Truck Driver Training

The course is 200 hours total, training eight (8) hours per day, Monday through Friday for a total of five (5) weeks to the course completion. There are 48 hours of classroom instruction.

At the end of the fifth week of training the student will be accompanied by their RVC Instructor Specialist and provided the same RVC tractor-trailer that the student has trained on in their five (5) weeks of training in order to take the CDL-A test with the Illinois Secretary of State. (Ask about training for Wisconsin licensed drivers.) 

Rock Valley College Truck Driver Training Tuition: $4,920.00

Program costs that are not included in the tuition, but will be required costs to the driver are as follows:

1. Illinois Secretary of State for a copy of the “driver's history”: $12.00
    
2. Physicians Immediate Care Clinic for a DOT Physical and DOT Drug Screen to be done no later than 15 days and no sooner than 29 days prior to a class’ start date: $125.00
    
3. Secretary of State for taking CDL-A Permit test: $50.00
    
4. A program cost that is optional to the driver is regarding HAZMAT: “IBT” for the fingerprinting and background check through TSA website or a check to “IBT” in amount of: $86.50

*In Illinois, a driver is required by TSA to have a background check done prior to taking the HAZMAT Endorsement test with the Secretary of State. The cost to the driver is $86.50 and requires being fingerprinted with the process taking between two (2) to three (3) weeks to receive the letter of clearance from TSA, which in turn allows the driver to take the endorsement test with SOS.

Driver improvements programs are designed for drivers that either have a valid CDL-A and would like to improve their skills or for a driver that has held a CDL-A in the past and is needing to prepare and improve skills to take the CDL-A exam test with the Illinois/Wisconsin Secretary of State.

• For these drivers, there will be a prerequisite to a brush–up program assignment. This will require the driver to subject to a “Driving Skills Evaluation” with an RVC Instructor Specialist at no charge or obligation to the prospective student but to establish the driver’s current skills level.
   
•  In order for an RVC Instructor Specialist to conduct the driving skills evaluation on the driver’s skills will require that the driver have a valid CDL-A and a current DOT physical certificate; both hard card and long form.
  
  Or that the driver have the proof of a past CDL-A Possession and a current and valid Illinois/Wisconsin Driver’s license; plus a valid CDL-A Permit and a current DOT physical certificate; both hard card and long form.
  
  With the completion of the evaluation the driver can then be given the option of either an 80-hour, 120-hour, or an 160-hour Brush-Up Refresher as determined by the RVC Instructor Specialist’s grading of the driver’s performance.

The Brush-Up Refresher options are:

• 40 hours Brush-Up Refresher/$820.00
• 80 hours Brush-Up Refresher/$1,640.00
• 120 hours Brush-Up Refresher/$2,460.00
• 160 hours Brush-Up Refresher/$3,280.00
  • four (4) weeks training to completion with a certificate, i.e., CDL-A

Workshops are available to improve upon and strengthen a CDL-A driver's skills set. Providing trucking companies and employee drivers with a third-party solution to aid in the retention of drivers needing attention, improvements, and employment.

Workshops are available on an as-needed basis, calculated at a rate of $150.00 per an eight-hour day session per driver.

• Hazardous materials endorsement preparation
   
• Hours of service/log book compliance
   
• CSA compliance
   
• Over-the-road safety driving skills including and not limited to:
   
• • Pre-trip inspections, brake checks, and leak downs
     
  • Smoothing out upshifting and downshifting; double clutching or floating methods
     
  • Using the downshifting method to reduce wear and repair on brake pads and brake drums
     
  • Lane control and space management
     
  • Mirrors use and wide turns, right and left procedures
     
  • Backing skills; straight backing, angle backing skills (45 degree and 90 degree), blindside backing, docking situations, and truck-stop parking