Is the federal government providing a "six-month free" commercial driver's license, or CDL, course beginning in June 2024, as a post on Facebook claimed? No, that's not true: A spokesperson with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration -- a branch of the Department of Transportation that handles the issuance of CDLs -- told Lead Stories that the post includes false information believed to be a scam. Additionally, the Department of State told Lead Stories that it "has no involvement with a purported CDL course," as implied by the inclusion of the agency's seal on the image.
A version of the claim originated in a post shared on Facebook on June 24, 2024 (archived here) with a caption that read:
If you be in my inbox asking bout Cdl... here u go don't say I ain't tell you
An image that accompanied the post read:
Starting from June 2024, the United States will provide a six-month free CDL course. If you need a CDL driver's license, you can apply for it for free with your citizenship, and foreigners can also apply for it for free with their residence permit.
Below is how the post appeared at the time of this publication:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken Tues June 25 07:43:00 UTC 2024)
The post purports to provide a link so that users can "Apply now" but at the time of this writing, no link was visible or otherwise working on the post, as several users had pointed out in comments.
Cicely Waters, communications director for the Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, told Lead Stories the Facebook post was a "scam." While the DOT provides funding for CDL-relevant grant programs, funding awards for fiscal year 2024 have yet to be announced.
"Additionally, it should be noted that our agency does not offer grant funding directly to individuals, nor do we enroll applicants into CDL training programs. As such, our agency would not sponsor advertisements like those you described. We believe that post to be a scam," Waters told Lead Stories in an email received on June 25, 2024.
For more information on grant opportunities, Waters referred our newsroom to the agency's Commercial Driver's License Program Implementation Grant Program (archived here) and the Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Program (archived here).
The image in the post also includes a seal that resembles that of the Department of State. However, in an email to Lead Stories received on June 25, 2024, an agency spokesperson told Lead Stories that it "has no involvement with a purported CDL course."
Funds may also be awarded through other federal agency programs. For example, the American Rescue Plan's Good Jobs Challenge (archived here) funded state entities to provide free training to participants. Some trainings, like a four-week program in Oregon (archived here), included free CDL training. The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) oversees the program and has a full list of these programs on its website (archived here).
Similarly, the Chamber of Commerce Foundation provides free CDL training to veterans through its program, Hiring Our Heroes (archived here), through its Drive for 500 campaign (archived here).
However, as was stated above, the federal government does not provide funding or free CDL training directly to individuals.
Lead Stories has debunked other scams shared on social media platforms, which can be read here.
