regardless of their ability to find employment, will find little or no funding available to them.
Mark Butcher
I>CC-USA
ndianapolis
This letter appeared in the April 8 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
