Assignment Two, Skylar Hazel

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Beauty School Student Loan Debt Meets the Real World

Reporter: Skylar Hazel

Editor: Rob Wells

Beauty school students round up a lower median debt than private and public universities, according to College Scorecard. This is helpful when making a living post-graduation, but the salary cosmetologists are making may leave a small amount of money for things other than rent and student loan debt payments.

The median debt for students graduating from universities is $9,500 and for beauty school graduates it is $8,543, according to 2016 data from College Scorecard, a database maintained by the U.S. Department of Education. In the long run, a $1,000 difference is not a stretch, however, the income may differ between a cosmetology license and a university given degree.

Students who graduate from Paul Mitchell, a renowned beauty school across the nation, have a median debt of $12,000. Their tuition is $16,875 with the required kit included, which is an assembly of textbooks and guides as well as a skin care kit, according to the official Paul Mitchell website. A $100 application fee is charged as well, according to Robert Warren, school director of Paul Mitchell in Fayetteville.

A helpful aid for students paying for beauty school is the Pell Grant, “if you get the Pell Grant and you get the full Pell Grant, that’s $6,090 in your pocket,” Warren said.

An individual in the cosmetology field earns an average wage of $26,510 annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is $12.74 per hour.

With a cosmetologist average annual salary of $26,510, not counting tips which is a large portion of a cosmetologists’ income, and student loan payments of $100 per month, this only allows about $2,100 to live on each month. Fayetteville, being one of the top five places to live in America, according to U.S. News & World Report, has an average rent of $750 per month, according to the American Community Survey.

However, cosmetologists can make up to $41,490 a year, according to Chron. “It depends on the workload,” Warren said, “it’s like anything in life, if you work hard enough at it, you can make some significant money doing it.”

Hot Springs Beauty College has the lowest median debt of any beauty school in Arkansas, at $4,500. Tracy Akard, owner and Chief Financial Officer and Instructor at Hot Springs Beauty College, said their program, “provides grant aid to many low-income undergraduate students.”

“Many awards are given out and this helps tremendously with students’ debt load,” Akard said.

Hot Springs Beauty College is an institution with a 12-month program and instructors, according to their website. Tuition for the school is $13,500 and 70% of a student’s tuition can be covered if qualified. The kit required for school costs $1,495.

For private and public universities in Arkansas, the median debt is $9,500. The 2017 average annual income of a college graduate is $49,785, according to a study released by the Hay Group division of the executive search firm Korn Ferry. A students’ debt could be paid off in one year with $3,357 left for living expenses each month, according to these statistics.

The high cost of student loans is a continuous problem not only throughout Arkansas, but the United States. However, in today’s society, options are limited without a certificate of some sort from a higher educational institute.

“More education means more tuition, and more tuition means more debt,” according to Forbes.com. At the end of any program, you get out what you put in.

Contacts:

Tracy Akard, Owner, Chief Financial Officer & Instructor

Hot Springs Beauty College

Tracy@HotSpringsBeautyCollege.com

(501) 624-4258

Robert Warren, School Director

Paul Mitchell The School Arkansas

(479) 442-518

Sources:

College Scorecard

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/

Bureau of Labor Statistics: