Hidden Gems: Commercial Driver's License Program
CCAC students and instructors wear neon safety vests as they smile alongside the college’s semi-trailer trucks.
At CCAC, you can get your Pennsylvania Class A CDL license in eight weeks.
The classroom portion of the course will prepare you to take your CDL Class A permit tests (general knowledge A, general knowledge B, and air brake) and provide you with a working knowledge of log books/hours of service and Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations. You will also learn about career opportunities in the transportation industry. Spoiler alert: On any given day, there are as many as 70,000 driver jobs available nationwide.
The lab portion is 80 hours of hands-on training—two students to a truck, one instructor. This arrangement will give each of you 40 hours of individualized behind-the-wheel instruction. The skills you acquire to pass the CDL Class A driver's test will be your ticket to obtain entry-level employment as a Class A or B CDL driver. After two years on the job, you can potentially make yearly salaries of $60,000 to $70,000.
Hundreds of commercial driving jobs are available in this area for local (home every day), regional (gone one or two nights a week) and over-the-road (nationwide) drivers. Students who successfully complete the program are often offered a job even before they have passed their CDL test—and you could be one of them.