The Link Driver Education Program

Welcome to The Link Driving School. We have been providing driver education to area high school students in the Whitewater Valley area for over 30 years. The Link is a non-profit organization overseen by a volunteer board of directors. We have been in business offering community education programs in Connersville, IN since 1968. Being a non-profit we are always giving back to our communities through volunteering, sponsorships and donations. 

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Our business office is located in Connersville, IN (Fayette County) and we meet students in Fayette, Rush and Wayne Counties for drive times. Please note, we meet students year round in Fayette County for driving at our business office. In Wayne County we meet students spring, summer and fall at Richmond and Centerville High Schools. For Rush County we meet students at Rushville HS during the month of June. 

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Our program is $450 for Fayette County Residents and $475 for non-Fayette County Residents.​ You can also take advantage of our EZ payment plan option. Our EZ payment plan option requires an initial down payment of $150 ($115 Down Payment plus $35 EZ Pay Fee) followed by 3 equal automatic monthly payments of $111.67 for Fayette County residents and $120 for non-Fayette County residents. Your monthly payments will be automatically charged to your credit or debit card on the same day of each month. When choosing the EZ payment option, students can go ahead and get their permit and work on their online course, but they cannot sign up for a drive time until the full amount is paid. Please note: all fees are non-refundable. (Please note: beginning Nov. 1, there will be a 3.6 % processing fee for any payments made via PayPal or credit/debit card. You can avoid paying this fee by paying via check or cash. You can call us at 765-377-7026 to pay via E-check over the phone or stop in and pay via check or cash at our office at 2508 Western Ave Ste.F, Connersville, IN 47331.

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After you have registered and paid, we will email your next steps to you for beginning the class portion and information and paperwork needed for your learner's permit. Please note: we try to email within 24 hours; however, if you register and pay when our business office is not open, we will not send the email until we are open for business hours. Our office is open Monday-Thursdays. Our business office is closed Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, most holidays and some school breaks. 

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The Link Driver Education Program consists of three phases:

- Phase 1: Learner's Permit & 30 hours of online or in person classroom training

         - Students have 6 months (180 days) from the time of registration to obtain their learner's permit and to complete and pass their minimum of 30 hour of online or in person classroom training. The online training can be done at any time at the students own pace. We also offer in person classroom training at our office in Connersville periodically. We require at least 10 students in order to offer an in person classroom. If there aren't enough students for an in person class, students will be offered to switch to the next session or online. Once the student has passed and completed their class training they can move on to Phase 2. 

- Phase 2: 6 hours of behind the wheel (BTW) drive time instruction

          - Students will complete 6 hours of BTW instruction. BTW instruction sign ups will be posted on our website. We will be offering 6 days of driving sessions where a student will drive with at least one other student for one hour each, 4 days of driving sessions where the student will drive with one other student for 90 minutes each and 3 days of driving sessions where a student will drive  one on one with an instructor for two hours each day. Any driving skill level can sign up for our 6 and 4 day sessions, but in order to sign up for the 3 days of driving sessions students must have at least 10 hours of drive time already logged on their driving log sheet and will need to bring that sheet with them on the first day of driving. Don't delay in signing up for driving once a student has completed their online class and obtained their permit as students have 1 year total from the time of registration to complete Phase 1 and 2 of our driver education program. If a student does not complete the phases in time, we are required per the Indiana BMV regulations to revoke that students permit. This means your permit will be suspended. 

-Phase 3(Optional): Driving Skills Test

          -Students also have the opportunity to take their driving skills test with one of our instructors once they are age eligible for their driver's license. Per State of Indiana BMV regulations students must be at least 16 years and 90 days old and have held their permit at least 180 days in order to take the driving skills test. There is a $50 fee for the skills test. We don't offer scheduled skills test everyday, so we suggest that you sign up for your skills test at least a few weeks in advance if you want to get your driver's license as close to your age eligibility as possible. To schedule the skills test, please call our office at 765-377-7026. Please note, in most cases you will be taking the test at our office in Connersville. There may be some rare cases when we can schedule your test in Richmond, but that will depend on if we have an instructor driving in Richmond or not.  If you are taking the driving skills test with us, you will take the test in one of our driver ed cars and with one of our driving instructors.

 

You can also take the test for free at the BMV, but it would be in your own car, and you would need to schedule your test directly with the BMV. 

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Our instructors are all state of IN BMV approved and certified instructors who all have the same goal in mind to teach their students to be safe and defensive drivers. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 765-377-7026.

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To find out more from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles about obtaining a Learner's Permit or Driver's License and to make an appointment, visit the Indiana BMV website at https://www.in.gov/bmv/licenses-permits-ids/home/.

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To find out more about the Driver Education Code of Responsibilities, visit the BMV website here: https://www.in.gov/bmv/licenses-permits-ids/files/responsibilities-driver-ed-students.pdf. 

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