American youth is in trouble. Millenials are widely acknowledged to be the first generation to do financially worse than their parents, and real wages haven’t kept up with cost of living for decades.

As the American dream slips away from our children, the supposed guarantee of a good job for a good education is also disappearing. Many college graduates are leaving school with a diploma and settling into a minimum wage job that barely pays their rent.

America also faces a $1.74 trillion student loan debt crisis that demands to be paid back. Tuition has gone up, and so too has the challenge in repaying loans.

Is Truck Driving the Solution?

The value of a college degree has fallen. Fortunately, truck driving remains a lucrative profession that only requires a few weeks of training to get a Commercial Driver’s License.

Young adults entering the workforce today don’t have to get a four-year diploma to earn a good living. Truck driving can offer $50,000/year and even up to $100,000/year depending on experience and freight.

Because of the alleged labor shortage in the trucking industry, trucking companies are raising wages and also lobbying federal regulators to legalize interstate driving for those 18 years of age.

Long-haul truck driving provides a great alternative to becoming buried under student debt, and for some former students, the career may even offer a way out.

Next Generation in Trucking Association Leads the Way

Founded in 2020, the Next Generation in Trucking Association is one group that is trying to spread the word about truck driving as a career. This non-profit trade association works to engage young people and teach them about the possibility of truck driving. NGTA partners with high schools, community & technical colleges, and more to create training programs

The $1.74 trillion price tag for student loans is already obscene. But worse is the prospect that young Americans will continue to trap themselves in an endless loop of paying for expensive diplomas while trying to get ahead.

A career in trucking doesn’t guarantee an economically just society, but it may be enough to help one person escape the student loan trap that has ensnared so many of our young people.