Does First Student pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, First Student employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.5 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at First Student. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at First Student?

70% of First Student employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated First Student 3.8 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.5 for culture and values and 3.6 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at First Student?

School Bus Driver (493) , Graduate Student (365) , Software Engineer (195) , Bus Driver (164) , Driver (124) , Student Worker (67) , Data Entry (63) , Software Developer (59) , Internship (51) , Working Student (45) , Intern (43) , PhD Student (33) , Web Developer (30) , Bus Monitor (25) , Mechanical Engineer (25)

What are the pros of working at First Student according to real employee reviews?

"Pay is good and they are flexible with hours" ((in 166 reviews)); "Worth ethics is good and people are supporting" ((in 118 reviews)); "Good Workplace and good environment" ((in 51 reviews)); "CDL Training for later use in life" ((in 45 reviews)); "Good Work life balance all time" ((in 39 reviews))

What are the cons of working at First Student according to real employee reviews?

"Bad management but now its good" ((in 106 reviews)); "Not enough hour No benefit Not enough hour No benefit Not enough hour No benefitNot enough hour No benefit" ((in 78 reviews)); "Low salary and no retaining of interns" ((in 76 reviews)); "Hours are long and do not let you sleep." ((in 52 reviews)); "Very difficult company to work for umess you have a good manager." ((in 27 reviews))

What are employees saying about First Student layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about First Student layoffs and their outlook for job security at First Student in 2026.

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First Student

First Student reviews

3.7

70% would recommend to a friend

(3,728 total reviews)

John Kenning

70% approve of CEO

65% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.9

Diversity & inclusion

3.8

Work/Life balance

3.6

Career opportunities

3.5

Culture & values

3.5

Compensation and benefits

3.4

Senior management

First Student has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 3,728 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The First Student employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Transporte y logística industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

4K reviews

1.0

Apr 7, 2025

Concerning management

Diesel technician

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Consistent and engaging work with plenty of opportunities to grow in your field

Cons

Location management cared more about making sure their friends stayed in better paying jobs than for the safety of the students and drivers. Maintenance management at the local level fostered a hostile work environment.

2.0

Mar 14, 2025

Way too much favortism

Driver

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Pay is higher than typical for this area

Cons

Way too much favortism in this location. The office staff will speak Spanish about other employees and gossip about them and just assume that you don't understand what your saying about them. They will give you your own route and then when they are short handed they will take you off of it and put you on another route and have one of the office staff drive it because they like that route better or pull you off and put a newer driver with less experience on your route because you're a better driver and they want you to drive a "more difficult route". Way too much drama there and very unprofessional.

4.0

Feb 7, 2025

I love the job itself

School bus driver

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Driving the big and small buses, and the most of the kids are awesome. Seeing how excited they get when they see me coming down the street, teaching them things or just being a positive safe person that they get to see 1-2x a day, is rewarding as well. I personally never thought I could ever deal with 4-50+ kids at a time, especially while driving a 40ft bus down a tiny side street but I actually love it. My location is ran by a woman, our shop is managed by a woman, safety a woman, dispatch is managed and ran by women which makes me love it even more

Cons

School bus drivers have a huge amount of responsibility. We're under appreciated, undervalued, underpaid, looked down on, and more. Driving a 40ft school bus, in all types of weather, while being responsible for keeping up to 70 children safe, happy and ready to learn, dealing with the schools, the time frames, the parents and more. Because of the lack of pay, on top of all the cons, we're always short drivers and monitors and that adds stress to all the people still there. We deserve to be paid better for what we do and for what we deal with

Viewing 22 - 24 of 3,728 Reviews

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