Admissions
Whether you're starting your first career or looking for a fresh start, our admissions team is here to answer your questions and guide you through every step of the enrollment process.
We'll help you choose the right training program, review tuition and funding options, explain student housing, and make sure you have everything you need to get started.
Questions? Call 501-628-7309
How To Enroll
Getting started at HEO Academy is straightforward. Our admissions team is here to answer questions and help guide you through each step of the enrollment process.
Review our available training programs and choose the option that fits your goals, whether you're pursuing heavy equipment certification, Class A CDL training, or a specialized equipment course.
Complete our online application to begin the enrollment process and let our admissions team know you're ready to get started.
We'll answer your questions about tuition, schedules, housing, available programs, and what to expect before your first day.
Log into your student portal and complete the required documents needed to finalize your enrollment.
Finalize your tuition or funding arrangements and reserve student housing if you'll be staying near the academy during training.
Arrive ready to learn, get hands-on, and begin building the skills you'll use in the field.
Before You Enroll
Students must be at least 16 years old .
No previous heavy equipment experience is required to begin training.
Students must be at least 18 years old .
A current DOT Medical Card is required.
Drivers ages 18–20 are limited to intrastate commercial driving; interstate commercial driving begins at age 21.
Students are welcome from across the country, and affordable student housing is available near the academy. Out-of-state students enrolling in the CDL program must obtain their Class A Commercial Learner's Permit (CLP) before arriving for training.
Built For The Jobsite
Learning to operate equipment is only part of becoming a construction professional. At HEO Academy, students are introduced to the knowledge, safety practices, and jobsite skills that surround the equipment — not just the controls inside the cab.
Credentials You Can Carry Forward
Your training should leave you with more than experience. HEO Academy students earn certification based on demonstrated equipment proficiency, with the opportunity to pursue additional NCCER credentialing.
Issued upon successful completion of the program and demonstration of hands-on equipment proficiency.
After successfully earning their HEO Academy certification, students have the opportunity to pursue the NCCER Heavy Equipment Operator credential through additional testing.
Train For The Real World
You don't become an experienced operator in a weekend. It takes time on the equipment — practicing the same skills again and again until they become second nature. That's why HEO Academy is structured more like a working jobsite than a traditional classroom.
About 60 hours are spent in the classroom. The rest of the program is built around hands on training, practical exercises and time operating equipment.
Students are evaluated from the beginning. As their accuracy, quality, safety and speed improve, their performance improves with them. Practical evaluation isn't something saved for the final week — it's built into the training.
The goal isn't simply to earn a certificate. It's to leave HEO Academy prepared to step onto a jobsite and work alongside operators who have been doing this for years. That takes repetition, practical evaluation and a lot of seat time.
You get better at operating heavy equipment by operating heavy equipment. We give students the time to practice, repeat real tasks and keep improving until speed, accuracy and confidence begin to come together.
A Two-Way Commitment
Success at HEO Academy is a partnership. We ask for your commitment, and we’ll match it with ours.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need experience to succeed at HEO Academy. Many of our students arrive with little or no experience operating heavy equipment.
What matters most isn’t where you start—it’s your willingness to learn, accept coaching and keep improving. If you bring the effort, we’ll provide the instruction, equipment, opportunity and support to help you become a capable operator.
We can tell you how HEO Academy trains. Our graduates can tell you what it was like to experience it.
It was a really good experience! I learned a lot. I loved how it was as jobsite-based as it could be.
Review
I came to this school with no experience in operating heavy equipment, and after 8 weeks of training I learned everything that was in the training program!
Review
The instructors were amazing. They took their time. I tested their patience, and they didn't react poorly. They never gave up on me.
Review
READY TO GET STARTED?
If you're ready to train on real equipment and build skills for the jobsite, we're ready to help you get started.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
Have questions? Call 501-628-7309
Our admissions team is here to help you understand your next step.
