Kevin Visser, an attorney who represents CRST, said in an email that he couldn't comment on specifics but that “every year CRST brings something on the order of 10,000 persons into the driving field (which is starved for workers) who are not qualified or licensed drivers. I also know that a fairly large number of those folks decide that driving is not for them in fairly short order but that for the remainder, driving can become a reliable, if not lucrative, source of income.”

Don Lefeve, president of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association, which represents nearly 200 training providers (though not CRST), said the group urges its member schools “to make sure we’re educating people early and often” about the cost of training programs and the unconventional life of trucking.

Trucking is the backbone of U.S. commerce. Consumers rely on the industry to move the parts for their cars, the food for their dinner tables, and increasingly the goods they order online. Trucks hauled nearly 10.5 billion tons of freight in 2015, according to the American Trucking Association. That’s 70 percent of the tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation.

The industry, which provides the top form of employment in 29 states, has faced a driver shortage for years, with a shortfall of roughly 48,000 drivers in 2015, according to ATA estimates. An aging workforce is part of the problem. Increasing pressure from the technological threat of driverless trucks on the horizon has added a cloud of worry.

Recruiting women, who make up just 5 percent of the ranks of truckers, is another concern in the male-dominated industry. CRST currently faces a lawsuit brought on behalf of more than 100 women alleging sexual harassment on the job. The company declined to comment on the suit, citing the pending litigation.

In a separate case, now settled, even a CRST trainee who said she was raped got a bill for tuition arrears. Karen Shank, a divorced high school graduate who had raised two children, said she was paired with a driver who made sexually charged comments, asking her, for instance, if she had a vibrator. He caressed her hand and climbed into her bunk, she said. According to court documents, the harassment escalated to a rape. A month after resigning, she received a collection notice for her $3,600 fee. Shank ultimately won a civil case against CRST and a $1.5 million settlement. CRST declined to comment on the case.

To drive a semi-truck, a driver needs a commercial driver’s license. While formal training isn’t required, most drivers enroll in a program to help prepare them for the written and practical exams in their states. Many community colleges offer license programs, as do independent schools, many of which go beyond the required test material to further instruct drivers about best practices and safety.

Over the years, some trucking companies, looking to boost revenue and widen the funnel of new drivers entering the trade, have started their own programs. The company-run schools often tout the promise of high, even six-figure wages, benefits, and the romance of a new life on the road, plus “company reimbursement” or “tuition repayment” programs that require little or no money up front—that is, if the driver commits to working at the company for a period, typically eight months to a year, with wages garnished to pay for the schooling, which can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000.

Drivers can find themselves locked out of the industry. In 2006, CRST won a lawsuit against competitor JB Hunt that essentially prevented Hunt from buying out the contracts of frustrated CRST drivers. While noncompete agreements aren’t unusual in high tech, finance, and other industries that run on highly skilled labor, such arrangements are less common in such trades as trucking.

“Trucking companies would say they’re helping people get jobs with these schools,” said Craig Ackermann, a lawyer who represents truck drivers on a variety of issues. “But it’s a no-lose situation for them if someone leaves training. They’re running these schools for profit, sometimes with government funds. They know people aren’t going to work for them.” Among Ackermann’s legal victories, he said, was a case involving a trucking school that “seemed to be just some guys and a truck in a parking lot.”