The American Trucking Associations, in cooperation with the Truckload Carriers Association, unveiled an initiative to provide financial assistance to men and women who wish to attend truck driver training schools.
Known as the ATA/TCA Company Driver Tuition Finance Program, the plan partners motor carriers with a financial institution to obtain a low-interest line of credit on behalf of a student who has been qualified for admission by a truck driver training school. The motor carrier guarantees the student loan in exchange for his or her commitment to work for the motor carrier upon graduation.
The finance program is modeled after one successfully piloted by Ray Kuntz, ATA vice-chairman and Watkins Shepard Trucking chief executive officer, as a means of addressing the company's shortage of long-haul truck drivers.