Hidden Gems: Commercial Driver's License Program
Published January 19, 2025
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 hours-of-service and Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations. You will also learn about career opportunities in the transportation industry. 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 behind-the-wheel instruction. The skills you acquire to pass the CDL Class A driver's test will help you get entry-level employment as a Class A or B CDL driver. After two years on the job, you can make yearly salaries of $60,000 to $70,000.
Hundreds of commercial driving jobs are available in this area for local, regional and over-the-road drivers. Local drivers come home every day. Regional drivers are gone one or two nights a week. Over-the-road drivers transport goods over long distances and often spend weeks away from home. 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.