Hi all , I am a convicted felon over 2 years ago. I was released from State prison in June and am having a really hard time finding a job. I am looking into truck driving school but can not afford the tuition to join. Can anyone help me out and point me in the right direction. Im located in Berwick PA

I know that there are PELL grants available for truck driving school tuition. You need to call the folks down at your county job and family services department and speak to them about this. But be advised that if they DO have these PELL grants available you will have to jump through a lot of hoops (and I do mean a lot of hoops) in order to get the grant money for school. You may want to look into calling some OTR big companies and ask them about their driving school program where you go to their school and then sign a contract to work for the company for a year. But your felony may just put a kibosh on driving professionally at all. Depending on what sort of felony and how long ago the felony was you just may have a chance. You don't have to go into "I got out 2 years ago" right off the bat with these companies. Just be honest about the date of your conviction.

Also, contact several different truck driving schools about getting a government loan to attend truck driving school. That's also a good possibility. You would more than likely be able to quality for a government loan much easier than jumping through the Pell grant hoops and get the loan quicker as well. Pell grants can take months and months and you don't know if you're approved for at least 3 months.

And if your convictions where drug related, many of the government grants and loans will not be an option.

Good schools will have a fincial aid department ( or person at least) who should know any and all funding and loans possible

Of course remember right now, there are some large lay offs in trucking