This is a classic NYT hit piece, cherry-picking data to demonize the private sector. It takes the most extreme State requirements, couples them with a outlier school and graduate who chose to work in the underbelly of the profession. In general, American academia outsources the education of it's underclass to the private sector. Yet the trade school choice in a honorable option for anybody who needs a focused path to secure employment. To maintain accreditation, 60% of all trade school graduates that receive financial aid are required to work in their profession. If a trade school graduate becomes a stay-at-home mother or an NYT reporter, the school can be put out of business because that graduate is not cutting hair. Trade schools are also required to have a 70% licensure rate. Yet for $25 a year, Tracy can have that license for the rest or her life and have the independence to work anywhere she wants. In Marin County, where I live, beauty professionals routinely earn in the six figures. Meredith and Sarah should take their reportorial skills and apply them to a similar analysis of the taxpayer cost, and outcomes at community colleges. They will find the trade school solution is extraordinarily cost effective. Finally, something happens in responsible post secondary education that transcends the details of the pedagogical offerings. Students have to show up on time, be presentable, study hard and make the transition from adolescent to responsible adult, able to hold a job.
8
@Chris Tellis In Marin County, where I live, beauty professionals routinely earn in the six figures.
Who's cherry-pickin' now?
5
@Chris Tellis in the 6 figures? You must be joking. My daughter's a salon co-owner and has a second job as a color educator. She's yet to get halfway there.
1
@Rodrian Roadeye
Hi Rodrian, Happy New Year. Most of us who grew up in Marin could not afford to move here. I just tell my students to choose carefully where they work if they want to make serious money. Obviously if you work in nosebleed country you will make more.But the average national wage, which is hard to nail down, because a lot is tips, is over 30k. Many costmetologists work part time. The profession is also highly mobile. It's the package of creativity, income and independence that is most appealing to these students.
Yours,
Chris
1
Betsy Devos says it's fake news.
5
This is the reality for pretty much all millenials nowadays - we're expected to front-load our lives with these costly educations since everyone and their mother claims college and whatnot is the only way to upward mobility... and then we're expected to foot the bill later on while making money from your first REAL job, but then your pay (after paying for your monthly STUDENT loan payment) ends up equalling the SAME amount you would have been making with a high school diploma alone. It's disgusting that this is still being allowed to happen.
Then you get these Baby Boomers constantly asking you "so when you gonna get married?" or "when are you going to have kids?" or "when are you going to buy a house?" when you're struggling to even save for yourself after making student loan payment after student loan payment after student loan payment.
I think it's time for universal federal student loan forgiveness. It's long been overdue.
309
@Mr. Frugal Pharmacist
The problem is licensure laws. I worked my way through college. The tuition was lower than now. Additionally almost every job that I used to work my way through college would be off limits to me now with onerous licensure requirements. Many require a college degree to start the licensure process. I was able to do them safely and effectively with on the job instruction.
There are a few health and safety issues in cutting hair that can be covered in a half day seminar. The rest is a state assisted racket pure and simple. We don’t need to be protected from a bad haircut. It grows back.
Millineials need to lobby their legislatures to dismantle the occupation licensure and credentialling racket. Meanwhile, they need to exercise their natural right to sell their labor to willing buyers and rebel against restrictive laws.
54
@Mr. Frugal Pharmacist, entirely Agree + read my post (about 9 hrs ago).
11
@Mr. Frugal Pharmacist, the answer is to Unionize!
11
I know this remark will seem/be petty, but any time anyone is crying the blues about debt and/or low pay and/or has little children, I often have to wonder how much tatoos cost, and I don’t believe they’re inexpensive. Recently, on my neighborhood network, some good soul asked for help for a single Mother of four. She needed school clothes and shoes for her elementary-age children, as well as school supplies, food, and, yes, she would welcome cash. A picture of the family was included. She was half covered with tatoos. Okay—not the kids’ fault, but still.... Please look at the picture of the complainant that accompanies this story, which is, ultimately, about choices.
22
@Bluebeliever
1. You have no idea when this woman -- or the woman you describe -- got their tattoos. It could have been years before they accrued debt.
2. Are poor people or people in debt not allowed to have pleasures? They need to have bleak lives until they've paid off their debts? They can't celebrate because they've paid off their first $1,000, or over the birth of a child? It seems cruel to demand that the debt-ridden must be debt-ridden AND not allowed to have or do anything fun. Joys keep us going; everyone deserves some.
33
@Bluebeliever It does seem petty and misses the core problem that the article discusses. Yes it is about choice but not everybody has as big a choice pool as others for all kinds of reasons, many of which are beyond their control. Schools like this operate in an unethical, barely legal manner, taking advantage of people with limited options. If someone is in a difficult situation and wants to improve, it makes no sense to hold their past against them and set them up for future failure
10
@Bluebeliever: Yep. Said so. But I still believe that fiscal restraint is its own reward and to be applauded. And joy doesn’t have to cost $100–$500 a pop. Whatever happened to ice cream cones? Walks in the park? We are being taught from an early age that if it gives us joy, it’ll probably break the bank. So many of society’s ills can be traced back to easy credit/debt. A $20k loan to someone with no education is a real shame. And I do feel bad for her. After all, I’m a lifelong liberal.
12
A year of training and a $21,000 investment in order to be qualified to cut hair. But any moron can become President, no experience necessary.
639
@Robert Medich
Trump is many things, but a moron he is not. He is one of the shrewdest men I have encountered.
4
@Robert Medich I missed who it was forced this woman to take out a loan to attend cosmetology school.
6
@Wine Country Dude
Successful grifters are usually very shrewd.
16
@Penseur (Uptown)
Well, goody for you.
I myself am childfree, and believe a woman's lot in life, their chance at individual and professional success, at least/especially in the US, is disproportionately and negatively tied to their ability to conceive and give birth.
I do believe a child or children born to women without a committed partner will hamper that woman for her entire professional and financial life.
I believe in a woman's right to an abortion, as agonizing and haunting and difficult that choice might be, to mitigate some of the above.
People are complicated.
Lives are not so tidy or always so easy.
Things happen.
However ... maybe the the biggest lesson I've learned over the years: judge not lest ye be judged.
Especially on this topic.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. May we all find the peace and comfort and security that is universally sought.
11
Mothers Day advice, doled out yearly: Wait five more years to marry, get one more level of education than you think you need, if having children, have one child fewer than you think you want. And pick their father more carefully than many.
4
Government regulation! Ain't it great!
It shouldn't require a license from Big Brother to cut hair. Let anyone who wants to cut hair. Let the customer decide.
3
What part of this is anything but the students fault?
10
Excellent article.
Thanks so much for sharing this story.
Alternative schooling has always been undervalued and overpriced. I would like to take a minute to address cheap tippers everywhere which I feel is a big part or rather the solution to this issue.
I have friends that boost about finding great "hair stylists" at Great Clips or Cost Cutters etc., only to screw them with leaving a minimal tip based on the lower cost of the haircut.
These stylist have to do good cuts at a fast rate to make even minimal wages, thus deserving of at least a $5.00 tip.
Yay guys even you! You find a stylist you like.Tip her/him. The benefit of being a repeat customer works both ways.
You get the cut you want without the whole rigamarole of what number blade/how close around the ears etc. so the appointment saves you time, you get a cut you like and she will be there again the next time you come in.
Turn over at these places is so high because they can't live on their wages/tips. I am not talking to people who appreciate and can only afford minimal costs. I am just asking if you have the extra bucks tip people above and beyond. I always try to think if it were my son or daughter or friend what would I tip them.
Don't get me started on tipping waiters/waitresses!
I would never do their job. It's hard work, hungry people are not pleasant and most people think their servers are there to wait on them hand and foot. Wrong. Be Nice. Be generous.
30
"There’s little evidence that spending more hours in school leads to higher wages. Nor is there proof that extra hours result in improved public safety."
The first statement is true, sadly. The second statement is almost irrelevant. What do these "cosmetologists" do that endanger public safety? Bad haircut? Subpar nail polishing? Those 1500 hours are equivalent of flight pilots getting to be first officer, and THAT I can totally understand, from a public safety perspective. I might say this that hurts someone's feeling, but a "cosmetologist"? Seriously?
8
Wow, studied Medicine for 6 years in the early 90’s in Germany for free, never looked back. #wonthebirthlottery it seems..
10
This article raises an important issue, but its disappointing that the authors didn't look beyond the U.S. for solutions. Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) programs are used in many other countries (and possibly in some states in the U.S.--I am not sure as I work on policy internationally). Such programs allow people to take a multi-day, applied licensing exam instead of spending money certifying skills they have learned on the job. RPLs do take a lot of time and effort to set up properly, and have some issues, but they directly address the problem described in this article.
In general, I wish the NYT would hire more (any?) policy experts, who could enrich reporting by doing research on tradeoffs/possible solutions to policy issues in articles such as this one. Instead, these articles are so heavily focused on (admittedly compelling and sometimes very illuminating) anecdotes. Journalism could really be improved by a greater focus on policy analysis to complement the mix of anecdotes and descriptions of events.
7
William Jefferson Clinton famously served as a provost for an online college..Laureate... 17.5 million salary....
.https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/bill-clinton-laureate-for-profit-college-pay-226971
2
Almost all occupational licensing is a fraud perpetrated by states upon their citizens.
13
These pseudo institutions of higher learning know their target customers well. They use big data to target their marketing to young people in depressed communities who have little access to lucrative careers. I wish the politicians in Iowa had to guts to stand up to those lobbyists. It's absurd Iowa requires almost double the hours of other states to become a cosmetologist.
7
The for profit “culinary “ schools are also a rip off.
15
Iowa, the classic example of local over regulation by the government while the pols all scream about Friday federal laws.
3
I worked for over 8 years in CA to legislate increased college grad rates for veterans systemwide in CA public schools. THE GI BILL and student loans that drives transfer policies for veterans. NO COLLEGE CREDIT FOR MILITARY EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE. Every veteran has an invisible target on their back's created by the linkage between the GI bill and student loans. SCAM that Sec Betsey Devos wants to keep it going too.
9
Depending on the state- A Cosmetology license requires two to four times as much training as it does to be a police officer carrying a gun with immunities.
12
I'm sorry but what is the grave harm of somebody out there in rural Iowa giving bad haircuts that the State must regulate it so much?
If somebody wants to do nails or cut hair I feel like it can be a one week course and then you can shadow or apprentice at an actual salon (at a reduced cost to the customer, say) for a few months until they are comfortable letting you on your own.
6
@Ken Parcell - It's not the haircuts so much as it's the hair color and perm solution, you can get a pretty nasty burn from the chemicals if they're not applied correctly and removed (or neutralized) properly.
Nails requires proper sterilization of instruments because you can get a nasty fungus or skin infection.
Skin care is high-risk because if you do an extraction to an acne cyst and it's not in a sterile environment, the infection can become worse - this is something only a dermatologist should do (the procedure is called incision and drainage).
Chemical peels (also done in-salon) are another popular treatment but should only be done by licensed, experienced aestheticians because they are working with acids to peel excess damaged layers of the skin.
Basic hair cuts, sure, what's the big deal, but the other services many salons provide do require specific education and training.
15
As several commentators have pointed out, the main problem with cosmetology schools is that the profession doesn't pay well, especially for new grads.
As for the discipline required by the schools cited in the story, some of that is important preparation for real life for many of the young people coming into the profession. Reputable schools don't want to be known for putting out lazy, unreliable stylists. Part of breaking into the profession is spending long days in the salon hoping for a single walk-in customer to service, so idle time in the school salon can be construed as a lesson in reality (though in my school, we worked on mannequins between customers, so the time wasn't wasted).
Though I'm usually open to "big government" solutions, I'd encourage government bodies to do their research before making sweeping changes in this field. The states that have high hour requirements, for example, are creating an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to operate schools in their state--which makes it possible for some people to attend cosmo school because it's near their home. Without the hours barrier, those states might see so many of their cosmo students attend school in neighboring states that many local schools would close down.
Ideally, local beauty salons would organize councils that would advise the schools and local government groups on the current status of education in their areas, and how it might be improved.
3
I have an Ivy League degree and am also a licensed esthetician. I am earning more now in my current field than I ever did before. I work 4 days a week, 8 hours a day, and don't have to take my work home with me or on vacation. I got my esthetician training at a local community college for about $1,000, so I think I got a pretty good deal. And to those who don't think we should have to be licensed or trained, would you trust someone off the street to give you a Brazilian wax or shape your eyebrows? I definitely wouldn't trust anyone who is untrained or unlicensed to give me a haircut. These are skilled jobs and I'm very proud of what I do. (However, I would greatly advise against going to an expensive, private school for training. You get most of your training from your first job.)
12
Junior Colleges in California offer cosmetology programs along with licensing prep for under $5500--and that includes the college health services and parking. These people just aren't doing their homework.
9
"Ms. Shaw left in 2014, saying the company’s owners looked at students 'as dollar signs.'"
That pretty much sums up the entire article. Greed rules. Please tell me how this differs from Middle Age serfdom, if it requires your entire hard-working life to pay off a loan (plus interest).
A recent article about education in Finland was enlightening - schooling is free, finding your career path is a huge part of the process there, and even an adult can return if they want to change jobs and need that training. No wonder Finland is one of the happiest places on earth.
13
I wish I was joking but Kim K and Kylie Jenner should take on the beauty industrial complex. Some stylists are great artists and others mere technicians. Make it easier for both to get trained and get out into the marketplace where the cream will rise to the top and the top dollars flow to those who do the best work. This applies to the restaurant industry, as well. If the service industry is all we got left for those who don't aspire to be techies/professionals, let's make it possible for the best and brightest out there who want to do it to enter with minimal barriers and help them flourish.
3
Great article. Kudos for getting it together. Only our legislators can change the system. Rep or Dem? Doesn’t matter. Change it.
3
How many of the people in the article vote? How many can even name an elected official? Anyone remember the old days of secretarial schools? Wonder what their fees and employment possibilities were in comparison. It is the female equivalent of guys who wanted to be car mechanics - and ended up in some gas station ( again years ago when stations offered full service). For 50 years I’ve hear talk about getting this country European style apprentice programs; it is still just talk.
8
In New York City we had vocational schools that trained students to be cosmetologists. Back then as soon as they graduated they had jobs. I think the politicians work in tandem with these for-profit schools to bilk their constituents and put them in deep debt. Not everyone is cut out to go to college. Some people can graduate with a trade learned and get an apprenticeship. I think there's still an automotive high school in NYC. But for the most part I see lots of commercials on TV for schools. I remember Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn trained students to be nurses. And they were trained for free as part of the curriculum. Now it costs a lot of money to attend nursing school. It's time people throw out those politicians and elect those who can put more money into education that would give people a good trade without falling deep into student loans debt.
6
How large a part of the financial problem is paying tuition to provide services, while the company keeps the payments? Imagine if medical school had self-funded internship and residency.
2
I worked for 10 years teaching medical assisting , insurance coding students at proprietary schools.
Instructors were qualified
Degrees.
Some retired teachers , professors from regular universities. And nurses with degrees like Aprns and MSN or BSN
We knew going into it these adult learners were desperate because most had been failed early on by the public school system and the poverty around them.
Many women were trying to study while in abusive relationships. Their partners would try every form of sabotage.
So many of my students needed me to show them how to open a textbook or learning online program and sift out the important information.
Some had no reading or writing skills. Some had anger issues and drug use issues and criminal histories.
When they spoke to “ an admissions counselor “ it was really a marketer / salesperson who sold them dreamy platitudes about success and big money after graduating.
The student loan advisor was pretending concern for the new entries when she had them sign on the line for lifetime debt upwards of 40 thousand. These folk were on Medicaid and food stamps. No support systems. Kids to care for.
Many flunked my quizzes and tests and finals to graduate. None of their course work was transferable to state run schools.
I felt for them and would lean in trying to teach each one to their needs. I organized study groups and tutoring.
Proprietary schools should not be allowed to prey on the poor for government money any longer. It stinks
24
Being a hairstylist is hard work. Your money is made primarily from tips, and some customers don't tip at all. There are lots of places to get haircuts so the industry is extremely competitive. Some people even cut their own hair to save the cost of this service. These girls are underemployed rather than fully employed. That is why the statistics about our economy are misleading. There are are a huge number of people who are employed but actually poor.
16
Wow - next time I see Jessica - my hair gal - I am going to have a different perspective.
Thanks - for a great informative article.
I am shocked that these legislators defer to these for profit schools so much to appear - that it is a government of proft schools, by schools and for schools.
Don't these legislators go to salons and listen to these gals and men ?
What about holding hearings in the mall to attract them to hearings?
All excuses given by legislators are so lame.
I am no finance wizard. But 2008 crisis introduced a new phrase to Wall Street lexicon. And it is:
Haircut (finance) ... The amount of the haircut reflects the perceived risk of the asset falling in value or being sold in a fire sale; the larger the risk is perceived to be, the larger the haircut will be.
It gives even this haircut a new meaning altogether - like exploitation and a rip off.
4
Has anyone heard anything about states that require certificates, etc. in fields like “Interior Decorating/Design?
Don’t know if it’s true but read mention of it somewhere.....
If factual, seems somewhat odd.
I know little about the field, and Im sure I’ll get a well-deserved earful from some well-off Times readers that actually have experience with this sort of thing....there must certainly be horror stories of hearts broken over custom Disney Princess bedrooms gone bad......
I’m sorry to sound flip, perhaps there truly are some serious level risks I don’t know about in this field.
But it really doesn’t seem like the sort of profession one should NEED any type of certification for. Though certainly there could be courses/certifications available...
I await to stand corrected, but still wonder if any such requirements are at least in part intended to cut down on the competition & thus raise demand & wages for those already in the business.
2
@Cal On the whole, state licensing requirements are revenue generations. Also look at local permitting requirements for home improvements - another revenue generator. I have used licened contractors who were not competent and unlicensed persons who proved extremely competent. And local authorities don’t come around to inspect work done on a permit. Aimply another way to generate revenue.
4
Student loan debt, lack of health insurance, and horrible working conditions are just a few reasons to steer clear from this profession. I am a hairstylist myself and I regret my choice to ever become a stylist. However, the reason why has nothing to do with money--it has everything to do with my health.
The most frightening aspect of this career is not the low pay--it's the fact that the cosmetologists are subject to dangerous chemicals daily. Formaldehyde, bleach, ammonia, and peroxide (just to name a few). Hair color off-gasses as does formaldehyde. Stylists should be required to wear gas masks during many services. Think of stylists as very unprotected factory workers because that is what we are (no matter how big the salon chandeliers are or how good the shampoo smells). The constant inhalation of poisonous chemicals make cosmetology one of the most dangerous careers for your health. Sadly, many cosmetologists are unaware of the dangers they are exposed to. We are even at a much greater risk for cancer! Many assume that the FDA is protecting the public and the products are safe-- not true. The FDA has not approved any personal use products since 1938!
Cosmetology schools should be required to inform all potential students of the health risks associated with cosmetology as well as the financial responsibility of student loans.
Many of us are just coiffed, in debt, chemically-laden guinea pigs, dispensing poisonous potions like it's nobody's business.
20
Certainly easy to blame the schools and the licensing requirements. But there is a bigger problem here.
Hair dressing is a skilled profession which requires long and expensive training. Yet it pays little more than minimum wage because there are so many young women ( and I believe the majority are female) who want to work in this field. A glut of applicants drives down wages.
Why? A pleasant and social working place, maybe the glamor of working in what maybe termed fashion and it is certainly more appealing than stripping down a diesel engine in a cold workshop but it pays far less.
This is one of the reasons for the gender earnings gap. Stereotypically female jobs are low paid, not because of the machinations of the patriarchy but because too many women opt for these jobs. If more young women dreamed of greasy hands and work boots, things may improve.
5
@herne nursing pay went up when more men went into the profession. You're on to something.
3
Why haven't she considered she'll own $20k+ and be paid $9/h? It's her fault to get into this situation.
Also, how many cosmetologists do we need?
This is typical female business thinking - they think one will paint some nails, and the other will die some hair of each-other, and they will create "economy".
5
@Andy - We all are the sum total of the decisions we've made in life, good and bad; learning thru mistakes is how we learn to think things through and make wise decisions in advance of committing to a course of action.
It's just like the basics we all (hopefully) learned in Kindergarten; how to be nice to our classmates, hold hands when we cross the street and to share our cookies.
6
So sad that many of these women just want a leg up yet don't realize they are signing up for more debt that they will struggle for years to pay off.
Here in San Francisco, many licensed Aestheticians have a medical degree (five Aestheticians in the medical skin care spa I go to have BSN degrees) and have lucrative careers. Aestheticians with an RN degree can work in plastic surgeon's offices or medical spas and often earn upward of $150,000 annually depending on their clientele, experience and training.
I'm glad that Ms. Lozano intends to return to get her RN - she seems bright and hard working, and a BSN degree will definitely open doors for her.
5
This is not specific to cosmetology schools, it happens in many trade schools across the country and was my experience with a welding school in Virginia Beach. At the time the program was $18K for 10 months, provided metals and consumables and equipment to use, tools, PPE, and books were added on to the cost of the program. A certificate of completion was given upon successfully passing an AWS 6G test, if you spent another $10K and 5 months you would go over to the parent company / school and work to get a bachelors in business management.
Before you signed up you were told how much better they were compared to actual colleges that offered welder training, that the colleges took to long and you spent very little time hands on while a large amount of time in class and that you would make $25 to $35 an hour on average when you graduated and got your first job. What they didn't tell you is that the class time was to teach you metallurgy, math, and safety. Much of the time in the trade school was spent in the shop hands on. What the trade school didn't tell you is that several of the local companies offered the same training if you were hired on and they didn't tell you until you were well into the program that Westinghouse did the same thing under a contract with you to work for them for a year.
Everything that we were taught at the trade school was wrong and after I got hired by NNS I had to relearn the right way to weld and I have $15K left to pay off.
17
Might as well spend one-quarter as much money and time to go to truck-driving school. Your first year in the business won't be great but you will make $25K or more easily.
After you get one year of experience over your next 5 years you ought to be able to average $35-$40K at companies that will also pay fringe benefits.
Once you get 5 years of decent safe-driving experience you ought to be able to earn $50K to $60K with full employer-paid benefits including an employer-match 401K plan.
I am retired after 32 years of professional driving experience. The senior guys (and gals) at the company I retired-from here in Metro-Denver are earning an average of $72K today plus full company-paid benefits.
That company will hire drivers with 3 years of solid dry van or refrigerated experience, to do TL and LTL refrigerated service east or west of Denver, home every week here.
Trucking is sometimes hard work for long hours but you will pay off your student debt pretty quickly and once you get even 3 years of experience you can get decent jobs paying a solid middle-class income.
5
Re: ... and a $9-an-Hour Job
Here is a basic economic analysis
1. Wages are set by supply of labour and demand for
labour . High demand, and low supply equals high
wages and vice verss.
2. Appearance Enhancement is a job is a job that many
immigrants from low wage countries
3. See NYS, that accepts osmetology Application
(English) (Spanish/Español) (Haitian-Creole/Kreyòl
Ayisyen) (Italian/Italiano) (Korean/한국어)
(Russian/Pусский) (Chinese/中文) (pdf)
https://www.dos.ny.gov/licensing/cosmetology/cosmetology.html
4. To increase wages in the US for cosmetology
would require to reduce the supply of labour migrating
to the US from low wage countries.
French cosmetologist would be still welcome.
Note:
Above is an illustration of a larger principle : In a global economy with free movement of people, non-tariff trade, and free movement of capital, wages of those US workers of those exposed to global competition must fall to the global average.
Although denied by neo-liberal economists (notably Krugman) that is how a global economy operates
4
This is a tough situation. People have to think ahead before they blindly sign up for training in any field. College or whatever.
Personal responsibility - quit making every bad choice into a victim.
7
This is no surprise. The key really is to get the cheapest education you can find. If at all possible save up a lot of money BEFORE you enroll in beauty school to pay for advanced independent training courses. This has helped me a lot personally speaking.
3
I don't understand why so many single women are having kids then cry when they can't take care of them the way they would like. Wouldn't it be easier to take care of college and career first then think of having kids? It's just a thought. I know things happen, but it's so easy these days to prevent pregnancy or delay childbirth until financially ready. I may be old fashioned, but to me that makes more sense. It doesn't mean I'm condemning her, I just don't understand why so many single women are not being more careful when it comes to.....um.....more intimate moments. It's called being responsible for your life choices. Things are not always easy, and when kids are involved, it's even harder. people seem to be doing things in reverse these days. Don't plan or save money, have kids anyhow, then complain that you have too much to pay for things.
13
How about the single men who impregnate these women?
15
@sr14068 - It may be lack of easy access to birth control and family planning clinics. In May 2017, Iowa state lawmakers turned down $3 million in federal Medicaid funds and instead created a $3.3 million state-funded family-planning program as it denied public funds to providers that offer abortions, including Planned Parenthood, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and Unitypoint Health Systems.
Previously, tax dollars did not go directly to abortion services, although proponents of the switch said public funds indirectly supported abortions by allowing the clinics to remain open.
The federal waiver program, which enrolled 12,219 people in December 2016, reimburses family-planning providers for nonabortion services such as pregnancy testing, STD/STI testing, and contraceptives for moderate-income Iowans who qualified for the program. The legislative decision did not change what the program covered, just excluded clinics that offered abortions.
In May 2017, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland announced it would close four of its Iowa clinics as a result of losing $2 million in funds from the decision. The clinics served approximately 14,600 people in the last three years, Planned Parenthood Heartland CEO Susan de Baca said. Clinics in Bettendorf, Sioux City, Burlington, and Keokuk shut their doors, leaving eight open in Iowa, including one in Iowa City.
11
@Liz Detrich But so often when you see them they have afford tatoos, piercings, fancy nails, elaborate hairdos. Is that included in their benefits? Right away you see their priorities and understand bad decisions play a factor in their life choices.
7
This is simple supply and demand.
The more people that want something the higher the cost goes.
Tuition goes up.
The job market has the opposite problem.
Too many people with degrees, not enough jobs, wages go down and the people willing to work for the lower amount get the job.
It's really simple.
3
This over regulation seems to be a kind of racket between State Governments that collect Incense Fees and private school (that undoubtedly contribute to campaigns of key politicians that pass those requirements)
For what's required in NYS click here
https://www.dos.ny.gov/licensing/cosmetology/cosmetreciprocity.html
And, interestingly, Iowa is not on the list of US States whose licenses NYS recognizes
Other have absurd requirements: Want to move from Mass to NY ? You must submit proof of two years experience, your Mass license ,
Massachusetts 2 Years & Current License
(must submit 2 experience statements)
Experience Statements (DOS-1543) must be submitted (one each from two different people) attesting that the applicant has been working as a cosmetologist for the specified number of years.
4
Easy credit has created an artificial reality. And, there is a notion in this country student debt will somehow disappear.
Living within thy means sustains life. Debt leads to premature death. $22T National Debt and more liabilities looming. America may not die but a reckoning is not far off. America is one massive ponzi-scheme. Socialism is a ponzi-scheme.
Lastly, shame on adults for not teaching the youth the realities of life. Or have most adults never grown up because of our artificial economy (based on govt overspending)?
An economy and its govt need to spend within its ability to raise revenues. Credit is like fire; too much of it burns the house down.
To all the naysayers; only a more-fair-free-market system with the Private Sector at least twice the size of the Public Sector (govt) can sustain a semblance of balance. Because of physics and human nature; no other system works. All other systems drain the reserves and then turn to rationing and murder to sustain the life of the State.
Thank you for this. I needed this comradely info.
2
Culinary school is unaccredited for the most part and is usually over 75,000 dollars.
3
These so-called beauty colleges are a rip-off and ruination of young women, sentencing them to a life of low wages. They are preyed upon by "entrepreneurs" owning the beauty colleges and hair cutting chains. It's one of those things that make America great, like land theft and slavery did.
8
I feel sorry for the woman, but why do people choose to spend (borrow!) tens of thousands of dollars for training in a field that tends to pay minimum wages?!?!
4
Sadly, people should be coached on the R.O.I. before pursuing expensive schooling. This common occurrence of debt due to the high cost business of education is ruining our younger generations financial futures.
3
I get tired of reading about the "victims" of their own ignorance. Don't go to school for anything until you research what it will cost VS return on investment. People at for-profit "schools" are just waiting for you to walk through the door, and they are laughing. Don't think they aren't.
10
Ridiculously high prices for culinary arts training are also a big problem for students. In many instances, I think beginning chefs are akin to glorified dishwashers, with very low pay.
8
Iowa needs to look examine what needs to be taught in the 2100 hours of education. Do we need to do all those perm wraps and roller sets? I have been a licensed cosmetologist for 38 years in Iowa. I believe that all that practice need to be licensed, do their continuing education and know the laws of cosmetology. I think that the schools could do a better job of educating the students in what needs to be learned so they can be successful when entering the workforce, but the state requires hours in certain aspects of doing hair that are "old school" I think that the state could lessen the number of hours required and still retain well educated cosmetologists. Like many businesses, doing hair and making a good living takes a while. I think many of these students are lead to believe that their income will be incredible in those first years, and for most it is not. It seems that education is a big money game these days. The government makes huge money from the student loans, the schools earn big money from the students and the states make money from all those who have to carry a license. So to all of you who want to be cosmetologists, it's an incredibly rewarding career. Enjoy it! Do it! But be prepared for a few bumps along the way.
1
This all the result of predatory lending practices, made possible by the tightening of consumer bankruptcy laws.
Educational debt that doesn't lead to a career? Car debt for cars that are too expensive (repossession merry-go-round).
Payday lending centers with annual APR of over 400%?
These all have the same root. People with money have figured out how to siphon money out of poor communities. And, they leverage our courts to help them do it via the bankruptcy laws.
Do you want to see poor people stop borrowing money for foolish reasons? I do. Do you want to see organizations and institutions stop lending poor people money for foolish reasons? I do.
The answer is simple. Make it easy for everyone to file for bankruptcy. In this age of big data, these organizations and institutions have all of the information they need to figure out whether a loan is a good bet or not.
And if loan is not a good bet? DON'T LOAN THE MONEY!
You will see schools begin to carefully calculate whether certain educational tracks will lead to a repayment of their loan.
5
It is NOT the taxpayer's responsibility to make graduates whole and solvent if they incur exorbitant amounts of debt in order to graduate. Watch out for the snake oil salesmen- overpriced schools and colleges in any line of work.
3
Oh boohoo! The woman made poor choices then complains about her responsibilities.
If you want/need a high income, you do not train for a low-income job or career. However, if you have a passion for a specific career, regardless of related income, then plan for the most cost-effective approach to achieving your goals. Most urban and suburban cities in the USA have city colleges, many of which offer programs such as cosmetology.
Graduates from most JC programs are well trained in the field, leading to gainful employment upon completion. Tuition at JCs is consistently a fraction of the cost of for profit schools.
Bottom line, examine all your options before make a financial commitment that will affect you for years if not decades.
7
Why in god's name would you take out $21,000 for cosmetology school? Community colleges are the way to go.
3
These are the schools that ought to be investigated and shut down if necessary. Ripping people off ought not be legal. Yet the law allows it.
Gone are the days when such trades were handed down from mother to daughter or father to son. Now everyone has to have a certification or a degree or else they cannot be employed (or insured in some fields). That begins the problem. Schools ripping off students is the result.
2
I know someone in this type of school, who is already in her late 20s (and still has 300 hours of schooling to go) I just can't help wonder if my friend (who also works as a bartender), will be paying off loans until she is 50. What type of career prospect is that? This situation is a result of years of business interests lobbying at the state level. Someone in NJ who does home contracting requires far less schooling, or licensing, than someone cutting hair. There is really something wrong with that picture.
7
yea, those student loan checks were a way for the family-owned schools to take it all. they got the $, we got the debt...and we still got the debt!
2
There is no rational reason for licensing the practice of cosmetology. I guess the schools must make a lot of campaign contributions!
1
It's astonishing that kids will enroll without the ability to do basic math. It should be obvious to them all that they'll never come close to paying off those numbers.
Then again, kids still spend $50k+ a year to attend top private colleges to get art and English degrees. Will they be any better off, teaching, or finding employment working in a call center somewhere?
And once you're enslaved by debt, there's no way to move forward in life. Who says slavery has been abolished?
8
1) These schools are predatory and should be stopped.
2) These students and/or their parents cannot do math.
At the end of the day. the onus is on us to not be ripped off. Look at the return on investment in every single area where you spend money.
4
There are currently zero I repeat zero requirements if anyone wanted to open a drug/alcohol rehab center. No training no experience, nothing at all. Of course their failure rate is way over %50 but they don't have to tell you that. I point out that particular business as an example of the two problems small businesses have. First states more often that not over burden people like hair stylists with absurd requirements and training where others don't have to do anything at all. Why is that?
As for the small wages we can thank our corrupt leaders who willingly had their hands out to take bribes while big business moved everything overseas so they don't have to pay taxes. In reality our so called leaders hate small business and consider it a pain to cater to.
7
Great article. Well-researched. Thank you for pointing out the facts on the economics of cosmetology education. I hope some reform is forthcoming.
2
Ok, this is another example of Politicians failing who they are supposed to represent. The lobbying firms have them in the palm of their hands. In no sane world should a Cosmetology license cost as much as it does in the state.
11
The problem here is not that she attended a for-profit school, but that she had to do so in order to get a "cosmetology license" to practice what is not exactly brain surgery. Government requirements like these are usually designed to discourage competition with existing businesses, not to protect consumers.
7
Seek professional and excellent education, and wisely choose who you work for! There is a huge divide in the salon industry over qualifications of schools and staff just as there are in colleges throughout our country. I am all for 1,000 plus hours of stylist education (including future annual continuing education credits), but education that is designed to cover techniques, color formulation, environmental concerns, business planning, marketing, and a dose of reality too! As a salon owner our average midlevel stylist earns $19.75 per hour before tips and $26.15 per hour with reported tips. Our "New Talent" artist make approximately $15 plus per hour. The main point is there are really good cosmetology schools and there are really bad ones, unfortunately the NYT chose the bottom feeders both in the schools mentioned and the "Super Duper" salons you mention for pay scales. Maybe next time include the Gene Juarez and Aveda Schools and Salons in your fact finding, so you can expand on the good and honorable part of the salon industry. Thank you NYT's!
7
Let’s sum this up. To cut hair requires a license and there are predatory “schools” to facilitate. Yet the developer, a person who shapes and forms the built environment does not require a license. So here we are our unlicensed developers have built an environment that resembles a crime scene and haircutters are making $9 bucks an hour and can’t pay their bills.
8
I don’t understand what you would need to know outside of basic hygiene and safety to cut hair, the rest could be learned through apprenticeship.
The first thing my high school guidance counsellor drilled into our heads when we completed our careers course was to weigh the cost/benefit of any job we planned on pursuing. Skilled trades in much of Canada guarantee high wages, low course costs, but 7 years of apprenticeship.
4
It can all be summarized: More people than jobs. We have to create artificial barriers to throttle the labor pool, like excessive licensing.
3
Who would have thought a simple haircut would become so complex and expensive. This is the future of our service industries... more licencing and continuing education, encourage more student debt to keep the money rolling. Our country doesn't manufacture anymore. There are more people and too few jobs. Sophisticated business plans sell "pies in the sky" to the unwitted and maintain perpetual indentured servitude.
2
Talent development helps drive the economy by serving industry and firms. Talent development serves individuals, families, and community by supplying affordable services and products. Talent development helps people earn a fair wage, gives them pride and meaningful accomplishments.
Abuses of talent development, including predatory education and rent-seeking vocations/professions, is plaguing our economy, individuals, communities and wage earners.
There should be a comprehensive approach in addition to these one-off articles.
3
It's called accountability for one's decisions.
2
camper It’s called “blaming the victim” what you are doing.
6
Just like law school.
I was Business Development Manager at a fairly large law firm, and not a month went by where a young lawyer would say "can I take you to lunch? I need your advice."
They hated their jobs. They had $150,000 in school loans. They wanted out.
There WAS no "out," just keep on keep on keeping on, just paying those debts.
Pretty much NOTHING pays as much as being a lawyer. They had to keep at it. (Most were dismayed to discover loan debt wasn't written off on bankruptcy.)
So many hated their predicament. Sad.
16
@Susan Baughman
Sure they hated their jobs- sitting around all day pushing meaningless paperwork around solving someone else's problems while being told to drive up the billable hours.
They hated it after the first semester of law school, but their pride and ego told them to stay. The smart ones got out.
I could go on. A very dismal depressing profession.
2
They should come to New York State and do laser (or IPL) hair removal in a salon. Because of a 1937 court ruling, the state requires zero hours of training to do that. It's the only state with no standards. That's why med spas in New York pay a higher rate for professional liability insurance than the rest of the country. Check out my story on Medium if you want to know more. https://bit.ly/2PEbXcs (NYT editors I don't expect you to publish my self-promotional post but I hope you will check out the story!)
2
Why are the wages in cosmetology so low? Perhaps it is time to unionize. Our nation is still built on the backs of low-paid workers and union membership is dropping like a stone. There is a direct link. Living wages are needed for all...
9
In my state, cosmetology is regulated by the Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology. According to the Board's website, its mission is "...to regulate the instruction and practice of cosmetology and related professions by establishing rules and regulations relating to qualifications for licensure and procedures for the administration of examination prior to licensure, and by establishment of rules and regulations setting forth sanitation requirements for the operation of cosmetological establishments, for the benefit of the consumer and for the public health."
Also according to its website, the Board has a "school list" with 94 entries, all approved to instruct cosmetology and related services.
94 beauty schools, in Mississippi.
The names on the school list overwhelmingly suggest private ownership, with a few programs offered through community colleges, high school vocational programs, and a correctional facility.
Having no experience with cosmetology other than being a client, it seems to me that cosmetology, while on the surface appears to be a glamorous profession, takes hard work and longevity to build up a repeat clientele in order to reap any significant financial success. Particularly repeat clientele who receive cut/color/highlight services on a regular schedule.
I don't think that financial success as a cosmetologist will be found working for an hourly wage at a chain salon.
5
Cosmetologist are also Constantly exposed to toxic chemicals.
3
The best advise I ever got from family in the biz (and my former stylist) was "Get the cheapest training you can find -everybody gets the same license and you learn everything else after you get out of school." So glad I listened. I went to the local State-run VoTech here and it saved me about $10-15K. The big name-brand schools are fancy and beautiful -but also a lot of overhead to pay for on the backs of students and the government in the form of "financial aid" (usually loans, rarely grants). The industry is great but definitely not worth $20-30K in debt especially considering most stylists don't earn much their first 3-5 years in the industry. That's the thing they don't tell you in beauty school; "you are going to be very poor for about 3 years". Oh and one more bubble buster; it's not all fashion-shows and pink-highlights either.
199
@Mike - Best advice.
12
Can the license be transferred to another state?
1
@Cat Kat Cate often it can't and this is another area where the beauty schools business write their own legislation. A few states allow reciprocal registration but many don't so if you move there is mandatory retraining.
5
This is story highlights the need for a manditory “life skills” class(s) in middle school and high school. The intent is to prevent poor decisions and their life changing errors.
This should include :
* Money : How much is needed for a middle class life. Where your money will go....
* Credit : The hidden hazards borrowing. Also, if you must borrow, how to shop for it.
* Common Frauds and Traps
* Employment - Overview of the job market: what skills are needed and what salary do they command ?
* Education/Skills : Review of alternative forms of education and training, its costs & rewards.
* Love and Marriage : Family life and its demands and costs.
* Babies : Good parenting, Bad parenting.
* Goal setting : Know your strengths, know your weaknesses
15
@Bongo Having this type of education may begin to level the playing field for those in lower socioeconomic classes whose parents may not have this knowledge. As it stands, for-profit schools seem to appeal to those who have been held down by classism. Being exploited further with large loans just ensures social reproduction. How would someone with this career ever move to a more expensive and therefore, better funded school district for their children?
2
Great - another NYT sob story about people who didn't research what they were getting into (and even heard that the place she was thinking about going had sketchy dealings), borrowed a bunch of money, and are now complaining about being victimized. Completely void of personal accountability or responsibility.
3
@Ben Can you imagine being raised in an inferior school district where you’re surrounded by people of limited means and limited education? Would you imagine that you would somehow intuit a better path in life or would you be influenced by the careers and well worn path of those who surround you? Why are those from privileged backgrounds so blind to the path of suffering of others?
24
I’m a high school teacher. It’s astonishing how many kids *want* to take out huge loans to attend for-profit and overpriced 3rd-rate non-profit schools for low-paying careers. Example: I had an honors student who wanted to go to Becker for veterinary technology, a 4-year degree with starting pay of $22k. I sat down and did all the math, showed her the 35% graduation rate, the default rates, the $53,000/year sticker price to live on campus (when her parents live 40 minutes away), the loan payment amount. “Don’t spend $200,000 to make 20 grand,” I pleaded.
Guess where she is now? Becker college. Paying “only” $30k a year because she was flattered by the “presidential scholarship.” Poor girl thinks she’s actually getting a bargain and I’m a negative meanie raining on her parade.
An 18-year-old kid with no income would never be approved for a $30,000 loan, let alone four of them in 4 years! Banks should not be allowed to lend huge money to kids with low earning potential. When the money isn’t flowing, the prices will come down.
498
@Lisa this is a huge issue and someone needs to create legislation to start taking down these terrible "education" industries. They feed on the poor and uneducated.
58
@Lisa
At least we know who she'll be voting for next election. The KING of debt, Donald Trump.
Good for you for trying to talk her out of it. Too bad her parents didn't care enough to seek advice..
A "vet tech" holds the animal still while the REAL vet does the work. Or, the tech cleans cages, sprays the exam table down for the next customer, or spends all her time jabbering on her phone in the front office ( like my vets office.....five women who do absolutely NOTHING as far as I can tell). I've seen that office phone ring 20 times before one of them picks it up and immediately puts the caller on hold)
I guess that's worth 9.00 an hour.
40
@Lisa I don't think you're a negative meanie at all, just trying to be bluntly honest. But sometimes, people have to make their own decisions and own the success (or mistakes).
43
I am so glad that the New York Times is shining a light on this issue and sharing the stories of these Iowans. These women were trying to get training for a career where their services will be in demand, and they found the training requirements and cost totally excessive. They had no choice but to take on burdensome debt. It was sad to read that the Iowa state legislature was unable to pass a bill to change this situation, and that the for-profit beauty school companies keep blocking local community colleges from offering training at an affordable cost. It seems like cosmetology training should only be offered at community colleges, at least enough for certification. Stylists could opt for additional training from hair care products companies or salons if they want to learn to do specialized services.
11
Something doesn't make sense here. Don't prisons have barber programs? Do they require similar standards for graduation? I know a couple of barber prison grads. They got out, managed to get a license from the state (min fee) got tools, went to work.
Is it the label "cosmetology" v. barber? Women v. men? And a perception of cosmetology schools as marginal and not worth caring about?
2
And many high schools have vocational programs for cosmetology/aesthetician programs too providing legitimate, practical, creative careers that might lead to business ownership.
That’s how you give people opportunities to thrive (or stay out of prison) rather than providing unrealistic outlooks saddled with insurmountable encumbrances while filling some sleazy master’s mattresses full of money.
Just another gussied up form of selling magic potions isn’t it? Money, money, money.
(I got mine in 1,000 hour NY which now also has cosmetology in some high schools but didn’t at the time. Went right into upscale salon in the city but eventually chose to go on to college which I paid for w/loans, grants, honors awards. Decided I wanted to be in the chair, not working behind it...very hard job and even though this salon did pay well, it was very hard work. So was my next career but things were easier in many ways.)
2
Profits rule in the US< over our children, our health. These are young people, hard-working, not financially educated making enormous commitments in pursuit of advice adults have given them at home, at school, from politicians. The tragedy here is the correlation to bad leadership in DC favoring the business owners of these schools. The US would a stronger country if our young people were provided solid opportunities, not scam schools. The CEOs of these schools know the economics and realities awaiting graduates making their marketing all the more under-handed. The US is no longer "buyer beware" it is everyone beware - of leaders leading 325 million down treacherous paths while they enjoy lifetime benefits.
9
If high school education really benefitted its students it would certainly include vocational options i.e. cosmetology, building related trades, plumbing and other service related occupations. I think the two fold benefit would be a higher retention of students and the graduates ability to find work other than retail or restaurant work without paying exorbitant fees to further education.
10
..it would be easy to complete the arc of this story by simply following the money. Look closely at the lobbyist works for that 16 school consortium. You can bet that the pitifully small sum the lobbyist doles out in campaign contributions each year has bought enough influence with key legislators to keep the 2100 hour figure in-place.
The American governance model is simply broken, at every level.
13
I am from IN, a state that had a training program for state prisoners that taught them how to cut hair and provided them with sparkly signs that had a big $1 on them. When I lived in NYC over 50 YAG there was a guy who walked around with a sandwich board advertising hair cuts for $10. These barbers had a small shop with 3 chairs on a second floor walk up just above one of our favorite lunch spots in a basement.
Now living in N Atlanta, I get my haircuts from a place called quick cuts, since I am a senior citizen and a veteran, costs me $12 and I always give them a $20 bill and they get a good $8 tip. Since I have moved around a lot, finding a good reasonable place to get a hair cut is the first thing I do when relocating. I have found the people who are in the know about all local needs are the librarians. Readers like these folks are always locked in to their local communities.
2
What is the educational rationale for “for profit” schools? I see these institutions as wholly exploitative with no societal merit whatsoever. As a Canadian I see education and health care as sectors that should not pursue profit
13
This is the sad new reality of no child left behind and more recently Common core, which does not allow for a vocational education, as resources have to spent meeting the new requirements. People think that laws are an answer to every thing, and then pass more laws when their well meaning, but often misguided efforts fail. The sad reality is that laws are actually written by lobbyists, and you end up with the current result.
5
In Germany a person completes an apprenticeship to become a hair dresser. He or she will learn the trade by being employed by a hair saloon over a period of two to three years. They also receive a small salary. Apprentices also attend trade school for a few days a week. Upon completion of the apprenticeship the hairdresser receives a certificate that allows them to work without supervision. It's still a low paying job but at least the person has no debts.
25
How about a $300K PhD and no job at all? I know several very intelligent people who fall into that category....do you?
4
@Karekin
What kind of PhD program costs $300K to complete? You're talking about academic degree, not a professional degree like medicine or law? Don't grad students usually get some kind of teaching stipend?
@Mary O - I work in higher education, teaching stipends for graduate students (both masters and PhD) are below poverty wages.
1
Increase the minimum wage to $15!duh
@Sam If people were worth $15-/hr, they'd already be making $15-/hr. Duh.
2
'Ms. Lozano plans to go back to school to become a registered nurse.' Wonder if she's going to use a private college for this?
7
Can someone from NYT run this story about for profit med schools. Paying for the right to work isn’t unique to cosmetology.
4
So she spent $20,000 to get the privilege of working as a hairstylist...without bothering to ask first how much hairstylists get paid? Or did she fail 2nd grade math?
I understand that we're all lefties here, so the scheming for-profit schools are evil, and the complicit government is evil, the underpaying hair salons are evil, and so on. OK.
But can we also acknowledge that this is not exactly a well-disguised trap, and that a person would have to be either pitiably stupid or shockingly careless to fall into it? Now, a lot of Americans seem to fit that description, so apparently we do need government regulation of predatory schools (I'm no Betsy DeVos fan), but let's not pretend these debtors are helpless, blameless victims. Nobody forced them to take those loans.
9
Someone living in poverty may not have been taught these lessons in personal finance. Most schoolchildren are not required to take ongoing personal finance classes, and if they're not learning good practices from their guardians, where would they aquire that knowledge? This is what for-profit schools count on.
6
@rumplebuttskin Do you think those for-profit cosmetology schools were telling their potential students that they would only make $9/hour when they got their license? No, they glammed up the career prospects and probably told those poor students that they could pay off $20,000 in six months, not the ten years it actually would take. But given that these schools are in Iowa, a GOP-dominated legislature puts the onus on its poorly educated citizenry to figure it out and take the lumps for not sniffing out the scams.
5
@Kristen
I agree. Parents shouldn't neglect or fail their children, but some inevitably will, and K-12 education needs to be much better at teaching basic competencies.
2
So our tax money is lining the Bechers' pockets? I guess that's right where it belongs, right?
3
“This is a business first, and a school second.” 'Nuff said.
9
Now would be the time to think outside the box, gather a team, strategize, look for a hole in the market and fill it!
I mourn for these students. They are young and inexperienced and are being taken for a ride. They are not, as many think, a lazy cohort of do-nothings. Like most American's they want to work for a living...
12
@Clyde Young people have been taken advantage of since the beginning of time.
2
Wow, some of the comments here are really appalling, making accusations of frivolous spending for things like cell phones, internet and tattoos. Please read carefully. This is an article about people who followed the rules. They paid to be educated in a trade and they are working hard. It is not an article about people buying Manhattan co-ops while on welfare. So, because they picked wrong, they deserve nothing for their earnest labor. MAGA by bringing back slavery?
24
I have tremendous empathy for those folks who have taken out these loans for a career that they perceive as a live long endeavor. Too bad many don't seek career counseling that would make clear to them this category of job is forever low paying unless you own your own business, which is a minimal percentage of those in that business. My son is in our local community college in the auto technician program. In 2 years and a summer he will have all the required courses to achieve "master tech" status at a total cost of under $10,000. He looked into those "institutes" that provide a certificate of completion for auto tech at a cost of over $32,000 plus tools for a 19 month full time program. Same skills are taught however whether you go to community college or a for profit tech school you still need ASE certification in order to get a job. You just need to be informed of your earnings potential before you make a commitment to a career path and choose your training options carefully.
3
If you were stupid enough to spend $21,000 for a career in cosmetology, which you could learn from a book and a beauty parlor, then perhaps you should be studying arithmetic - how to add, multiply, divide, and subtract instead of how to spot poisons in cosmetics and how to avoid bacterial infections.
I feel sorry for a young women without sufficient math skill to know when she is setting an impossible path for herself. How far did she go in public schools? Her schools must have been incompetent if she graduated from high school without the ability to do simple arithmetic which would tell her that her chosen career would never yield a living wage.
She should have learned that lesson in the first grade in fact.
1
I think you missed the point of the article. There is an entire for-profit system that prevents one from simply learning from a book and time in a salon. It's not "stupidity" that sends students to these schools, it's the law.
10
@San Francisco Voter....
Agree completely!
"When you are dead, you don't know you are dead. The same applies when you are stupid"
1
"Ms. Lozano plans to go back to school to become a registered nurse. "
Dear Ms. Lozano, don't choose a for-profit school!
1
@The Poet McTeagle....actually, ensure school is accredited by DOE.
I have no idea why the comments of Mr. Frugal Pharmacist were so popular and even picked by the Times . Here he takes these specific individual mistakes by people who should have researched income reality and projections before spending a relative fortune and time on a low income profession and projects it like a reality for all young people today.
Cosmetology has never been a good paying profession and never will be . No sympathy is warranted for the people who made these mistakes and once they realized their error they were young enough to change things and do something more more rewarding financially .
Lumping the opportunities for all young people as being represented by these examples is wrong and misleading . I am surprised by the Times .
1
Germany has strong vocational training for their people and they don’t impoverish their people getting their training. This is a scam that indentures people ... why are we allowing these plantation slave style businesses to even operate ? Those campaign contributions by these corrupt schools are kickbacks because they buy off legislation! America cannibalizes it’s own working poor ... for profit schools need to be overhauled and put out of business if indenturing their students with corrupt loans. America needs to start acting like a world class democracy not a third-world, tin-pot dictatorship.
8
These schools are criminal. Pure outright greed. Cosmetology schools with lobbyists, only in America.
11
May I INTEREST you in some INTEREST with your loan?
3
It is not just cosmetology. Take a look at the occupations that have escalated the training/school requirements for certain jobs. Some of it may be justified, but my guess is the main motivation is more money.
Higher ed has become as good as a casino when it comes to separating people from their money.
6
Hi, just to give you people a comparative angel on this. We of course come from at essential different system here in DK as many education options are free of charge. The price for this is off course higher taxes - and no, it's not a socialist regime at all. I pay my taxes gladly to see our next generation fullfilling there minds & dreams. We do also have study loans, which can be released if students keep struggle for too many years with the back payments. But this is not a solution in it self. Many of the remarks here point i the right direction. It must be the state regulation, the schools cost & material and finanlly the imployers job opportunities that have to change in order to create more sustainable carreer oprtions.
4
When did education/training become a huge scam? I can remember when bartending school was the thing. Who needs training to open a bottle of beer? One week on the job and you're a bartender.
3
American keeps re-inventing the old traps! This is modern-day indentured servitude . . .
6
So very sorry to read this excellently researched article. My cousin obtained her hair salon license. I don't think most of us realize the debt incurred by our stylists. Tips seem to be more crucial than ever.
Interestingly in my career as Admissions and Placement Director at Butler Business School we trained Executive, Legal and Medical Secretaries in one year, $12K programs....but my graduates were placed in jobs paying a range of $20-$35K to start so grads had better opportunity to pay off their student loans. I surely could not in my heart steer a prospective student to enroll in a program they were unsuited for; and, we were fully accredited, so standards were strict to ensure they attended, were counselled and placed in jobs.
Anyway 20 years later, even many of these above business schools lost their accreditation and left their students in a financial mess. The private schools no matter what the career training now create vulnerable students and a good school may be the exception.
So, in summary, it is vital that the Parents, Guidance Counselors and students perform research on vitality of career choices and determine that they are fully accredited BEFORE visiting schools, please.
2
Under the Obama administration, significant advances were made in reigning in the misdeeds of these abusive "schools" and diploma mills that have cheated students and taxpayers for years. Unfortunately, Trump and his education secretary are working to open the gates for fraudsters in the education market again. Anyone who can make a buck cheating honest people is a friend to Trump.
14
The schools are selling a fantasy, they are just as much a scam as Trump U. But you have to wonder if any of these women had researched the salaries for these professions before they committed to such a loan. The hairstylists I know work as independent contractors, splitting the price of the service with the owners - and no benefits. If the goal is owning their own salon, who among them has the business acumen to pull that off?
Ah, the beauteous joys of the privatization of everything. The wisdom of the "free market." The genius of capitalism. A game in which the rules are to keep the have nots, having not. And the haves wallowing in their frequently ill-gotten gains.
What happened to apprentice programs? Paid apprentice programs. Hmmm. Could that be tied to the gutting of all labor laws? Could it be due to the genocidal destruction of labor unions in this country?
6
Betsy DeVos, in her role as Secretary of Education, should be part of a solution to problems like this. Unfortunately, given that she is weakening related regulations and that she is in th pocket of lending agents, she is actually part of the problem.
10
Make the for profit schools responsible for defaulted loans by their students if can’t price that a majority of students graduate and earn enough to comfortably pay back the loan with employment earnings within a year of graduating. See how quickly they change their tune.
5
@Sean Eddy, Yes typically, accredited private business schools are funded via 'benchmark; payments. I.E., 33% student enrollment, 33% student graduation, 33% student placed to ensure school in compliance. Specifically in Job Training Programs for non-traditional students and/or Job Service for retraining due to layoffs.
@Tim. I don’t think the article suggested eliminating regulating the cosmetology industry in Iowa, it was questioning the logic of so many hours of training for an industry with fairly low pay and your inability to easily carry your license across state lines.
If you are correct this is a major public safety issue then I suggest you immediately move to another state since NC requires fewer hours of training than Iowa. Oregon is slight safer than NC but I’m still in mortal danger compared to the residents of Iowa.
5
The article deserves a Pulitzer.
Upton Sinclair's work exposed abuses and eventually an industry changed for less ... moral ugliness.
Another industry allegedly has so much
political pull that it apparently cannot be separated from the all too usual good ole boy
jungle of politics that controls our ordinary lives.
Modern muck-raking is unusual in sophisticated America, and politics aren't beanbag.
Indeed "reform" is not necessarily righteous,
and our political-economic culture is of beaucoup complexities.
Take Dodd-Frank, please, because what is "good" is subjective in opposing ideologies.
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice,
moderation in pursuit of justice is no
virtue."
Political rhetoric versus what really happens is
a subjective evaluation/judgment.
The challenges inferred by me in the
excellent article are being overly intellectualized to try to make my
moderation point in regard to
our seemingly opposing ideologies.
Boringness can be a fun exercise too.
Iowa/America: luv our contradictions,
please.
2
Relatively few comments zero in on the real culprit: overreaching licensing requirements that fail to serve a genuine need for regulation.
Does a state need 2,100 hours of training to cut or color hair? Does it really need 1,000? Even 100 seems a lot.
Poor neighborhoods in many cities have unlicensed hair salons. They work they do seems adequate—at least no one complains (except licensed cosmetologists), certainly not their customers or they wouldn’t be in business.
So yes, community colleges or even high schools may be better training grounds. But better still may be learning on the job apprenticeships, without the mandated hours. Or, if society feels some need to regulate cosmetologists, perhaps a licensing exam is all that is needed (don’t make it unnecessarily difficult). Students can learn on the internet or on the job.
But this overregulation and over licensing is a pervasive problem. Before liberals scream about Republican deregulation, know that the Obama administration—concerned about exactly this—had begun reviewing state licensing requirements and their deleterious effects on the economy and employment.
10
Just business as usual and you can bet some politicians somewhere are making money off of campaign contribution. Nevertheless, some regulation is necessary to protect the public. The way some countries deal with this is that you decide at some point you decide whether you want to go to college or learn a trade. In both cases, high school paid for by the taxpayers will either prepare you for college or teach you a trade. Or, you can have academic public colleges and public trade schools. This way, students avoid running up ruinous debts prior to formally entering the workforce.
6
The state is correct in its regulation in cosmetology. It's an intimate kind of thing, touching. It's about public health.
Cosmetologists are trained to recognize disease. And then, make appropriate referrals. A barber who once cut my hair, cut my scalp. It took a long time to heal.
The trainer who cut the dreadlocks from the high school wrestler in New Jersey did not have a license. The media never mentioned that. Not even once.
What if she had cut him during this emotionally-charged public event.
The license is there for a reason. It says this person has met minimum standards.
The trainer was never educated in cosmetic standards. These standards are not irrelevant. She simply did as she was told to do. She never asked a single question. She botched the haircut as well. The media looks the other way.
I contacted several reporters who had covered this wrestling match. They all said the same thing. No charges can be brought against the trainer because the trainer was not getting paid to be a stylist.
She was being paid by a school district and not to cut hair. Nevertheless, she was, indeed, being paid. Her job would have been at stake if she had refused claiming she did not have a license. The trainer was asked to break the law, and she did so with impunity.
The reporters I contacted, all of them from the surrounding area of Philadelphia, also articulated that they had never considered the issue of public health.
Public health is important. The law should be enforced.
2
Ten years ago I enrolled in a cosmetology program. Seventeen students in my class, only 2 of us graduated and got licensed. When I became employed I was surprised to see how many stylists didn't continue in the career. Three years seemed to be a turning point. The disillusion of a livable income and the overhead to maintain the license (Continuing Education every 2 years). So after a hard year of schooling and large debt, this is the worst industry in which to expect success. The amount of marketing propaganda from the elite industry professionals is classic promotion. A job a Costco is a much better career path.
18
@Bill
That is dreadful. I wish all students planning a career path had some financial counseling first, to see if their training makes any kind of financial sense at all.
The reality of student debt is not real for students prior to enrolling in higher education. We are excited, we have our dreams, aspirations, goals, and plan— the harsh reality of student debt is far from our minds.
I am now 27 years old and I just finished my last semester of law school. I haven’t received my last semester grades as of yet, but I did get an email regarding my debt amount and how to pay it back. It just hit me. I been a student all my life, since kindergarten.
The sooner we realize that student debt (1.5 trillion) is a real crisis maybe there can be some change. Prior to enrolling in school there should be reality workshops on the school hustle.
8
@Tracie, Indeed!~
I went to Beauty School as a second career late in life. I came from higher ed where I taught for 25 years. The beauty industry is a multibillion dollar industry. Hairdressers can make a living but the path for new talent is daunting. The training system is very broken. I was appalled at the quality of training I received and I went to an accredited program with a good reputation. It is an industry that gives very little back to students and new talent. The licensing exams have been dumbed down to such a degree that it basically boils down to sanitizing one's hands at the right time. Beauty Schools in Europe are 3 year apprenticeships and graduates are prepared to run every aspect of a salon business. Very few students who get their license ever make very much money in a booming industry and the primary cause is lack of affordable advanced training. Beauty schools are poorly run and when there is a curriculum, the faculty, most of whom are failed stylists, have no professional training to actually teach. Pedagogical rigor simply does not exist. The only solution is to rebuild the present system as an apprentice program. I don't regret going to beauty school, but I will not be able to do it as my full time job.
12
Indebting students of any kind if the cruelest form of support. Pushing a kid onto the road of life while dragging a ball and chain accomplishes nothing. It's simply a collusive scheme between business and the government, a characteristic that pervades American culture. In America, money only flows up.
Here is Holland public education is tracked, and students choosing the MBO track receive free vocational education on a one to four year course which is split about 50/50 between academics and work training. They receive a certificate entitling them to work in their chosen profession. It's a great system.
Our taxes pay for all this. Yes it's expensive, but it's a great deal for everyone. Low taxes lead to poverty, violence, and despair. High taxes yield a culture where everyone has equal opportunity to achieve some measure of success. The culture of despair, as evidenced by 72,000 opioid deaths in the US last year, is nonexistent here. Go figure.
55
Yet again, money interests beat constituent interests.
There must be a better way of establishing proficiency /skill for some of these licensed professions.
6
In my experience; skipping college, working for peanuts (right out of high school) but gaining plenty of experience and knowledge in my line of work(carpentry), has panned out well. I now own my own construction business and never had an ounce of educational debt.
A brother and friend both went to trade schools right out of high school, and both lacked the proper knowledge to secure well paying jobs. But both sure did lock themselves into years of debt.
I have younger guys working for me now, learning, and I pay them well on top of it.
Treat each other well and fair. Progressing toward a better future.
(^clearly I didn’t pay a college to teach me how to write or punctuate properly. But I can build a house)
24
Something that might help: Required financial literacy courses in high school. If we could teach kids to be smart and skeptical about scams, we could save a lot of heartache.
10
@Angelus Ravenscroft
My friend's son, who lived in VT as a child, participated in a school project in 8th grade that I thought was terrific. Each student had to research a career they might be interested in, and a place they thought they might like to live one day. They had to research the average salaries, and the cost of living. They had to make a detailed budget. It was eye-opening, to say the least. I wish all kids had to do this, to start their financial literacy.
2
Ever since its inception, liberalism has been about freedom, openness, and breaking down barriers—to trade, to equality, to opportunity. With these principles in mind, liberals and free market conservatives should unite in opposition to these kinds of anti-competitive restrictions on what a person can do. Perhaps brain surgeons and restaurants, in the interest of public safety and health, need licenses, but cosmetologists, really? Rather than coming up with specialized funding and new programs to help aspiring job seekers in cosmetology afford training, state governments should just stop these idiotic regulations that only serve to decrease competition and benefit politically connected incumbents. Cosmetologists and the salons they work at already have an incentive to train themselves, they don’t need the heavy hand of government forcing them to spend 1,500 hours in training.
8
Approximately15 years ago an about of severe infections were found on the legs of several women in Monterey/Santa Cruz Countys in Northern California. It was by a nail salon improperly cleaning basins and equipment used for pedicures. It was isolated to one salon in particular that was not following proper sterilization process required by the regulations taught in cosmetology schools. An infectious disease specialist tracked down the source of the infection, and many women had to be treated for months.
The transmission of Hepatitis A, B, and C as well as antibiotic resistant bacteria can occur in salons. I’m sorry, but people who work in cosmetology do need special training to do these jobs that involve the treatment of feet, skin, nails, scalps and hands that can be infected, burned or otherwise adversely affected by improper use of chemicals and sharp instruments.
15
@Jane K I completely agree anyone performing any kind of moderately skilled work should have the training to properly do their jobs and serve their customers. I'm not arguing against that. What I am arguing, strongly against, are the current regulations, in all 50 states, that require aspiring cosmetologists, many of whom are lower income minority women, to spend an average of 380 days an pay average fees of over $180 just to work at jobs that pay much less than the median income.
Occupational licensing always purports to 'protect consumers' but it ends up stunting competition, hurting the people who need jobs the most, and in the end not doing much to help the public good.
8
Regulations protecting consumers from infectious disease are appropriate. People who work in this industry should be trained and pass a test to prove they understand appropriate hygienic technique to get a license to do this job.
The issue seems to be the lack of availability to get training at a reasonable cost. Maybe it’s the lack of consumer protection for the students that is at fault. Or the over saturation of the market with salon workers.
2
What a shady rip-off. This could also apply to overpriced cooking schools. Why graduate with tens of thousands of debt to get a low-paid line cook job? You would be much better off apprenticing as a cook and learning on the job.
I think before starting any trade school program, you need to figure out the pay economics and see if it makes sense.
10
It's no different from the rip off called Motorcycle Mechanics Institute. An "education" mill that processes far more students than the industry can absorb . And the government funds the loans that allow it to go on, and on, and on. $17,000 in loans for a job that pays maybe mid $30's - if you can find it. These students - and this generation - are being ripped off by the schools, the banks and the Feds who allow it to go on. Thank you, Betsy DeVos.
9
So many people get distracted by shiny “jobs “ full of glamour,,, chefs, fashion designers, sports, interior design, computer game designer etc,,, a successful choice will always be mated to the desire or the individual drive to succeed, I took construction technology became a building inspector then construction supervisor then superintendent,,, nothing came to me on a silver platter and many times had to get myself deep in the mud but now in my 50s I know I have a job I can do until I am 70 at close to six figure income, my job is not fancy but pays well.
5
In the United States, any good thing a regular person chooses to do -- go to college and have a baby are only two examples -- means being forced to give over your wealth to predators. Those predators then use the money they took from you to corrupt your government and buy propaganda that blames you and those who want justice for you as the villans. Note well how the regulatory system is controlled by the regulated industry, and how it corrupts that system to stifle competition and fight natural economic forces promoting efficiency, lower costs and innovation. The problem is not "government" or "liberals," but cheats and liars who have corrupted the public's government to serve their narrow self-interest. Sound familiar?
10
To my simple way of thinking, you should not need a license to practice cosmetology. It should perhaps be an optional requirement, such as the CFA is for financial analysts. By the way, you do not need a license to be a financial analyst. But you do need one to cut hair? Something is very wrong.
2
Definitely puts Iowa in a bad light.
9
One tool to help protect potential students is the gainful employment rule, which this article mentions in passing. Another is borrowers' defense, which protects students defrauded by for-profit schools. Betsy DeVos seeks to weaken or eliminate both. A New York Times editorial of Sept. 24, 2018 explained:
Ms. DeVos has already proposed tightening loan forgiveness rules to make it virtually impossible for those defrauded by predatory schools to get relief. She has also proposed rescinding the “gainful employment” rule, which enforces a longstanding Higher Education Act requirement that career education programs “prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation.”
The Education Department wants to replace this important rule with additional disclosure requirements — covering debt, expected earnings, completion rates and other measures — that would apply to all colleges. This disregards the breathtaking fraud that has been documented specifically at for-profits — and the fact that their students take on greater debt and are more likely to default on loans.
5
[[She was determined to earn enough money to move out of her mother’s house. The job, though, paid just $9 an hour, which meant that her days double-shifting at Pizza Hut weren’t over. Even with tips, Ms. Lozano didn’t earn more than $25,000 in any of her first few years as a cosmetologist. For years, she relied on food stamps and health insurance from the state. She couldn’t cover living expenses and keep chipping away at her loan payments. Thirteen years after graduating, she still owes more than $8,000.]]
Yeah, I would have recommended staying with mom and paying her half what Lozano wound up paying in rent. That or, get a roommate.
3
This is predatory behavior sanctified by our government. Greed is ruining our democracy and the future of our youth. Thank you New York Times, for trying.
10
This sounds like quite a scam, right up there with the $65,000/year unmarketable BA degree from fancy liberal arts colleges.
9
"Under a settlement,the school admitted no wrongdoing..."
Isn't this always the way it goes (Trump University)? Why are these crooks allowed to escape criminal prosecution?
5
Unfortunately, all post high school education has become big business for those running it to get large salaries. Universities, colleges, and trade school s--- such as beauty schools--- all charge obscene levels of tuition and now call students "custom ers." Quality of all USA education has dropped in the past 20 years--- Master 's students no longer do theses, they do much smaller "final projects." Everything has been dumbed down while charging more for it.
Beauty schools are indeed a ripoff. Students are mainly a source of free labor for months on end. And then graduate to low paying jobs. I got my licenses in 1979...And most of my colleagues left the industry because they could not make enough to live on. And this was when beauty school tuition was $1,000.
Once employers trained and invested in employees. No more--- employees are expected to take on debt and be trained or educated. We now see areas where the business community is telling colleges what they want employees to learn to be marketable once they graduate. If you are working class, they don't believe you should have a full liberal arts education. Young people are being taken advantage of by business people who make profits off of them as students and employees.
4
Don't let it slip that in civilized countries, college tuition is subsidized by taxes. Things will change only when a majority Americans educate themselves about the realities of life in superior countries. They first need to understand that life is better elsewhere.
8
Difficult when the mantra you hear is that you are living in the greatest country on earth. I know very few Americans who question that as given fact. Great marketing scheme but far from the truth.
3
Kathy when are you moving to one of those better countries?
1
"national association for cosmetologists, which wants its members to be able to carry their licenses across state lines."
Am I understanding this right? The hair is so different in Iowa that someone trained for a year in Cosmetology would be totally and dangerously incompetent practicing out of that state?
14
One of my closest friends went to college to be a nurse, graduated, then immediately realized that nursing is not for him. He is a very smart person and if I ever have a medical emergency at work, he's the one I want around. He graduated 26 years ago and is still paying off the loan. I am appalled that trade schools are as big a scam as regular colleges/universities. I am also sad, shocked, and worried for future generations.
I am a baby boomer and I ask no one anything about their future as I am too busy worrying about why everything has to be so hard and so costly for simple, caring young people who just want to get ahead.
18
I feel for these cosmetologists. I, too, racked up a massive amount of student debt, and so did my husband. I made the mistake of having kids right after I got out of school.
My first career was as an RN. Yes, I made decent money, but the working conditions were really stressful, mentally and physically.
I then went to chiropractic school. Although I like working on patients, the paperwork and insurance company constraints on practice take a lot of joy out of practice. I've heard MD's say the same thing.
I kept telling my kids, don't ever take out student loans. I'm thankful that they listened.
My daughter hasn't figured out what to do with her life, so who knows what is in store for her.
My son got trained as an electirican through Job Corps, and is making better money than I am. He has a good trade that will always be in demand, and no student loan debt hanging over his head. More young people should look at getting into the trades.
16
I'm utterly astonished by what our society tolerates. The college-vocational training complex has become a racket that some believe is starting to resemble the mortgage industry before the 2008 crisis. Billions of dollars in loans to people with marginal ability to pay them back, with loose underwriting and loan servicing standards. Sound familiar? But, we're told "student loans are a noble cause -- helping educate America's youth!" Just like "subprime" loans were a noble cause allowing lower income people own houses. But no worry. If you're not a student you can still get in on the fun. If you're struggling economically, you can buy on credit with a credit card and pay loan shark interest rates (up to 29.99% if you miss a payment), or you can get a payday loan from predatory lenders the government tolerates. For some reason students facing crushing debt, for the most part, seem to accept this as the new normal. Other civilized countries don't allow this economic mayhem. Why do so many people in this country accept Wall Street controlling their economic life?
8
@Jeff
I agree with your ideas here except that Wall Street only controls what the government allows them to control. Of course this raises all kinds of messy issues about campaign contributions, lobbying, and the fact that the government is in the business of selling influence, and Wall Street is a willing buyer.
2
So one should do her research before deciding to get a cosmetology certificate. If the cost/benefit relationship is lousy, don't do it, but don't blame the schools.
3
My mother said the same to me. But, I was desperate for schooling, and a title, and most of all for a degree, which would open doors
Don't blame the victim.
13
How can anyone research when the data are hidden from view? This is the same playbook used by Trump "university."
3
"For-profit schools dominate the cosmetology training world and reap money from taxpayers, students and salon customers. They have beaten back attempts to create cheaper alternatives, even while miring their students in debt."
This is the primary issue. The community and technical college I work for has an affordable cosmetology program and an excellent placement rate for graduates because we work with local businesses and the community. Technical education is a viable path to personal prosperity since graduates don't have to start their new careers saddled with outrageous amounts of loan debt. Our country can't get out of the for-profit education business soon enough!
29
My son begins our public school’s career and tech’s free cosmetology program in February. At the end of the program, he can sit for the licensing exam. It saves us $20,000.00 and we can use his education fund for further training. I was surprised to learn how expensive it would be to get his license if he were unable to go through the public school.
14
You are focusing on getting a haircut at a chain such as Great Clips and Super Cuts. Why not discuss the compensation someone receives at a full service salon where a cutting and coloring goes for over $200.
10
Not everyone has the personality skills for that environment. Women getting $90 haircuts and $150 coloring want someone to chat with who’s stylish and has sexy, worldly charisma. That can be a woman but often it’s a gay man or a woman from another country. The trendy stylist in my town for years was Icelandic.
7
I taught as an adjunct instructor at a prestigious school of social work for several years. The tuition for the program totaled roughly $48K; the entry level wage for beginning social workers was about $24K annually. Even though their hearts were in the work, I felt guilty that we were sending them out to pursue a very tough profession with so much debt for so little financial remuneration.
37
I see a niche for community colleges -- offering entrepreneurial and business classes in the cosmetology trade so these hard working people can learn how to make it on their own. around where I live the stylists I know do quite well -- but probably like lawyers -- only some do. the others are hanging around the courthouse picking up hourly work.
11
In 1975 when I went to the Dental Hygiene program at Pasadena City College, our first year was exactly like the first year of dental school. Our training was rigorous and highly focused to be excellent professionals. The tuition was free except for instruments and books and a parking permit.
The young people who graduate now are barely competent, and owe $50K in student loan debt. The state board examiners pass everyone because they "don't want to stress the students".
At Calif conferences, I seek out new grads. And ask simple clinical questions. Mostly, I get blank stares which make me queasy about the new generation of clinicians.
Why? "They" calculatedly flooded of the labor market to keep salaries low. And the predatory behavior of the new crop of "private 14 month programs" and sheer patriarchal greed.
Shameful. Unethical. And dangerous for the public who do not have a clue about how dumbed down this clinical service is now in general.
67
That is disturbing.
2
@Andi Austin Another shining example of greed.
1
Just how much are people in Iowa even willing to pay for a haircut and what is the average price? Location and its profit potential is a factor when seeking success. A decent barber for a gentlemen's cut in Brooklyn is between $40-$50 and I have friends who spend hundreds at their favored salons here in NYC for just touchups. Of course, everyone is well-trained and well-licensed. Simply put,
having a license means for many clients that you're professional and qualified at what you do and can charge accordingly.
9
If you are a good hairstylist, you can move to New York or Los Angeles and make a lot more than $9 an hour. I don't even understand that rate. I can't get my hair cut for less than $50, which means the tip alone is $10. When I lived in Manhattan a haircut cost $160. Stylists who were heavily booked made a decent salary. These women should have taken their certificates and moved somewhere where people are willing to pay money for a haircut. Apparently Iowa isn't the place. Did they never ask their own stylists how much money they were making?
12
@Anne, Are you serious? What is the cost of rent in NYC or LA compared to Iowa?
10
@Anne This is what I was thinking. I am in Chicago, like a 2.5 hour drive from Iowa, and spend $125 (plus tip) on a color and cut. I'm there 2 hours. I know women who spend way more.
4
The cost of living in NYC and LA are substantially higher than Iowa. Furthermore, from what I've read, Asian stylists and nail techs are for all intents and purposes indentured servants in salons.
3
This is a snapshot of a problem that is so much bigger than cosmetology degrees. It pervades almost all of higher education, including the "STEM" degrees that will supposedly save us all from destitution.
I graduated in 2011 with two degrees, one in chemistry and another in biochemistry. Before starting college, I worked as a school painter with access to full benefits and a pension, albeit with a meager $12/hour wage. After spending four years and 100k to obtain my degrees, my job (specialized labor in a biochemistry lab) paid $12.50/hour with poor to nonexistent benefits. I was told that I was "lucky" to get this job and was chosen over individuals with masters degrees only because I had a personal connection to the lab.
While living at home after being laid off from this job, nearly all of my peers were doing the same. 7 years later and many of them are still there, working as baristas or other low paying jobs as they approach 30 years old. They will NEVER pay off their student loans let alone hit important adult milestones such as owning a home or having a family. Once interest starts accumulating and capitalizing at 5-12%, it's too late.
I ended up having do to a masters degree and loads of unpaid volunteering in a desperate attempt to apply to medical school. Fortunately I was accepted, and I consider myself extremely fortunate.
I am now 6 years of higher education and 200k invested before my first day of medical school at age 31.
We are the Lost Generation.
100
@Liberty In
If I could turn back time to 2006/2007, I would certainly take a different path. The most successful millennial I know didn't even go to college and barely passed high school. At the time, I thought he was making an extremely foolish decision by not attending college, but now I know who the fool really is.
7
As a certified electrician in PA, which has no requirement for training to do electrical work in your home, business, or industrial facility, I looked into the requirements to be an electrician in Iowa. There are no hard training, work , or study requirements, just to pass an exam. I have to believe that there is greater potential for harm from an improper electrical installation than a poor cut n' color.
118
You can become an EMT in 4 weeks? That doesn't sound right. I think you are comparing "Credit Hours" with actual hours, which is apples to oranges.
4
The summer between junior and senior year of high school, I took a 4-day a week course at community college, then a state test, then spent ten hours on an ambulance. I got my EMT certificate in the mail and volunteered on an ambulance after school.
I spent most of that time smoking and watching TV, but I did save a choking baby one day.
7
There are different types of EMT licenses, and the basic EMT license requires minimal training.
5
I had a pretty standard private business school experience back in 1980. I enrolled at one because my mother was newly divorced and I needed a fast track to a decent paying job so I could get out and support myself. Folks sign up at these places because they make you feel like you are working towards something and you don't have the luxury of spending 4 years of your life getting there. I signed up at a College of Business (secretarial) school with some government money and a $1500 loan agreement from me. A lot of money when secretaries didn't gross much more than $7000 a year, if that. This was a 12 month course that totaled about $3500. (The college courses had not cost that much). While I hated the idea of being a secretary, and the front office was clearly interested in "sales", it was faster. I reasoned that being a secretary for a lawyer or for the State would pay more than being a secretary in a factory because a friend worked at the local Country Club and all the members seemed to be lawyers, and my mother worked for the State, so I looked for a job in a law office and I got lucky. We didn't have a 2 year college in our small town at all, and I had not been in the "business track" in high school. I was lucky, I aimed in the right direction, but not all the girls in that course went on to work in law offices and they had negative financial outcomes that went on for years. And they ended up working as labor in the cotton mills or at the mall, and in debt.
5
It is funny. I am not that old. I graduated with well into 6 figures of student debt. I amassed that debt with the expectation that I would pay for it, however long it took. I never asked anyone else to pay it for me. And I got relatively low interest rates (locked at 8% at the time) because those loans were not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Nobody forced me to go to college or professional school. I chose to do so. Yes, I make a great living now, but I did not earn a living wage until well into my 30s- as a resident I made 30k a year. Barely enough to live on. What I did though was worked hard and did not waste my education or the little money that I had. State universities are great, as are 2 year community colleges. Expensive college is a waste, and my bet is that those complaining did not go to Harvard. Perhaps join the military, the way my father did, as a means of paying for school. Learn a trade. Do something. But stop complaining and blaming. It will not help. Nor should it.
16
I want my cosmetologist to be licensed and to receive appropriate training. There is more at stake than a bad haircut. The chemicals used in many treatments can be downright dangerous if used improperly and sanitation is no joke. A relative nearly lost a finger to infection after receiving a manicure with improperly sterilized tools. So, it's important. But does it require the ridiculous standards imposed by the state of Iowa? Absolutely not. And that school is downright predatory. Something should be done about both.
That said, there is also a real lesson to be learned about teaching people to be better consumers. It probably would have been cheaper for this woman to go to a better school in another state and train there, then transfer her license than to go to the scam school in Iowa (a quick Google search shows better schools that cost less today than she paid a decade ago!). How much research did she do of other options before settling on the school she went to?
Also, she borrowed less than the average cost of a used car and is still paying it back after 13 years? Would you want to pay off your used Honda Civic for two decades? Even in Iowa, I've got to think that there are better options than working at Great Clips! And if there aren't, that's a good argument for living someplace else.
This is where we really fail. Sad as it is, people have to learn that the only one that's going to look after you is you.
16
@Josie as per the article, her mother was a cosmetologist, so that would have suggested to her that this was a possible, affordable career (if not an extremely lucrative one). it suggests to me that something changed over time to makes the cost of entry greater. also to those who have suggested that she should have gone to school or to work in a different state, she may have had personal and financial reasons to stay close to family members. to try any career, a student must have some optimism, so let us not be abysmally tough on this woman's choices made early in her life.
1
Interesting how the US is sill stuck in educational courses bannend in the EU since decades - if for example someone wants to become a hairstylist in Germany, he will not only don’t end up with any student debt, quite the opposite this person would be paid for the hours he or she work in a saloon over the course of an education for 2 years...
16
And would go to school at the same time, also tuition-free. Germany's vocational training landscape is really something to aspire to. Training for the trades will put you into a substantial job market and actually places you far ahead of your university peers in terms of immediate monetary independence from your parents.
2
Every US high school needs to teach at least a year of personal finance, including financial aspects of education and career choices and options. Most students and families should be able to evaluate the economics of tuition and other higher ed expenses relative to earning potential.
In the case of these struggling cosmetologists, the info is readily available, and the math is simple. Bottom line: as currently structured, this career is a foolish choice.
17
Might want to check on the earning potential before taking the plunge. As a single mom why open yourself up to another big expense. Perhaps poor decision making is the common denominator of these debtors, a fool and their money are soon parted. Why would anyone take the word of someone who makes their living signing up easy marks. Maybe, these folks can become salon owners and train the next generation of stylists and put the "schools" out of business.
12
I always wondered why those from the Midwest looked well put together and coiffed while those on the East coast looked like a hot mess. Now I know why.
7
@Kurt Pickard I am from flyover country, born and raised in Nebraska and attended grad school in Boston, and I would like to know why. What are you saying?
@PrairieFlax
2100 hours required for a cosmetology certificate in IA and only 1100 hours required in NY and MA.
3
Great article. Cosmetology schools are a business scam. And shame on the states that support them by requiring the kind of licensing for the industry. These professionals should already be making money while learning the trade in an apprenticeship environment.
13
Simple solution, if government decides a profession requires regulation/license, then for profit schools should be illegal, and government should ensure programs are provided via community schools.
The for-profit schools are always run by the most despicable people.
21
@Timothy
Why should for profit be illegal? Nobody forces you to go there.
Yep, this is America today, you're on your own. Everything from paying thru your teeth for education, healthcare, childcare, retirement. Any place they can get you in this country, they are in your pockets siphoning off every cent they can. Be smart, people, research everything throughly, because no one will do it for you. We are on our own.
18
@mollie
You are on your own today? As opposed to years ago when the government held your hand? This is America. You are on your own. Be responsible for yourself and you won't need the government, AKA the people who pay taxes, to take care of you.
No, sorry. You are NOT “on your own” here in America. The vast majority of us have families, extended at least, to show us the way. That’s what family and parents are for, for God’s sake.
2
Our country has morphed into a land of indentured servants- The big banks and financial institutions control all of us. Our government in engineered through aggressive lobbying to allow this type of prefatory behavior thrive.. and both sides are responsible. Granted Elizabeth Warren pushed for the CPB but it was defanged as soon as the GOP took power.. But let's go back further .. It was Joe Biden who turned his home state of Delaware into a domestic Cayman Islands.. Ever wonder WHY your credit card can be as high as 26% APR...? Go thank Uncle Joe!
Both sides are to blame for this...
8
Be an entrepreneur...Work for yourself at home.... write off some expenses, build your client base and network network. Under it the salon prices a bit and have some grit. Why you making someone else wealthier.
Believe in your skills and start with some private clients with new biz cards in your social network. get out there!
8
‘A business first, and a school second’...all you need to read. This describes the entire post secondary education system in this country.
8
Whatever happened to the old adage of "Quality not Quantity"?
2
Why can't the required hours be done as paid apprenticeships in salons? Let small businesses apply for the 1.2 billion in federal grants they're giving out and allow them to pay students as interns. Part-time school, part-time paid work, real experience.
4
@Susan in NYC hair salons cannot legally hire assistants / apprentices who do not have a valid current cosmetology license. They are audited regularly and fined if violations are found. This is my 4th year as a licensed hair stylist at Fox and Jane Salon ( $15/hr salary for assistants with annual reviews) and one of the reasons I think their business model works is because they train their assistants to be very successful colorists and hair dressers. This is in addition to ongoing coloring, branding and business classes. I paid off my tuition in 9 months from working from home while in cosmetology school and do not owe $1.
3
There is a lot of data missing from this story. For instance why did this student not qualify for Pell Grants, which could have covered half the cost of this education? It is true that the Iowa program is ridiculously long. Most states have only 1500 to 1600 hour requirements. Even at this bloated requirement, Tracy's education was $10 an hour for a license that will give her a career or fallback work for the rest of her life. I have been deeply involved in both nonprofit and for-profit schools and have found the for-profits to be relatively good value. Unlike the public schools, they have to publish outcome statistics and have rigid disclosure requirements. As for the issue of salon services, Meredith and Sarah should visit my school in Stockton. There they will find numerous multi-cultural, low and middle income families getting excellent, affordable hair cuts ($7) and treatments performed by students who have a passion to learn and move into a career that will give them independence and job insurance for the rest or their lives. Beauty services cannot be outsourced of easily automated. Good trade schools, and most are dedicated and professional, are not diploma mills. There are tons of jobs out there. There is no reason any student cannot find a good job before they graduate. Meredith and Sarah should not source a bad apple to make unresearched generalizations about the field. It just demonizes a traditional sector of academia that is critical to an enlightened society.
1
Why does the person who cuts my hair need a license to begin with? To protect me from a bad haircut? Really?
How about I stick to yelp reviews and the government get out of the racket, er business of regulating hair dressers.
275
@Steve Dolanit’s
[[Why does the person who cuts my hair need a license to begin with? To protect me from a bad haircut? Really?]]
It restricts access to the labor pool, keeps competition low and prices higher. It's the same reason taxis were licensed (pre Uber).
44
@Third.coast
Female beauty operators use products that can cause burns, blindness, and other harmful reactions. Manicurists can spread deadly viruses and bacterial infections.
There are many reasons why cosmetologists are licensed. Why don't you read the law requiring licensing in your state?
97
@San Francisco Voter
The health and safety issues can be covered in a four hour seminar. The rest is just a government assisted extortion racket.
92
Great article. It shows how something like a becoming a beautician becomes an albatross. The laws have to be changed. The state requires too many hours of training. The loans turn into perpetual debt.
4
How much trouble does it take to visit a few beauty parlors and ask the workers there how much they make? One could also go to the public library or go online to get useful information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Trades like cosmetology should be taught in secondary schools and/or community colleges. These private trade schools (many of which now disingenuously call themselves "colleges") have been fleecing gullible and desperate young people for decades. Their "investment" in politicians assures that they will continue to do so.
This abuse is not limited to cosmetology, but is rampant in secretarial training, low paying medical and dental-related training, and just about any other career field you see advertised aggressively on the 3rd-string TV stations.
20
Sure seems like more Iowa Community Colleges could be encouraged to offer degrees in Cosmetology. Would that run into any political hurdles?
7
@Jim Brokaw:
The article mentions a lawsuit and a potential suit against two community colleges by for-profit interests. It sounds as if laws favor the for-profits. Broad political support for cosmetology programs at public community colleges would likely lead to the creation of such programs. From the article:
Unknown to Ms. Martin, there could have been another option, just a few miles down the road: Iowa Central Community College. . . . But in early 2005, the Iowa Cosmetology School Association and La’ James sued Iowa Central and got a temporary injunction that prevented it from moving forward with the program.
The lawsuit argued that the state code prohibits public entities from competing with private ones. If Iowa Central opened a cheaper program, the suit contended, La’ James would be “irreparably harmed by the loss of employees, members, clients, students, potential employees, potential clients, potential students” and other factors. . . .
The two sides ultimately compromised; students could earn associate degrees by completing cosmetology certificates at La’ James and taking six business classes at Iowa Central. La’ James lost nothing in the deal, but students lost the option of paying significantly less. . . .
This year, Iowa Lakes Community College . . . announced plans to offer a cosmetics degree. The college’s president, Valerie Newhouse, said one cosmetology school had already threatened litigation.
11
This illustrates the great American motto: There's a sucker born every minute.
Another profitable racket that is benefited by the complicit machinations of state governments is the real estate licensing trade. In Louisiana is costs a licensee about $1000 every year to maintain their license. State fees don't cost that much. It's all of the added expenses like mandatory continuing education, mandatory insurance, mandatory membership in trade associations, like the National Association of Realtors, mandatory multiple listing service membership fees, mandatory lock box access subscriptions, etc. And then there are these miracle motivational speakers and weekend workshops guaranteed to boost your sales that cost hundreds of dollars.
There is an entire industry of those who make a profit off of real estate agents alone, and they make sure the real estate licensing laws are written to guarantee them a profitable business model, enforced by the state government.
8
"The schools don’t have to pay students for the services they provide; in fact, the students pay tuition for the hours they work in the salons." -
In other words, the student has to pay the tuition and, on top of that, play the slave? I hope I am not being too harsh. And if we add the hours of those "clinicals" that students have to perform after leaving the theoretical part of their respective programs, that will amount to millions and millions of dollars saved by companies at the expense of free work performed by these students. The studens always lose. The system is rigged against him/her.
12
Clearly the high school education these unfortunate young women completed did not include even an hour or two on how to evaluate real world options using a sharp pencil and calculator. Why is that? Is it really that challenging to ask a few questions before signing on the dotted line? These " schools" prey on ingorance. Ignorance,not the schools, is the problem.
26
@Steve Smith - That may be so, but preying on another's ignorance is evil.
20
If you are interested in this topic, I strongly recommend Tressie McMillan Cottom's book "Lower Ed", about the for-profit education industry and the people who end up as students at these schools. It's extremely readable, interweaving stories of students with facts about the business; a terrific book that has changed the way I think about post-high-school education as a whole.
25
This is one of the saddest stories I have read this year. Where I have gotten my haircut for years, the barber has not raised his price in many, many years. He is the longtime owner and says he can't compete against the chains. People taking on this much debt for such a low paying job that could be taught in a state vocational high school program and apprentice program is just sad. The owners of these schools are criminal but these students should also do some homework.
49
In New York State, high school students can become licensed cosmetologists through no-cost training available at their regional BOCES (cooperative education). Some graduates do quite well financially, and have no debt.
34
@New reader And Co-op Tech and Access VR in NYC. Also, Job Corps. Yes, thanks for pointing out BOCES.
4
My younger sister was saddled with debt for years from a beauty school that went under. She never got her degree. The school managed to let her take out loans even though she was only 16 at the time. The problem is, when you are poor, you don't know any better. You don't know what is right, and when you find out, you don't have the resources to fight and the business in question has already moved on. It took her 20 years to pay off those loans - with no degree to show for it.
27
Maybe it’s best to finish high school first?
No discussion in this article about how state and local licensing and regulatory schemes beget and sustain for-profit schools of this type? The same thing is happening in public education. Teacher incentive pay is tied in many states to extra credentials and advanced degrees. So teachers spend their hard-earned pay for on-line courses and degree programs that do little if anything to make them better teachers. The expected financial reward to the teacher is illusory in the short term, and relatively inconsequential over the long term. But the schools reap big rewards.
22
Yes, the schools practice predatory lending and yes the state requirements are unnecessarily burdensome, but there are much better jobs than great clips and many cosmetologists that are entrepreneurs and doing very well.
3
$24K in loans for a $9/hr. job? For the investors whose hedge funds have shares in both student loans and Great Clips, and/or a whole range of other bottom-feeding service corporations, that's a win-win.
I've taught at a California Community college for 20 years. The CCC system has just been "reformed," through the lobbying of an array of neoliberal non-profit think tanks, to emphasize job training for these sorts of low-pay, no opportunity jobs. A major part of the reform aims to produce these cheap certificates and degrees at a lower unit-cost than ever before. The main non-profit driving this transformation of a great CCC system into a cheap certificate mill? The Lumina Foundation, spun off a couple of decades by the nation's largest student loan corporation.
These people are running the table. Lower public costs for CC education means lower tax bills for the wealthy. Orienting CCs towards the interest of predatory employers puts public funding in the service of those employers. And for those like the unfortunate Ms. Lozano who choose the for-profit "college" route, high debt means immense pressure to stay in the low-pay wage slave job she's qualified for, so she can pay off her debt. Oh by the way, student debt can't be cancelled or cut through bankruptcy.
This is an organized campaign by the plutocracy to enrich themselves and entrench their political power. The majority of ordinary people need to organize against it.
43
@TMSquared, the community college system began as a job training endeavor — to train teachers. It has morphed into something else entirely. I would be happy to see it return to it’s original mandate.
7
My uncle was very instrumental in founding one of the first community colleges. He was orphaned at 13 and never went to high school. Eventually he became a millionaire many times over through commercial real estate and banking. (Obviously a savvy guy - he was also famous for being scrupulously honest and transparent). He wanted to create a higher Ed opportunity for students who had experienced disruptions or disadvantages, as he had (he also foresaw that businesses would need employees with different skills than in the past). We need our community colleges.
8
@TMSquared
My California Community College has always offered certificate programs for some trades but has never offered cosmetology, massage or the like as they are offered in nearby counties. These programs do not lead to Associate degrees or to transfer into four year colleges or universities. They exist to meet the requirements for state licensing and examinations for such licenses. There are specialized programs which have strict entry requirements which can include prerequisite courses and national exams such as Dental Hygienist, Radiology Technician, Emergency Medical Technician, Licensed Vocational Nursing, Registered Nursing, Paramedic, Pharmacy Technician.
Certificates are available for specific certifications such as CVT/Echocardiography Technician, EKG Technician, Emergency Medical Technician, a list of Auto body and repair certificates, Motorcycle maintenance, Carpentry, Plumbing, Residential Wiring, Solar Hot Water Systems, HVAC, a dozen Early Childhood Education certificates in addition to Associate Degrees with on-site child care facility (for students) at which training hours are worked and supervised. There is also a roster of computer and technology certificate courses leading to exams administered by the appropriate enterprises (Oracle, Microsoft, CISCO, etc.).
Tuition is free for those who meet residency requirements. Financial aid for textbooks and materials depends on Federal Student Aid application completion and qualification.
2
As always, just follow the money. That's where you'll find the root of the problem.
11
Most licensing requirements should be abolished. Those who want a formal training should be free to do so. Then we can have two groups - in this case cosmetologists. Those with formal training can display their certificates. Those without a certificate will also be allowed to practice. Let customers decide if they prefer cosmetologists with a certificate.
14
I hear what you’re saying, but in the end the poor will get the untrained services and suffer the consequences. The well off certainly aren’t going to go with the lower priced “low class” option. Which do you think will be better, cleaner and safer? This applies to childcare and home health care too.
2
@NG So, that is a health risk and a potential community health disaster.
1
@NG
Really? No licensing requirments for electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, truck drivers?? Are you including EMTs, paramedics, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, lab techs, X-ray techs, pharmacists, doctors, teachers, financial planners, stockbrokers? Where/how do you decide who needs a license/certificate? The era of unregulated practitioners was about 100 years ago, and came to an end because of some really bad outcomes by folks who had no idea of what they were doing. What about "protecting the public" don't you understand?
1
Rest of your life to pay off $29,000 in student loans for a young person? Definitely sounds like a poor investment. You would think that the high hurdle to be certified would put upward pressure on wages. I guess not. The real issue is that these types of jobs should not require expensive education. But that is the nanny state for you. Always looking for their cut in fees and licensing as well.
10
How much is the state licensing fee that you're factoring in?
3
Corporate greed is the biggest culprit.
1
It's clearly necessary to impose onerous licensing requirements (beyond what would be required for, say, commercial pilots) on cosmetologists, because consider the risk. I mean, what if someone were to get a bad haircut?! Oh, the humanity!
17
@M and others: Sanitary and safety standards do exist in this field for a reason. A bad haircut may not inflict harm other than to one's appearance. On the other hand, the misapplication of chemicals to customers' heads for coloring, straightening, or curling of hair, as well as the use of unsanitized equipment for manicures or shaves could lead to burns, infections, or worse.
10
@Iam 2 I apologize, it was not my intent to mock the profession, although I now realize my comment comes across that way. Let me instead say that the risks to the public from an incompetent cosmetologist are no greater than those from someone incompetent working in, say, a fast-food restaurant kitchen, for which extensive training is not required. This suggests the entire system is based on regulatory capture rather than genuine risk to the public.
4
There are several comments saying licensing should be eliminated in fields like cosmetology, electrician, HVAC, etc. I could not want someone working on my electrical system without knowing for sure he/she was adequately trained. And the license does prove that. But, a lot of these "tests" in the cosmetology area need to be streamlined and updated. There's now a high demand for aesthticians...who provide skin care treatments like microdermabrasion. There's a lot of licensing required and doctors want to minimize what these people can do because the doctors want the business. For big dollars, of course!
8
The entire concept of community-based community colleges was to teach basic trades like this; hence, their names. Obviously, these for-profit lobbyists do a very good job.
19
The entity providing the funding for the loans for these and other for-profit-run educational programs where the participants can't earn enough to pay their educational debts is the Federal Government. Which means that, in the end, it is you, me and everyone else who is really on the hook. This blatant abuse of well-intentioned programs should be stopped and soon.....
18
@Gordon: It's not blatant abuse of well-intentioned programs, it's programs that blatantly abuse students (by taking their money knowing it will be difficult for students to recoup it).
16
@Anne Exactly. And this should be illegal as internships are supposed to benefit the student at the expense of the employer not the other way around.
This kind of things makes me sick. Thank you, NYT, for bringing awareness to this issue with this article.
What's not really covered here is how we can prevent people from making misguided decisions about taking on student loans for jobs that will never pay well. I don't have a solution, but this woman needed a well-paying job to support her daughter, and she failed to find one. Had she gone for an RN from the beginning, she'd likely be far better off now. How could this have been prevented? Making haircutting degrees be 1500 hours (or better yet, 500) sounds like a very good idea, but it's far from sufficient.
23
People: Get the job before the baby.
1
I have tweeted to the Iowa Senate to encourage them to tackle this problem. This kids cannot afford anything, all they do if pay loans. That does not work for any other merchant either if they need incentive. I wrote the papers, the basketball team, Iowa State University. This needs to stop.
15
The article clearly stated the fact that these students had school debt. However, let's take a closer look at the students' expenses. I'm willing to bet that most have cellphones, internet, premium television, etc. all of which are "nice to have" but certainly not a necessity when finances are tight. It might be a matter of misplaced priorities.
5
@MarathonRunner - Oh for God's sake. A cell phone and internet are pretty standard now, they are not luxuries. I guess it's been a while since you were in school - notifications of school closings and communications with teachers are sent by text or e-mail, assignments are submitted on line, etc. Next you'll be upset that these students have indoor plumbing!
172
@MarathonRunner
Without a cellphone or an internet connection, you literally can't hold or apply for a job, or really maintain social connections. These are not luxuries in 2018.
96
@MarathonRunner: It's a for-profit school. They school is milking these people. And she worked while in school. And most people actually need internet and cellphones in this world at this time. It's like saying people aren't *really* poor if they have refrigerators.
33
My technical vocational high school taught cosmetology and those that graduated usually found employment. Most would land jobs that would pay ,with tips, about $50K annually. This poor girl received very poor career advice.
20
@Pepperman that was true in our high schools but today those programs have been shuttered in high schools and two year colleges. The end result is you have for profit schools that make false promises while ripping off vulnerable people like those described in this article.
15
40 plus years ago the federally funded, State of Michigan administered, welfare to work program quit funding cosmetology training for clients. Even with no loan payments clients were not able to earn enough to get off welfare. It dosen't surprise me that it's still the same.
13
@Riverwoman I am from Michigan and there are very few salons where women can afford to give "big" tips to make up for low salary.
5
Great story, and so overdue. The state certification boards are villains of the worst kind. They exist to protect existing practitioners from competition and to pad the profits of these trade schools. The folks who just want to cut hair for a living -- and all the rest of us who need haircuts -- have to pay the price for this.
But the very same dynamic exists for certifications in other professions. Physical therapists and nurse practitioners are now forced to enroll in extremely costly 3-year doctoral programs beyond college -- the extra year of training is not justified by anything other than the desire for colleges to extract another year of graduate school tuition.
Even paralegal work is increasingly restricted to graduates of expensive and unnecessary paralegal certification programs -- taking hiring out of the hands of lawyers and putting it in the hands of greedy state boards dominated by trade schools. And again, guess who pays for all this?
24
@Tom"Even paralegal work is increasingly restricted to graduates of expensive and unnecessary paralegal certification programs -- taking hiring out of the hands of lawyers and putting it in the hands of greedy state boards dominated by trade schools."
Law firms are free to employ anybody they want as a paralegal. "Paralegal" is not a regulated profession or occupation. Indeed - a paralegal is someone who works in a support function to a lawyer. They can be extremely valuable (I say this as a lawyer) and some paralegal perform intellectually at the level of a lawyer, but they do not have to meet any state regulatory requirements. Some colleges or universities offer have "Certified Paralegal" courses and in some state one can become recognized as such, but none of it is necessary to work as a paralegal. People with good college degrees and excellent thinking and writing skills make very good paralegals, but there are no state board dominated trade schools that somehow control the paralegal market. Keep it real.
8
This is what I have long referred to as "the certification scam". It is pervasive in most "regulated trades", from hair styling and barbering to welding and electrical work. It mainly serves to limit the number of people in the field, thereby keeping prices high, essentially a guild. Most of the licensing should be eliminated, along with the high cost of the "training". It serves no useful purpose.
16
@Steve B
You are welcome to take your chances with an electrician or plumber with no certification or license, but please make sure when your home burns down that it does not burn your neighbor's house. Licenses/certification shows that the individual has met the minumum level of expertise/safety for their area. Hiring unlicensed or uncertified individuals for work is crazy.
3
@Steve B
I live in a place where all professions require formal education. A diploma in any trade is required to work in that trade. But.......the education is government sponsored, virtually free, and universal. The only goal is qualified professional employees.
The problem in the US is the profit motive, not the certification requirement.
4
The hourly rate seems incredibly low when considering most hair dressers in my area charge a minimum 60 bucks for a basic cut and dry service. That's if you don't have a difficult cut or want any other service. When I used to color my hair, I'd get close to $250 each time (3-4 weeks apart). Of course, you have to add at least a 20% tip on top. Most cuts take a half hour. The hairdresser would get two $12 dollar tips per hour. I am not disagreeing with the point of the article that for profit schools rip off their students but find that they are leaving out the salon owners if the wages quoted are correct.
17
It sounds like you were going someplace a lot higher end than Great Clips, which does not charge so much for cuts or coloring.
7
@jcs These hairdressers are working in chain/franchise businesses in Iowa. A haircut is $15 according to their website.
1
@jcs the women prpfiled here are working at stores like Great Clips and Super Cuts, where most of the haircuts cost under $20
2
All education should be free. And particularly vocational education if we are going to have a thriving economy. If we want an unproductive society, then keep saddling our lower and middle classes with massive debt. There will be no one to do the work that is needed to be done. And we stifle the creative spirit.
33
@chichimax You are not wrong, but who is going to pay for the teachers, administrative costs, supplies, buildings, and maintenance? Are you willing to pay more in taxes?
12
@Ed: Take money from the military-industrial complex to fund these things. Problem solved.
124
@Ed
Yes, but unnecessary. We could educate our children, adults, and all the people in Afghanistan with a fraction of what we spend on wars. And, with educated people we might be less likely to waste the planet.
4
Giving haircuts and manicures could be taught in high school to students in vocational tracks. I appreciate this article exposing the predatory practices of these schools, but wonder why the outrage is never extended in the New York Times to universities that divest parents and students of hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain useless degrees that supposedly teach them "how to think", a skill that is not so much in demand at the local Starbucks, the only place where the kid will actually be able to get a job.
26
The only problem with that argument is that it’s simply false. A bit of research will show that HS grads earn on average 30-35k while those with a 4 yr degree earn on average 60-65k. Graduate or professional degree holders earn on average 75-80k. This income gap has been consistent for many years now. Granted, jobs were hard to come by during the recession for workers of all backgrounds, but they were much harder to come by for those with no or slender credentials. And yes it may be harder for certain college majors than others to enter the job market initially, but most eventually will do so, and earn, over their lifetimes, significantly more than those with no degree. Enough to buy homes, cars, send their own children to college, access quality healthcare, take vacations, etc. It does no one any good to promote this myth that college degrees are not worth it. What’s not worth it is the risk of getting along without one.
14
My 4-year “useless” degree in English left me with slightly less debt (20k) than the woman in this article. I paid it all off in just under five years from graduation and currently earn more than double the hourly rates mentioned in this article, and I am nowhere near the most financially successful of my classmates. (My schedule is nicer, too—cosmetologists usually have to work weekends and evenings as that’s when clients can come in.) Statistics show people with 4-year-degrees (“useless” subjects or otherwise) like mine earn more across the board than folks with 2-year degrees or certificates. Knowing “how to think” is a valuable skill in work and life—I suggest working on your own. :)
20
It took 39 credit hours to earn 15.00 an hour at a nationally known hospital do what most people would never consider doing- the cleaning and reprocessing of surgical instrumentation. This is also a high demand job, so much so that traveler sterile instrument techs make twice or more as much as I did. Where is the "supply and demand" element in this equation?? And I felt lucky to get this job because what I needed was heath coverage!
8
It is not just Cosmetology, there are "high demand" jobs that pay minimum wage and you better believe their are "schools" that will make these jobs sound like the best way to get moving towards a better life. What they don't tell you is that they leave you with as much debt as you would have had from a 4 year college.
One niece wants to go to cosmetology school and another niece wants to get her CNA. Both are looking at $10k-20K in debt. One has a husband who is partially disabled and a kid, and the other has yet to graduate from high school. I wish the niece who is a genius at doing hair could apprentice to get her license. I wish the one that has the dreams of being a CNA would consider going to nursing school. The price would be the same but she would make double the money or more. Her family could not get by on the minimum wage CNA jobs in her area.
Even people with STEM degrees are being crushed by student debt. This country can either continue to go speeding towards Hades in a handcart or they can start investing in US. It is no longer enough to even go to school for 12-16 years and think that will set you up for a sweet life. We need affordable (as in you can work a minimum wage job and pay for classes) education for life. We also need to have fair laws in regards to foreign work visas and even immigration. If people already in the US do not have home, food, and/or jobs then we cannot responsibly accept any more people.
21
Reading this makes me feel very lucky. I did a community college program in medical coding while working two minimum wage no skill jobs at the same time to ensure I didn't have to take out student loans. No student loans, I landed a job making $13/hr right out of school, now it's nearly double that and I work from home.
Every now and then I hear how medical coding will go fully automated. With the way things move in this country I will be well into retirement at that point.
Sometimes I feel bad because I don't even have an associates degree. Then I think, having that piece of paper could be much worse.
14
Trump's school was no different nor are many others. Especially medical school graduates who have the added burden of liability insurance costs.
7
Years ago one could study hairdressing, auto mechanics and other practical careers while in high school in NYC. Today the high school curriculum is loaded with useless required classes as well. There are such advanced math classes, they seek only to bore the students into dropping out. Not everyone needs physics, but they need jobs. Throw out too many years of education Phd.s experiments and go back to real world.
I have taught community college for 30 year and the NYC high school graduates are prepared for absolutely nothing.
56
@Janice
Yeah, advanced math classes who needs that?
1
@Janice You taught community college for 30 years and you are dissing advanced math and physics classes?
3
@Janice
You can blame former Mayor Bloomberg for that. My brother taught commercial cooking in a Brooklyn high school. They had put in beautiful, expensive kitchens that were all torn out when it was decided that vocational education wasn't necessary and everyone had to be on the college prep track. Your are right about advanced science and math courses being a waste of time for students who are not equipped for higher education. They should be taught courses that will enable them to learn marketable skills.
7
This is like the time when NYS would not allow the sale of reading glasses because eye doctors lobbied against it claiming it endangered the public, but 48 other states allowed it.
A salon in another state had to shut down a hair braiding place because they didn't have cosmetology licenses. They claimed correctly, that they didn't do anything that would have been taught in cosmetology school. NYS used to require that new hairdressers show proficiency in doing a finger wave, 50 years after it went out of style.
Legislators need to make more reasonable laws. It shouldn't take more than a few hundred hours to learn the job even with health and safety regulations, coloring techniques. and supervised salon hours. Students shouldn't have to be in deep debt to for profit schools especially when the job doesn't pay that well and it would be a lot cheaper to go to a community college if it was possible. Ir's hard for legislators to stand up to lobbyists but we pay them to do their jobs without giving in to those who are cheating the public.
19
@S.L. Oregon still had the finger wave competency requirement in the 90s but did not require any competency related to Black hair care or styling. Lye burns, anyone?
2
This is monopoly capitalism at its worse. I cannot fathom a court upholding the argument that a for-private institution would be irreparably harmed if a state school offered the same education at lower rates. Yale never sued the State of Connecticut for opening a university! Doesn't every state have a right (or even an obligation) to provide to its citizens with affordable schooling? Sadly, cosmetology licenses are usually good only in the state where the training was obtained, and many states will not allow cosmetologists who are licensed in other states or in foreign countries to practice without going through a time-consuming and expensive state-approved curriculum that is all too often offered only at expensive private for-profit institutions with strong commercial ties. For high school graduates who are not college-bound, practical training for a profession is too often provided mostly by for-profit places, saddling kids with big debts even before they have started a career. This country should take a serious look at the apprenticeship model that exists in Europe where public-private partnerships can provide inexpensive (if not free), valuable, alternative practical training for many in-demand jobs that do not require a college degree.
40
@Paul- The same education is also offered for free in Canada in some high schools or technical public colleges.
24
Nothing is free - even in Canada. All is funded by the taxpayer
2
Can’t help but point out this phrase from the article: ‘the drive for revenue often trumps students’ educational needs’. So true for trump and his university! Good one!
17
Here in France you actually get paid to train as a hairdresser, or a baker, or a chef, or any artisan labor by the apprenticeship scheme. It is different for university, of course, the yearly fee is around 600 Euros. I graduated from the Sorbonne with an MA in Literature and zero student debt as most European students do. Macron has decided to up the fees for international students from next year. The purpose is to appeal to rich students from countries where cheap fees mean cheap studies. He visibly does not care about students from countries where loans are not even an option for students or their elders for exemple on the African continent. I don't think French universities will ever get as predatory as the American education system but if it does we'll be able to trace it back to the Macron presidency.
32
@Emilie in Paris
Is this a statement about access to education for French people or is it an anti-Macron statement? In the USA the State Universities charge much more to out of state students than they do to in-state students. Why shouldn't students who are not French pay more than French students in French Universities? If Students from other countries need funding for university, then perhaps you should start a foundation to help them. Bad mouthing Macron will not help. Bad mouthing Macron is what the Russians want. Here in the USA we would be glad to trade our President for your Macron.
7
@Emilie
The government meaning the taxpayers paid for your MA in literature...... how does that benefit society??????????
3
@Emilie I don't see why French tax payers have to subsidized African students. If you want to help poor foreign students, then you just have to offer generous scholarships.
2
Higher education including technical schools is too often a scam in the USA. Yes, state licensing is designed to limit competition. Education and the development of skills should be provided by the federal and state governments with at least the same committment as road building and space exploration.
5
Using the numbers in the title of the article this situation equates to a debt to hourly income ratio of ~2,300.
The same statistic for a dentist (~300K degree / $100 hourly wage) is ~3,000.
2
@Dentist
1) Dental school true costs currently at $500k plus are criminal as well. Thank you for highlighting that fact.
2) Still. The difference is the fact that loans are always supposed to be calculated against disposable income. Median income of dentist in their first year are $118k. Median for all dentists is $158k. In most places outside NYC and SF, there’s actual disposable income between earnings and poverty line. For cosmetologists, there’s nothing close to that flexibility.
3) Ultimately, schools need to have skin in this game. They should own a portion of the loans beyond a certain minimum. If the student defaults, the school loses. We need to have student, lender and school interests aligned. Period.
10
@Dentist Wow. That explains why so many dentists are pulling extra shifts at Pizza Hut.
1
@jrsherrard My NYC dentist’s office is on Madison Ave. There’s nary a Pizza Hut in the area, or even a McDonald’s!
Data on hourly wages at salons is easily accessible through websites lie Glassdoor or Google searches. The total cost of a cosmetology program is available up front from the school. Calculators are free on computers, or get a $3 one at Walgreen’s, and you could predict this outcome.
It’s like a kid going to Harvard for Women’s Studies and English, and being shocked to end up working at Starbucks and carrying $100k in debt with only a BA.
There are workforce boards, job training centers, etc, run by local and state govs, and they are free to residents.
My husband wanted to know the prospects for anthropologists, and spent $40 to join the local professional association to network and learn, and then looked up a professor at a local University (he is not a student there) and asked to meet him for an informational interview, which cost nothing.
I am sorry someone who works hard is in debt and frustrated, but we need people to learn how to advocate for themselves - you can’t just regulate the problem away.
10
@Bec215
Actually, in this case you could easily regulate the problem away. Let local community colleges run cosmetology programs. So the for profit schools have to compete - oh, the horrors! I though libertarians and conservatives practically worshipped competition. Yes, letting people get cosmetology certifications through public community colleges would go a very long way to breaking the stranglehold the for profit schools have on the subject. According to the best conservative philosophy, everyone will benefit.
34
@Bec215 you are 100% spot on. It is a shame that educational trends have shifted like this but your examples (and many more) are perfectly available solutions. People need to be their own advocates and this is even more important in the Information Age as technological changes can allow shifts that used to take decades to happen in less than a year. This holds true not just in the education and job market, but also in healthcare, finances, housing, retirement and nearly every other sector that affects our lives. Despite the ever-quickening pace of change, being resourceful, proactive and thinking outside the box are skills that should be embraced more frequently as they continue to stand the test of time.
2
Our economy is too regulated in terms of licensing requirements. It is a perverse system that leads to rent-seeking from those who are licensed and those who provide the licensing education/training. This should be an area where both sides of the political spectrum agree. Reform by curtailing licensing requirements helps economic growth and helps those at the bottom of the economic ladder by making it easier to work. Groups like the libertarian-leaning Institute for Justice often wage legal battles against such licensing regimes that too often don't protect the public but, instead, protect those who don't want competition.
166
@James
Other words for "regulations" are entry barriers. People in the industry create entry barriers to make it harder for others to enter the industry, and thus competition for jobs is lowered. As a teacher, I have to say that teaching is one of the most bizarrely regulated industries and teachers are scared to death of competition from other industries. Teaching erects super high entry barriers that require just the right steps in just the right order to make bank.
43
@James -- It seems to me that a 'board' that wants to require hundreds or thousands of hours of training, as well as proof of competence, should have to prove that the hours directly lead to better, safer, more skilled licensed professionals. If merely putting in the time is required just to get a license, when the ability and competence of the person can be tested and proven, than all that licensing requirement is doing is being a barrier to competition for those already past the hurdle. What about the sacred "free market"? Let's make the boards requiring those hundreds or thousands of hours *prove* that the hours alone make a difference to safety, skill, or performance for those doing the work and the customers of those professions.
15
@James
Laws crafted by particular interests against the general welfare forcing us to pay higher prices and restricting our choices are an abuse of government power and are not any kind of legitimate law that we are obliged to follow. They are ripe for civil disobedience. We have economic liberty rights that are not currently respected or protected by the law but are our rights nonetheless.
11
This article was a good start. But it would be helpful to provide more comparisons with tuition charged, number of classroom and in-salon work required, and the hourly and/or annual earnings potential of recent graduates.
The larger question is: How can a business focussed on hair, makeup, and nails have higher tuition, and lower wages, than the professions of nursing, counseling, teaching, and caregiving?
13
On behalf of the community college where I worked, I researched our local cosmetology training businesses in El Paso 25 years ago, all for jobs that didn't pay much to start. All used up a student's Pell Grant dollars and required students to take out loans. I presented my findings to the provost and recommended that the college start a program in the interest of students who were mostly low income and female. He put the wheels in motion and the college opened a very successful cosmetology program. The local for profit schools raised a big fuss in the media, but our program stood. I am proud of what I did.
1037
@K Bombach
Good for you! This is an excellent response to the issues raised in the article.
76
@K Bombach LOL I hadn't read the comments yet before posting my own comment that this sounded like a great niche for community colleges. I'm glad your institution made it happen.
36
@K Bombach
That's awesome! Community colleges are almost always a better bargain than for-profit trade schools. When I lived back east, the local for-profit training institute had a phlebotomy/medical assisting program that cost $21,000. Many students took out big loans to get trained for a job that paid $13/hour if they were lucky. The local community college started its own program, made it a 140-hour program (100 hours in the classroom and a 40-hour internship at a local hospital or lab site) and charged $600. It was much more manageable to afford, and even if a student had to take out a small loan, it didn't take years to pay it back, and the payment wasn't $400 a month.
65
Education is for sale everywhere in this country. Colleges conspire with publishers to rig the book market, there are tacked on fees for everything, ranging from Campus Maintenance Fund (?) to exorbitant Lab Fees. We value education so little that our students spend countless weekend hours playing sports and a scant few in the Library. Eventually a stupid citizenry will lead to a what we have today. If you think it is bad now, it will get worse.
293
@Nev Gill To be fair, I would not go to a library in 2019 unless I wanted to take a selfie with a real hardcover.
10
@Michelle
If you mean books when you say "hardcover" then what is wrong with that? I read articles online but have never even thought about reading a book on a computer screen.
Libraries have the Internet and you can check out videos and CDs. They even have lectures, talks and music programs plus interest group meetups. They also have children's sections with games and programs for the kids as well. Sometimes they even have free snacks.
Libraries are great places!
69
@William They are. I'm being flippant. The point is that people are no longer dependent on libraries for intellectual stimulation. I can read almost anything on my phone from anywhere in the world with wifi and uncensored internet.
The Times wrote a story earlier this year that asked if the purpose of museums had changed. It showed people crowded in front of the Mona Lisa for selfies. This is what sprang to mind when I read your comment.
13
In 2018, the State of Washington repealed laws that had allowed the professional licensing boards of more than a dozen professions to revoke a person's professional license if that person defaulted on their student loan. I found it noteworthy that the for-profit beauty schools were the only group to argue against repealing these laws in the committee hearings.
The schools were getting dinged by the federal government because their student loan default rates were so high, so they would threaten their students with the loss of their professional license if they defaulted. It makes no sense to take away a person's ability to make a living after they have taken on significant debt to learn that profession. But this antagonistic approach to graduates seems to be part of the for-profit beauty schools' business model.
Many states still have these debtors-prison-like laws, and I urge people in those states to work with their elected officials to repeal them. We need sensible alternatives at community colleges -- programs based on providing sound vocational training, not profit-making.
499
@Teri
Well said. And, lest we forget, Education Secretary Betsy DuuuhhhVos represented investor in for-profit training schools (under the rubrick "college"). She has been working to upend public education for the sake of shareholder profits — of which her family is involved.
93
I find it appalling that we need licensing boards for things like beauty salons. For some professions, I can see the merit, but for something as simple as cosmetology the only reasons I can think of to justify these regulations are to protect politically connected incumbents and keep out the competition, which hurts everyone from consumer to job seeker.
8
@TrueLiberal--I actually don't, but agree it should be reined in. There are some pretty nasty chemicals that are used in cosmetology. Here in NY, retail regulators often find products in stores that are banned. They may be effective but they are dangerous.
7
How is this legal, how is this accepted, how is the US so corrupt? This must be a joke.
21
Any degree which leads to a $9 / hr job should be considered by the government a "luxury degree"-- as in, you have no need of a loan (and it would be foolish and cruel to give you one), because you are obviously independently wealthy. No loans for these degrees where the economics cannot possibly allow for a reasonable payback period!
237
@Alexander
How about no degree or licensing required for a job that leads to $9 an hour?
18
@Alexander
It's really not a 'degree', it's more of a certificate of competency.
9
@Chiaroscuro, If it's about competency why are Great Clips and its ilk basically post-certificate training schools for these people? Not only that, the odds of getting a decent haircut at those places are very telling as to the competency that's been supposedly certified. I'm not referring to the lack of high end skills but the ability to give a basic, simple haircut.
The 'beauty school' industry is yet another racket that soaks those not suited for academic advanced education, charging a fortune to teach skills that for most provide low wage jobs.
13
Any "for profit" school is a scam.
Just look at Trump "University".
It's all fraud.
Enroll at your own peril.
24
@Will. Except that the whole point of the article is that there is no other avenue open to those who want to become cosmetologists.
2
As you are able, tip well.
10
@wbj
No, you need to let employers know that you expect them to pay a living wage. Tipping is degrading and often discriminatory. Few jobs outside of minimum wage food service and Cosmetology jobs expect the customer to pay an additional fee for "good service". And how do I know the "tip" is going to the person serving me? I don't. It is time to ban tipping outright.
5
@wbj
Or cut your own hair. Do not feed the beast.
1
Education became business as usual. This is a single example. Take a look at some Pharmacy Technician programs and your jaw will hit the floor. To say the whole thing is scandalous is an understatement.
23
The US has a terrible problem with this student loan nonsense. Throughout the entire economic collapse and slow recovery did rates lower for anyone? Nope. They stayed high, right where the ruling class wants them. It's nothing more than the means to suppress poor people by debt rather than force. Keeps them in check when you can humiliate them by calling them lazy and stupid for taking your horrible loans to begin with. The answer is a mass refusal to pay, the Department of education would collapse within a year easily.
14
The Trump university of cosmetology school.
16
Where's the bunko squad in Iowa?
The cosmetology association is running a scam to shut out state education so they can defraud these people.
Shame shame shame.
52
Welcome to America.
16
A pox on Betsey Devos , the Trade School scammers , and the crooked politicians and lobbyists!
These private school scammers were finally being reigned in by Obama. Now its once again ,a free for all con job .
Another scheme to screw those people who are trying to give their family a way out of poverty.
All the while the crooks collect Pell Grant money that goes directly in their pockets. The students are left with huge debts and little hope for their futures. FOR SHAME!
34
Senator Schultz could not let the bill move forward because only one side showed up? And so it died in Committee. So what about the elected members? Could none of them show up? Could not one walk around the table and testify for these hopeful young women trying to prepare themselves for a productive taxpaying future? Is he saying bills die in committee if one or neither side shows up? Yes. That is what he said. Is that a procedural rule? It is not. Is the Chair just another dissembling liar crying crocodile tears? My impression exactly. Has Senator Schultz received money from the salon school lobbyists? In the political process, follow the money trail to the light switch.
13
@Richard Butler If two Times reporters could find all of this out, you'd think the State Senate could do likewise.
America is the land of evangelical preachers flying around in Lear Jets, Bernie Madoff, and Trump University. It is all very well to say these people should have done their homework. At all levels from rundown strip malls to national advertising, we are faced with deceptive marketing (the one area where America is still totally dominant. :).
And, unfortunately. the grifters and con artists are winning. With the biggest grifter of them all in the White House, the federal organizations that are supposed to protect consumers, borrowers, and students are all being gutted.
59
@Engineer, well put. Advertising has turned into psychological warfare (if it was ever any different), and I despise how demeaning to our dignity and intelligence most ads are.
I use ad blockers on the computer, have developed a "quick draw" of muting the TV, and
if all else fails, I can always just block my eyes/ears! I also keep a list of companies that run especially insulting ads, and actively seek to degrade their corporate reputation.
It's funny, but it doesn't seem to matter what the ads are selling - they all appear to appeal to our innate human needs for physical security and social connectedness. It's much easier (and cheaper!) to simply seek these two things directly.
3
In Washington state, you need 90 hours of education before you can be licensed in real estate. Real estate - people's homes; the main investment vehicle for Americans. 18 years old and 90 hours of education and you can sell a home in Seattle for an average of $700,000. And make as much as a licensed cosmetologist in one (1) sale.
And these schools want to tell you there's anything honest about requiring 1000+ hour to do something I do with a $30 clipper in my bathroom?
They are taking from the most vulnerable of us and our tax money to help supplement people who must pay these loans. The fact that they lobbied against a community college tells me everything I need to know.
This is CRIMINAL. Absolutely criminal.
119
@WM
Seattle is in Washington. Washington is a blue state.
Don't push YOUR values on Iowa.
Iowans voted for that nonsense, and they will continue voting for it. Your outrage...is not their outrage. They're not outraged. They like this.
3
You can receive the same training in a Community College. A Cosmotology License in one hand and 64 college credits in another. Also there was a public high school in NYC named Mabel Dean Bacon. Many people passed the State exam and recieved their High School Diploma. Less debt and you can start your career very young.
4
Did you not read the article? The private cosmetology school featured in this article lobbied to stop the local Community College from starting a cosmetology program. It is now impossible for anyone in that area to pay less for a degree.
18
@From the BX
Reread the article. One could not get a cosmetology certificate in Iowa from a community college, because the for profit cosmetology schools have aggressively stymied the opening of such programs. The situation may be different in North Carolina.
12
The other story apart from the scam of for-profit schools is the interest--which is really for-profit debt brought to you by the government. Interest is what keeps most people in debt more than the actual principal. What I'd like to know is the sum total she has actually paid towards her loan. Student loans at the very least should be interest-free, so that your debt doesn't continue to grow even while you make payments. Or, once you've paid 10% above what you took out, your loan should be over (in this case, she'd have to pay $24,200 back total). What's the point of even paying when the total principal never gets dented? If she had 20 years to pay off that $22-24k, it would just be $90-$100 a month, something a cosmetologist could afford and would want to pay if there was hope of being debt-free.
The middle and lower middle classes are trapped in usury and loan sharking. Greed has destroyed the bottom 70% of the country and it's about time it catches up to destroy the top 30%.
14
@Moe
All good points. We the taxpayers who will bear the burden of these defaulted student loans need to realize there is now a scam operating within the bigger scam: Borrowers are being aggressively pushed into deferment and forbearance by student loan servicing agencies to goose the numbers regarding loan defaults during the 3 year post graduation period. This 3 year post graduation period is of concern to the schools because they can loose access to federal student loan dollars if a certain percentage of their graduates default within 3 years of graduation. Pushing borrowers into deferment and forbearance drastically increases the amount owed since interest is still compounding while principle payments are paused.
I'm surprised the Trumps don't have a chain of cosmetology schools in Iowa.
87
@Jim No one wants hair like Trump’s.
6
OK sure I get the whole for profit school scam.... but someone might have done the math before thinking a $9 an hour job was worth any amount of tuition. There are many many examples of this even within the public school world.
6
@Chigirl
Most people are not good at math. The fact that student debt from loans is so high across the board makes this beyond obvious. Most people are not good at thinking ahead. Unfortunately, a few people who are good at math are able to control the interest rate for student loans, tuition rates, the distribution of student loans, and access to licensing that allows people who are not good at math to work once they have mortgaged their futures for an opportunity to work.
7
Interesting...
The cost of attending one ten-month Master’s program in journalism in NYC is $105,000 – or 5X the amount of student debt mentioned here...
Yet, the average starting pay for journalists comes in at about $11/hour...
Can find both factoids on the internet - no journalistic intermediary needed...
13
You’re comparing apples to oranges. If you have a masters in journalism, you should be able to get a good paying job in a wide variety of fields.
1
Being non-rich in this country and trying to better your life by going to college for ANYTHING is nothing but an economic trap that snarls you in debt and an apathetic bureaucracy. This is the same scam for those for-profit schools that help you become a "nursing assistant" or a "technician" or whatever. You turn 30 and find yourself no closer to your career then when you started, only having a massive debt to show for it. I tried college (TWICE, like a dummy) and only had a large amount of debt and no degree to show for it- it was nothing but a headache dealing with schools that only saw you as a walking FAFSA sign. With no degree I've been lucky to have found a 14/hr job a mile from where I live- its no picnic but its enough to live off of. I feel for these women.
160
I didn’t grow up rich (far from it) and was the first in my family to go to college. I worked my way through community college and two masters degrees. I took advantage of my employer’s tuition reimbursement program and got a partial scholarship for my second masters. I took out only one loan for about 10k which I quickly paid off with a bonus I received one year.
15
@Keely
I worked my way through college but it was doing jobs that I wouldn’t be allowed to do today due to the credential and licensing mania.
19
@Keely When I went to college, it was a lot less expensive. Additionally, loans were administered through the government, and the interest on these loans was LESS than the interest being paid by savings accounts. That is, it was cheaper to borrow the money than to take it out of savings. That was because a bank wasn't making a huge profit out the deal by being a middleman and doing essentially nothing. Not only are modern students crushed by the cost of education, but by the usurious interest paid on the loans to banks. I guess my point is that there was a time when it was worth it to go to college, and you could come out ahead, but our country has made a point to make sure that your tuition dollars flow primarily to the banking industry.
34
Schools that get public funds of any kind for education should be required to publish statistics showing / proving that their students can graduate and get jobs that demonstrate an ability to pay off their debt from school. If students can’t, then the schools lose eligibility for any public money.
10
What about vo-tech high schools? Does the cosmetology lobby also fight these fine secondary education programs?
11
@PrairieFlax: thanks for bringing that up.
I remember very well that my high school (70s) had vocational programs in auto repair and cosmetology.
They had their own annex, and a garage for the mechanics and a salon for the beauticians.
The programs ran two years, 11th and 12th grade and graduates had both a high school degree AND a certificate in their field -- ready to start work ASAP.
At least the auto repair programs were around in the early 00s, because my stepson attended, and was a top student -- he graduated top of his class and was hired by Ford to work at their largest dealership in the tri-state area, at about $40,000….at age NINETEEN. They also paid for him to attend community college to get an associates degree and ASE certification -- at zero cost. They even gave him afternoons off WITH PAY to attend his classes.
I do not know about similar cosmetology programs, but I am shocked if no high schools offer vocational ed anymore!
Anyone know more about this?
2
Yet my engineering degree cost me roughly 4500 per semester (grad 2002). Never had a student loan.
I am a PE with my own one man office, and cleared 270k this year (including 33k in outstanding invoices).
Common sense isn't as common as one would believe.
5
As a physician who finished med school at age 60 because my job as an electronics engineer was sourced out to China, I can tell you even medical schools are predatory. Hundreds of thousands of debt, no chance of ever paying that back despite a critical shortage of physicians. People do not understand, or actually even care, that physicians in primary care make less than the guy flipping their hamburgers or blowing off the needles from their roof. And they wonder why the suicide rate for doctors is the highest of any profession. Read through the literature and discover that over 2/3 of a doctor's time is now devoted to mandatory paperwork on reports, and trying to figure out an insane coding system designed not to pay for patients' care despite the fact they have generally been required to have that insurance. Circling back around to student debt: upwards of $300,000 debt and the ability to earn a net $12/hr. if you're lucky. This is not good.
18
Which is why so many of us start out in and then escape from primary care.
2
@Doc
You indicate that " that physicians in primary care make less than the guy flipping their hamburgers or blowing off the needles from their roof."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the mean annual wage of family and general practitioners (nationwide in May of 2017) at $208,560.
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291062.htm
This seems to be a far cry from $12/hour.
4
This is basically an article arguing how terrible for-profit schools are. Except that all educational institutions both public and private have become businesses thanks to the grand schemes of MBA marketing types who have corrupted all of education. The idea that "government should be run like a business" has been devastating for public schools on all levels. To bash for-profit schools as the only problem is just dislike for anything in private enterprise. Why shouldn't there be for profit private schools? If they act accordingly why not? Technically if they aren't meeting the needs of the market then they wouldn't succeed but look what is happening in non profit public schools! They're getting away with far worse and bringing the standards down low for all of education.
I work with millennials that owe well into five digits to our local state university. They have degrees in Environmental Science or Social Problems or the like and their heads are filled with useless nonsense. We're paying them $15 an hour part time and it's incredible we have to tell them what to do because they didn't learn basic things at our public university that is lauded nationwide as being topnotch. No ambition to go out and do something to pay off the debt. They have credit card bills they racked up in a public school encouraged by banks the public schools allowed them to set up booths all over campus. The debt encouraged and incurred by all students of higher education is scandalous.
8
@JR I don’t disagree with everything you say, but the MBAs didn’t cause the problem - the fact college is now supposed to be the default step after high school means a record 60% of high school seniors are going to college, and it’s created competition... and meanwhile thise kids are looking for fancy amenties (rock climbing walls, chef-designed menus, in-dorm gyms) instead of student-teacher ratios and job placement rates.
They have been taught learning should be fun, their parents tell them they are anazing when they are average, and they te professors they are “paying for their degree” instead of paying to get an education.
And most of all, they choose a major without researching the employment outlook and starting salary information.
A hundred years ago, 9 year olds were selling newspapers on city streets, and working in coal mines. 40 years ago, i was a babysitter at 11 years old, and sold cupcakes to neighbors for pocket money and had a savings account. Now, parents show up to their 21-year olds’ job interviews, and write “sick notes” for interns.
We don’t expect enough of our children.
10
Recognized trade schools should be tuition free for students willing to exchange their fees for a year’s worth of service in their communities, perhaps under a more experienced mentor. Whether their contributions are in the form of styling services, electrical repairs, carpentry or plumbing for those in need or for community centers, it would serve the greater good.
10
@Joan Henehan Progressive Democrats who advocate free public college and universities have also included trade/vocational schools as part of this platform.
But—between pushback from establishment Dems and Repubs alike, and private institutions like La’James successfully lobbying against community college training programs—it seems perpetual student debt is the only guarantee for anyone looking to get ahead in life.
1
This article was eye-opening, but I also want to point out that the salons that pay such low wages are also responsible for this issue. Over the last 15 years, I have noticed a pattern with the stylists I see. They start in a big salon owned by somebody else, and they leave after a few years to go to an independent salon where they can keep more of the earnings. However, the independent salons often have less service or are not conveniently located, so I usually don't follow the stylist there when they leave. I wish the original bigger salons would just give them a bigger cut of the profits so that they would be able to stay.
I've passed this feedback on to the salons, I hope some day the owners start listening.
10
As a high school teacher, this is just another example of the results of this country’s lack of will to care about true education and citizens’ abilities to be productive and provide for future families, and to contribute to our economy. I teach barely literate teens, forced by administrators to “lower the bar” and fudge grades in pointless courses like biology and math to up graduation rates...passing them through courses that require reading skills far higher than they will be ever capable of (for the money schools are willing to spend)...when our society needs to understand the vast amount of non college bound teens need vocational training on the taxpayer dime BEFORE they graduate. Auto repair, cosmetology, HVAC repair, plumbing...whatever! Give these teens a chance and a start, or else they end up like this woman...in debt and struggling. Taxpayers will take care of her later it seems anyway, why not sooner!? If people understood what was going on in public education today, we’d see an instant revolution....and improved economy decades later. But I guess it’s just easier to blame women like this gal, telling her she should have read the fine print. And then we can all walk away happy.
101
@Laura T
Agreed. I'm not on the front lines as you are, but remember middle and secondary school, where otherwise bored classmates enjoyed, and were serious about, the kinds of courses that you describe. Even if a student isn't on track to become a plumber or hairdresser after a high school course, they can still be worthwhile, if only to discover where her/his aptitudes are.
6
@Laura T "pointless courses like biology and math"?? I actually shuddered when I read that from someone who is an educator.
2
@JenD--I think she meant pointless to the students who were taking them.
10
The schools are indeed predatory, but they exist only because there's plenty of naïve prey who haven't done their homework beforehand. They're beguiled by the sales pitch when what would really benefit them are some heart-to-heart talks with their peers who are already established in the trade.
6
@Ken Sulowe Except that for people who have a passion for this profession, there's no alternative.
2
There are a wide variety of private schools in Atlanta that provide training in health professions, such as dental hygienists, medical assistants, and pharmacy technicians. All of the schools offer financial aid, which most students could not afford. Tuition is ridiculously high -- in the $15,000 to $25,000 range is not unusual. And yet when students graduate, as your article pointed out, they make $9 or $10 an hour, which is hardly a living wage. Understandably, they cannot pay off their loans.
This is inexcusable. These schools are preying on people who want to have a better life, but who may not be able to get admitted into a less-expensive technical school or college for training. It seems easier to just go to a more expensive private school and worry about paying back student loans later.
But the reality is that more than one million people default on student loans each year and nearly 40 percent of borrowers are expected to default on their student loans by 2023.
It's difficult not to think of these schools as preying on people who are trying to get ahead. As they line their own coffers, what they're really doing is putting them further behind.
27
While for-profit cosmetology schools certainly bear scrutiny, I take a dim and suspicious view of ALL for-profit schools purporting to prepare students for ANY line of work.
There are cosmetology and other vocational programs at state-funded community colleges, and that's where I'd look first for those interested in hair styling, electrical, carpentry, and other practical careers. I think those programs are a great option for a lot of people. In fact, for many, they are a better option than a four-year college degree. Bonus: where I live, you can hardly find a home renovation contractor, for example. The demand for these skilled workers is there.
Unfortunately, for-profit schools pay to promote themselves much more aggressively than cheaper, government-run schools do. To the vulnerable, including young, single moms with no good career prospects, TV and internet ads for cosmetology school sound like a reasonable and satisfying way to escape poverty and have a life. Who among us has not been young and made the mistake of reaching for the the brass ring that seems so shiny?
In addition to reducing the number of hours required for a cosmetology degree, the government should also regulate advertising by for-profit career schools. This article says they received $1.2 billion in government student loans in a recent year. When taxpayers put that kind of money into a system, government oversight to ensure a good public return on investment is appropriate.
24
@Marie L.
In this article, it states clearly that for the for profit cosmetology school successfully sued the state to prevent Iowa Central Community College from starting a cosmetology program. The for profit cosmetology schools have a stranglehold on Iowa politicians; and they have been very successful using this influence to bolster their own business and stifle competition. The students profiled in this article did not have other options for a cosmetology certificate; they were forced to attend these predatory schools. Iowa needs to change its rules on compulsory hours; but it also needs to allow community colleges to run cosmetology programs. Having that option would be an enormous improvement for potential students.
8
Thanks for reiteratiting the Iowa situation. In Georgia where I live I believe you can at least get a cosmetology degree at a community college -IF you know to look there. It's horrible that some states don't even offer that option.
2
So she can’t make it as a stylist so she is going to be a nurse. Wait until she sees what it costs and how long it takes.
Nursing school is incredibly difficult and time intensive. Good luck with that!
5
@AAD Yes, but at least if she completes the program, she'll be making more than ten bucks an hour.
Otherwise, it is really a terrible choice. Take on a $20,000+ debt to end up making $10/hour and a chance as the brass ring, or don't take on $20,000 in debt and end up making $7.75/hour with little to no chance at the brass ring.
3
Nursing school is difficult, my point being, you don’t have to take anatomy and physiology to cut hair. Perhaps I am a cynic, but I wonder about her ability to finish the program and pass the boards.
I have a BSN, but most 2 year RN programs are actually 3 with pre-requisite courses. And get in to a not for profit nursing school, difficult at best.
Of course she could try the for profit school route again, that worked well the first time. Right?!?
2
@AAD - She "couldn't make it" as a stylist meaning she couldn't adequately support herself in that field. Not "she couldn't make it" through school because she wasn't bright enough. How do you know she couldn't succeed in nursing?
4
Okay, so maybe sometimes cosmetology school is just a racket. But it's hardly an opaque racket: Requirements and costs are clear at the outset, and graduates' potential earnings in the cosmetology marketplace aren't trade secrets.
So the real problem here, education-wise, is in K-12: How do people graduate from high school without being able to see that investing $20,000 (plus vast amounts of their time) in a cosmetology degree/certificate that will qualify them for a $9-10 per hour job is a really terrible deal? It's really simple math. The lesson here is about what can happen to people who don't do their homework.
11
@RR Many states like California are doing away with algebra graduation requirements, so adding and subtracting is no longer a widely possessed skill. Apparently, algebra was holding back too many high school and college graduates so algebra is resigned to the dustbin of history.
5
@RR Really, what should happen in my opinion is that high schools should offer intensive vocational training in the last two years in school in order to prepare students for jobs that pay more than just above minimum wage. Some schools are, theoretically, doing that now, but it needs to be wide-spread, especially in the rural areas.
5
@RR The cost of the school could even be justifiable if they eliminated the year of unpaid labor.
6
Please Elizabeth Warren or someone else make this right. Indentured servitude for a cosmetology license? Only in America where freedom aint free!
12
@ekdnyc This is a state issue. The Senate has no jurisdiction in this matter.
2
There are plenty of state technical schools that charge little or no tuition for vocational courses like cosmetology.
Tennessee provides schooling for cosmetology and other vocations basically free of charge through its network of applied technology schools.
This women should have done some research before taking out large loans that she would never be able to repay.
10
Educator and school administrator here. True some states/districts offer high school students programs like this. But not are publicized or available to all students. At times kids ride two hours on a bus to a technical program of choice - and to even be exposed to these programs you need a good push from your guidance program (and cooperative administrators who don’t see it as competition with a comprehensive high school).
Then, there is the problem with alignment. A student can attend a technical HS program but they often still need post secondary training (thus prey for non profits). I saw students graduate from HS “programs” in auto, computers or cosmetology, to only be on par with any other new hire. There is no alignment between the high school prep programs and business needs. Ask any student what are fields with good jobs...very few can answer.
So no, this woman didn’t stand a chance. The problem is much bigger.
6
In a majority of New York State (which unfortunately excludes NYC), BOCES, a NYS-funded service, provides trade programs (including cosmetology) to high school students in their junior through senior years. In Nassau and Suffolk county, tuition in the cosmetology program costs between $8000-$10,000, which is comparable to the cost of community college for two years at Nassau community College and Suffolk Community College. Community College or state-run programs administered to school districts like BOCES for trade programs would be a great alternative to the predatory, for-profit cosmetology programs.
24
Regarding your comparison of EMTs and cosmetologists, by which you seem to imply that being an EMT is more difficult: Giving someone a manicure, a pedicure, a facial or a haircut is a craft and can only be perfected through years of practice. In many countries these professions have an apprentice system that takes many years to complete. I for one am not willing to be a guinea pig in the hands of someone who just learned how to do these things in school - it is my skin we’re talking about! And believe me I know some horror stories. It is absolutely necessary that students accumulate a serious amount of experience before entering the work force in this field. There are no shortcuts.
3
Education has become a scam. All academic and vocational institutions should be obliged by law to provide statistical information on each program they offer: what percentage of graduates are employed in that field within 6 months of graduation, their hourly salary, and their average level of student debt. Yes, enrollment figures would take a hit. As they should
26
Before I attended college, I consulted with the "Employment Opportunity Handbook", a government publication which is exactly what the title implies.
I doubt that great manual said anything about the future of women's fashion or vanity, but it certainly should. These are risky areas for investment of any kind, whether it be a traded stock, a physical store , or a beauty service. You have to do your homework.
But I sympathize, sort of. My sister worked 4 years for a degree in "Equine Physiology" ..and complains she only makes $10/hr working as a vet assistant.
Young men and women....find an educational course by which you can contribute to the advancement of humanity, like sciences, math, tech or engineering. Or learn something in the trades, for which no formal education is needed at all.
5
It is not a college degree they are looking for. This is one of the most outrageous cost for education I have seen, complete robbery. It is a technical education program that is completed in less than a year. On top of that you are lock into paying for their 1000 mediocre kit of appliances.
21
This is the classic for-profit "college" program. We need this coursework in community colleges, where costs will be kept down reasonably. I fear that the Trump administration will cancel all the progress Obama made to rein in these terrible "schools" that prey on a population that is not at all sophisticated about post-secondary education.
This should be a focus of the guidance programs in many high schools. My own children had friends who accepted the maximum loan amount offered, not understanding that they could take just part, and of course spent it. Kids and their families should be made aware of the way loans work and the consequences of taking them out. To say, as many commenters have here, that it's just a matter of due diligence sounds like heartless middle class sniping at the poor.
27
@Susan: my stepdaughter ran up a fairly huge debt to get a 4 year degree -- admittedly in Computer Science and she has a great job today -- but she took 9 years to get a 4 year degree, and she ballooned the cost from about $50k to $120K by borrowing the maximum.
Borrowing all she could, let her lead a very nice middle class lifestyle while in college -- spring break trips, summer vacations, a nice car, a state-of-the-art computer and Xbox and the latest iPhones….stylish clothing, eating out frequently and oh yeah…tattoos!
As a result, even with parental help….7 years after graduating, she still owes about $65,000. The phones, computers, vacations, clothes are long gone. But the debt remains.
2
At 55 years old with two worthless associates degrees and years of on-the-job experience, I found myself unable to find even a minimum wage job. I needed training and I needed it fast. For me, barber school was the answer.
After reading the article, I consider myself lucky. Lucky that tuition at the school I attended was $12,000. Lucky that I was able to finish in 9 months, pass the state board exam the following month, and begin work 3 weeks after that. I was lucky that I was able to get a low-interest loan from my bank because the school didn't accept student loans.
School? School was what you made of it. It has been open for 30-plus years and the place is dirty and broken. There were two teachers for more than 60 students, many were ex-cons and gang members. It was up to you to read, study, and comprehend the material. Regardless, everyone "graduated" from school, whether or not they got a license was another thing. That didn't matter either because there are plenty of shops that hire unlicensed barbers.
One of my first customers at that school told me: "As you go through life, make this your goal: Keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole." I resented having to suffer 9 months of that school but it was a means to an end: a license.
22
These schools are vastly overcharging for the services they provide and I feel sorry for the students who are shouldering the financial burden. However, having said that one has to wonder what kind of living these students were expecting to make. Did they even bother to check to see what the average salary would be in the area where they live? People paying exorbitant money for their education in specific fields should be realistic about what kind of salary they can expect and need to do their homework before deciding to go tens of thousands of dollars into debt.
8
It was painful reading the struggles of this young mother , who decided to get an education in order to obtain a rewarding job to be able to improve her family life and future .
This Country is becoming unrecognizable and immoral .
This Country is allowing any kind of predators and vultures to run the life of Americans , from education, healthcare, environment,prescription drugs , nutrition etc.without any sort of control or regulation.
Even the most hard working Americans are being squashed and crashed by a system that is there only to take advantage of them , while politicians and various religious zealots just look on and don’t move a finger against this inequity and amorality that are destroying the basic foundation of this land .
I wish this young woman will soon find justice and move on with a satisfying future .
76
@inter nos
so true.
2
There are no shortcuts in life. Anyone who does no research and pays money to a scam school instead of going to a community college in a field that has verifiable demand and adequate salary has created their own problems. Before signing up for classes in any field, get information on average salaries in your area for the field of study. Check out the credentials of the school and look into reviews and complaints. Find out what percentage of graduates are able to find decent employment after graduation. Failure to do basic research is not the fault of others.
7
@John Yes, there are shortcuts. Having wealthy or at least semi-well-off parents who not only birth you, but pay for your education (as they should) so you can have at least as good a standard of living as they did, is the first short cut.
28
I'm a computer programmer with an MBA. I have told several of my barbers that if I had a choice of a second career, it would be to become a barber, because computers and automation are replacing workers, but not barbers. Plus, they're in a recession-proof business. Sure, it doesn't pay much, but these women won't get laid off. They don't look very old. Their debt be gone sooner than they realize and they will charge higher and higher prices for their services in the decades to come, while other people are struggling to find a second career, because their job was eliminated. An EMT can easy lose her job and she's less in control of her career than a hairstylist. A hairstylist can build clientele and work independently. And the high requirements to get a cosmetology license create barriers to entry. Some of these hairstylists are still working in their 80's. One barber who was cutting my hair last summer has been cutting hair since the 1950's. He owns the barbershop. And I can see the kinds of tips these guys get from their regulars. A men's haircut was $14. Many of the older men who are regulars give $20. It's makes me jealous, because these guys are making so much money in their old age and it's not hard work.
6
@Mark
Sorry, have to disagree. You must be limiting your own choices or not working very hard if you can't make an MBA/computer programming degree work for you.
Hairstyling is not assembly-line work. There's not a constant flow of customers, each paying $20. There's long periods of no customers at all. If you take a break to go to lunch and someone walks into the salon, another stylist takes him or her. Meanwhile, you still pay to rent the chair. And when a fancier, snazzier salon opens up down the street, all your "loyal" clients go away.
Cutting hair is a strange business. At its most basic level, it is easy, and that's what most people want most of the time. But if you get into real styling, then it can be artistic, creative and expensive. Many, if not most, women have had a fancy hairdo at some point in their lives, and so they think they can make a career out of it because these styles are very expensive. I had a friend who thought like this. She was working at a salon at a resort here in Hawaii and saw women paying really high prices. She thought she'd make six figures a year trimming hair. She went to cosmetology school--fortunately her folks helped her out and she didn't have huge debt--but it wasn't until she got married to one of her clients, a lawyer, that she was out of the woods financially.
10
@steve
If you’re losing your "loyal" customers, then you’re not working as hard you think. The barbers I know are killing it. I’m sorry you aren’t. The old guys are making so much money and every time I'm in there I always have to wait my turn because it's like an assembly line.
Millenials are self-centered. They're impatient and don't really know what it means to work hard for a long time. They're opinions of themselves and their abilities tend to be inflated. My computer career has worked out just fine, but if I had to choose another occupation, it would be barber, because of the flexibility and independence. That translates into money for those who are willing to put in the effort. People who complain about everything and expect the government to just take care of them end up being losers.
2
@Mark I've spoken to my hairdressers over the years, as I spend a couple of hours a month with them. First, it's a more physically demanding job than one might think, problems with feet, knees and back are common. And there is significant age discrimination. 20-somethings don't want a 50 year old cutting their hair. And apparently the way hairdressers are paid has changed. My hairdresser gets a modest hourly wage and a percent of the price of the service. This percent has decreased over time and benefits are limited or non-existent. And women are quite fickle, if a new salon opens, they will change without hesitation.
3
This unfortunate person should have seen the writing on the wall very early on. The math simply never made sense and it was never going to work. In a world and culture where critical information is at one's fingertips and the ability to develop a sensible plan or to recognize when a plan is a bad one, is a weekend's effort. Unfortunately, our educational system does not produce critical thinkers and critical thinking and when one does it, is what keeps us from going through the guardrails. It will be thus, forever.
16
@Barry Moyer Or, perhaps, our government could also step in to protect people from the predations of highly paid industries and their lobbyists, rather than expect that ordinary working-class people have enough financial and legal acumen to go up against them.
2
In general, could we stop asking people who are looking to learn on the job to pay for time they spend working? My industry is riddled with unpaid internships, and when the labor department cracks down, the kids just end up paying for empty college credits to justify their internship time.
People who do jobs -- cutting hair, fetching coffee, typing up reports -- should be compensated. If there's not enough profit in the business to pay people for their time, they shouldn't be doing an end run around the minimum wage.
130
It's one thing for Great Clips, where a haircut is less than $15 in my state, to pay $10 an hour. I'd like to think my stylist gets much more as she charges $35 before tip for a shampoo, cut and blow dry, a fairly standard amount in private salons here.
Should or do community colleges offer training in cosmetology? Do barber schools charge as much to train their students?
5
@Barbara
I don't know about barber schools. However, I looked up the licensing and there is a difference in WA at least.
Cosmetology = 1600 hours (2000 apprenticeship)
Barber = 1000 hours
It's seems ridiculous to me.
9
Financially predatory private schools are starting to become an old story, but I have not yet seen an expose of obvious institutional sexism in situations like this. I mean, a haircut is a haircut is a haircut. Hygiene and skill are required regardless of what the client or professional has in their pants. The way these schools stick it to poor people striving to make better lives is awful, but the way they manage to turn the knife a little harder, even, for women is a tragedy.
10
@WM
Aren't the services offered, primarily, to women more complicated than those offered, primarily, to men? Don't know of any barbers that offer coloring and complicated finishings.
This is the new economy under Republican management. Most of the new jobs Trump is crowing at are either minimum-wage service jobs or part-time retail jobs, where clerks work for $8 to $11 an hour with NO benefits for half-days. Every week, the clerk's daily & hourly schedule is different in most of these retail chains, & you may be working 8:00 AM to noon one day and 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM the next day you are scheduled. You rarely get your week's schedule until the start of the week, which makes it impossible to plan for everything from child care to scheduling doctors' appointments. Yet, each of these "jobs" is counted in Trump's job creation totals - even if you were a highly paid Wall Street analyst who got laid off & have been looking for work for years before being forced to take a part-time job at Walmart. A friend of mine was the senior QA engineer for a major defense contractor for almost 20 years. He was laid off weeks short of full vesting in his retirement plan & stock options. He was unable to find work for over a year, but finally had to resort to a job restocking shelves in a CVS pharmacy overnight at $10.00/hr. Yay, Trump job creation!
The jobless rate is the percentage of people receiving unemployment, which in Florida is only 3 months. After that, you are no longer counted in the unemployment stats. Where almost 100% of laid off people used to file for unemployment insurance, that figure has dropped to 60% as many companies make it impossible to get UI.
56
Excuse me, but this also happened under the great divider Obama.
6
@Beartooth: so you think this all just happened 23 months ago under Trump? boy that was fast!
Before that….retail clerks worked 40 hour weeks at high pay? and cosmetology school was not a rip-off?
Also: the way unemployment is calculated -- which I agree is distorted -- has been the same for MANY years, at least since the Clinton era.
Trump did not create the situation where employers like Walmart force workers to split shifts or irregular shifts. That stuff has been going on a LONG TIME.
Also: as it happens, my husband is a QA engineer and worked for a major defense contractor in FLORIDA, so I know for a FACT that:
1. Federal laws about vestiture in pension plans would make getting cut off like the impossible. All plans must vest in 3-5 years.
2. Florida does pay low unemployment, but the time period is 26 weeks (or 6 months).
3. No employer can prevent an employee from filing for unemployment insurance.
5
@Beartooth
These working conditions have been going on for decades. When Bill Clinton was president he was applauded for all the job growth during his administration. However, most of those jobs started at $8 an hour.
5
States and counties across this country must teach junior high and high school students the fundamentals of financial literacy.
Financial literacy is the most important component of a basic education.
25
@V
Important? Yes. Most important? Certainly not.
How about critical thinking? Basic text analysis?
The fundamental problem occurs at the primary and high school levels, which do not equip young people with those skills. If Ms. Lozano had had those skills she would not have fallen prey to that school scam.
6
@V
A lot of students are too immature to absorb the valuable lessons they receive from their teachers. They cannot connect the warnings from their teachers to their own futures and their own lives. In their mind, it's someone else's problem, not theirs. As a teacher, one runs into the difficulty that one can advise a student, but if one's advice is perceived as intrusive or judgmental, then students, parents, and others get angry.
6
@V I completely agree. Maybe a hour on compound interest, credit card debt, needs vs. wants.
1
What happened to mentoring. No money required. Isn’t that how skills were handed off from one generation to another. No, I’m not talking about medical or other higher education professions. And why aren’t there free government vocational schools. Entrance exams would require reading and elementary math proficiency. Employed former students would in a lifetime give more money back in federal state and local taxes. Students would start as apprenticeship personnel and then promoted to full time employees.
1
The article specifically states that the private schools lobbied aggressively to prevent public schools from offering the same programs for less money. States require cosmetologists to hold licenses just like any other trade, and obtaining a license almost always requires proof of completion of an accredited school or apprenticeship.
16
The cosmetology schools, and other for-profit schools, are really only a symptom. The real problem is the absence of opportunity for recent graduates.
They go to these schools or join the military because, to their credit, they are not lazy. They want to make something of their lives.
But labor has been replaced with automation. Jobs are lost. Production is performed in the cheapest environment, overseas. Jobs are lost. Talent is imported. American jobs are lost. Older workers can't afford to retire; social security is cut. Jobs for young people are lost.
Young people can't get the jobs that will provide the experience they need to move ahead. It's real hard to get back on track.
I can suggest some solutions, but I don't have all the answers. I happen to be one of those people that believes that AOC and Bernie and, yes, Hillary have more answers than the buffoon in the White House or his entire political ilk.
18
As an EMT I resent your evaluation that an EMT has 1/16th the training of a cosmetologist. The skills I've learned in a shorter amount of time are much more complex and of much more value to society than "how to get the perfect highlights". Iowa's EMT program is half of the requried State of Florida Minimum Standards and Para-"medic" is an entirely different classification all together with more than 1100 hours of training in advanced technical set of skills (in addition to the EMT skills that must be mastered 1st) Please read up more of the profession before you criticize the hours put in.
13
@Justin
The author of the article discusses how during required hours in the cosmetology program, students were not doing meaningful work or gaining skills for employment. Work hours appear to be inflated in the program to justify the cost of tuition. If anything, the article was pointing out the absurdity of the work-hour requirement for cosmetology by comparing the required hours to those of EMT training.
84
@Justin - That was the point. The EMT has higher level skills but they are taught in a shorter time. The cosmetology program is longer not because the functions are more complex, but because the program has more padding.
32
Anyone who would pay $21,000 for training to cut, color, and style hair. Well, what are we supposed to say? We're at the lowest level of unemployment in fifty years. Choose a different profession and don't sign ridiculous contracts committing yourself to repay absurd loans with the goal of cutting, coloring, and styling hair. Make better decisions.
18
@Didier - Okay, so these women don’t go to cosmetology school. They have to go somewhere in order to get an education that will lead to an even semi-decent-paying job, and schools/vocational programs cost money. Unless you suggest they work minimum wage service jobs for the rest of their lives - whoops, that’s not a “better” decision either - then they have to do something, and that something usually takes the form of school or educational training for employment. Your high-and-mighty crowing about low unemployment levels isn’t helpful to these women and thousands of others who are trying to get their lives and careers off the ground only to be sidelined by debt. Try some compassion - it’s definitely a better decision.
7
Blessed be innumerate & under-educated.
Our education systems failure to teach ability and applications in simple mathematics dooms an entire generation to become indentured servants.
-- Paying off loans they should have not taken in the first place. Only failure in math can explain their susceptibility to be duped by loan-for-college, for-profit-schools, dead-end degrees.
Burdened by loans for life. Indentured servants. I wonder if some of them will learn?
-- Physicist.
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@Dave Burke
In California students were upset that algebra graduation requirements were delaying or impeding their academic progress, so the state abolished the algebra requirements. When students don't care to listen to advice from others and just want to get someplace in a hurry, then their short-sightedness is their own fault and their own responsibility. They made their beds--by pressuring California politicians to dictate to teachers what to teach--so now they can lie in their poorly made beds. Sometimes a MD with medical school and years of specialization actually knows more than a patient's google search of their symptoms.
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@Iris Every single comment of yours blames students for their problems and not the industries that prey upon them, nor the government that has failed to protect them. I wonder why that is?
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And what makes this worse, a lot of the for-profit-schools reap millions of dollars off of the Workforce Innovations and Opportunity Act, which is a federally funded program used to train individuals who have a lot of barriers to employment. If that federal money went away a lot of these predatory for-profit schools would dry up and blow away.
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There seems to be an assumption that lowering the number of hours required for training will result in reduced tuition. This may be true in the extremely short term, but is unlikely in the long term. In fact, the final result will probably be increased profits for the schools.
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My takeaway wasn't that they thought reducing the hours would reduce tuition, but rather that reduced hours would free up the students' time so that they could work in jobs where they were actually getting paid while still being able to attend school. And also that the hours were arbitrary considering much of the time is wasted. The schools would lose profits by cutting the hours because they wouldn't have access to 2100 hours of slave labor per student. It's not costing them anything to stay open and they are forcing their students to sell their products to pass.
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Well they aren’t mathematics.
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@Daniel I think the word you're looking for is "mathematicians."
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If someone sees "for profit" along with a school's name - or finds out they are "for profit" you should run in the other direction as quickly as possible. Our community college offers a cosmetology degree. I just checked out their program - It takes about a year and a half - one year at 4 quarters and the 2nd 2 quarters. Total cost for tuition would be about $7,000. That wouldn't include books, supplies, etc. Paying $21K for something like that would be extortionist. Since the state mandates the license, they should also regulate these for profit schools -or provide training at a community college for a reasonable fee. There are a lot of programs like this that suck in people wanting to improve their lives, but they just end up saddled with debt and no way to pay it off at the wages offered.
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@dairyfarmersdaughter
Plus the exposure to a real education institution could reap benefits in that the person attending has exposure to other disciplines by interacting with other students and teachers.
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Predatory "for profit" schools + naive students = this.
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A scam pure and simple.
As P.T. Barnum said, "if you don't know who the sucker is, it is you".
Many different niches and areas of American higher education are scams: terribly high tuition and mediocre prospects, at best.
Many veterinary schools, anything below a T-15 law school, foreign medical schools, naturopathic doctoral programs, a great deal of dental schools, medical assisting programs, dance programs, many music programs, doctoral programs in clinical psychology, chiropractic programs, liberal arts colleges, divinity schools and many theological programs, (the list is endless) are all examples of modern scams in education. The faculty at these places often enjoy lives of privilege, comfort, and even ease, while the students carry heavy debt burdens for decades, while barely getting by financially (if they even get by).
People choose these programs often out of fear and marketing filled with lies, and are forced then live with greater fear and anxiety the rest of their lives when they graduate.
For many, many people, living in America means being a bad illness and a paycheck or two from living on the streets.
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@Brendan--In 4-year and graduate education, much of the scam is in attending private schools and being suckered into paying very high tuitions and taking out many very high-interest loans to pay them off. Many pretty smart people, especially those who don't come from college-savvy families, are financially ruined by these schemes.
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@Brendan True. I will add that people are not just looking for money when they seek education. They're also buying status and an identity.
As a business owner, i make more money than the average surgeon. But I'm not a doctor, a lawyer or even an MBA. A graduate of even the lowest-tier law school benefits from being a "lawyer."
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@Brendan If one consequence of the coming Trump Recession is the bankruptcy of all these scam colleges and programs and degrees, I’ll say that Trump has done God’s work.
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"Cosmetology programs" ..? I don't understand .. I thought most of these people were military pilots before they were recruited by NASA?
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@Aaron
My philosophy professor used to expound on the cosmetology of the learned ancients
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@Aaron - You mean cosmology?
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Iowa EMT training = 132 hours, cosmetology training = 2100 hours! Egads! That's quite a scam.
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@DDD
Say it all if you think about it.
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@DDD And likely the EMT needs more hours!
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I hardly think this is unique to Cosmetology Programs. In fact, the NYT could expand on this story to investigate the top 20 Certificate programs nationally and find a theme of commonality, and some eye opening scenarios unique to specific programs. PAC money buys regulations favorable to parties that support the PACs. I will be waiting for that follow up story...
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Gosh, I cut and color my own hair. How can this basic task require 2,100 hours of education?
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@Sharon I agree. I am saving $120 every eight weeks by simply coloring my own hair. And I could care less about a cut that is $125 versus a cut that is $15.
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Thank you Betsy DeVos.
Keep on shilling for the ones who are fleecing all takers. While your are at it, how about making it as easy as possible for the banks to ambush borrowers too?
Wasn't Trump University shameful enough for you?
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@JS I'm far from a DeVos apologist but: 1) this has been going on long before she became Ed. Sec'y; and 2) this is a state, not federal, problem.
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Occupational licensing is often a scam equivalent to pay-to-play. Its major function is controlling competition and providing income for the people who want control, especially when meeting requirements to obtain a license provides a profit for the people in control. It is unfortunate that so many individuals desperate for job security have been LED to believe it is necessary. It is not.
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@Vanessa Hall These are entry barriers that restrict entrance to the industry and reduce competition for incumbent workers. This is how tired, old-school, formulaic incumbents manage to dictate to energetic, innovative newcomers how to toe the line.
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Our country has accepted millions of refugees over the decades without giving much thought as to how they could make a living. Some refugees have arrived with cosmetology degrees and experience. They would have liked to have been able to be have been given the opportunity to pass written and oral exams, along with the chance to demonstrate their abilities, to be certified to work in the field. They were even willing to do short internships. The cosmetology schools fought against them, and won. Every person who wants to practice cosmetology must go through and pay for a school’s entire program.
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@ann, It is not just cosmetology that is not accepted into our field of occupations here. There are many other degrees that are not recognized from other countries. Different standards and other requirements apply here, often for very good reasons.
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@kim
Our statements are not mutually exclusive. While many countries may have different definitions of who qualifies to be a professional, such as a doctor, they may still agree on the criteria necessary to become a cosmetologist.
A carefully designed written and oral exam which required demonstrations could be used to weed out anyone who could not meet the criteria necessary for cosmetology certification. A short, intensively supervised internship could be offered to anyone who passed the exam to make doubly sure that the person qualified.
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Such programs need to be offered at community colleges and free for state residents. Free and or no-interest student loans from the Fed is essential for Real investment in our country’s future. Banks get money at 1/4% why not college students? Because congress only cares about banks?
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@Denver7756. that's right. congress only cares about campaign contributors, not constituents.
5
Appalling. We live in a for-profit economy, which privileges numbers over quality. I have my hair cut by my niece in her home because she takes her time. Even if I go to a fancy salon, they are snipping and snapping and I'm out in five minutes. Everything is timed and I'm just an annoying widget to expect more than a few minutes. The genius I have the appointment with only puts dye in my hair. After that, the wash out and the style is done by some assistant.
It should be evident by 10th grade which students do not plan to go to college immediately after HS. The last two years for them should be vocational--estheticians, cosmetology, electrical wiring, plumbing, etc. That way--no tuition needs to be paid. Bring back vo-tech--and makes it a viable option. Right now, it is seen as the resort for those of borderline intelligence. Not true. You need just as much intelligence to be a proficient hair dresser or plumber as any HS pre-college courses. One needs to be observant, disciplined, have good executive skills, good analytical skills--and--good hand/eye coordination and good esthetic sense. You need to understand chemistry, biology, etc--perhaps in a more practical sense than learning about kingdom, phyla, etc, but still--you still need to spend some of your day in science and math.
There are students in this country who don't immediately see themselves as college bound after HS. And why not let them make a good living for a few years and think about the future.
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@Sharon Kahn I'm all for it as long as we don't track for income, race, ethnicity, or social class as well as intellect.
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The cosmetology students could create beauty vlogs on youtube or other sites showing how-tos for different hairstyles, creative uses of color and other techniques, and the latest trends in style and color. Develop a large enough following and the wig/bundle companies and hair product companies will sponsor the videos plus there is the standard advertising revenue that is made on videos. There is money to be made out here. 9-5 and other hourly jobs are dead, people have to create their own business or gig now.
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Great idea but the State exam also covers infection control and the use of questionable chemicals Also in such schools students get hands on practice from customers who pay lower prices.
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@Lynn in DC Great idea, but as a freelance writer who's profiled several of the biggest social media names in hair, you'd think the top pros would be swimming in dough. Their common gripe: no sponsors despite a huge number of followers and that cosmetology has too many ancient biz models (e.g., chair rentals.)
2
The community college where I teach has an excellent cosmetology program for a fraction of the cost of cosmetology schools.
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@LizMill. I believe that is the case in most areas of the United States. So it is a puzzle that so many choose schools costing them much more when publicly subsidized options are readily available. Could it be scheduling issues?
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@Native Tarheel. Community colleges in many states aren’t allowed to offer cosmetology programs because of successful lawsuits and lobbying by for-profit cosmetology schools. Which is ridiculous... the state should be able to offer any degree program it likes and it’s taxpayers are willing to support (and taxpayers are almost always willing to support technical education!)
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@LizMill
The Community Colleges of Chicago also offers a credible and affordable cosmetology program. I tried to convince a family friend to attend the local community college for a fraction of the cost-- to no avail. My advice could not counter the marketing and social media buzz from these for-profit scam artists. Instead, she took out loans and enrolled in a small for-profit school. She had been doing hair for her friends and family throughout high school. So I understood her desire to obtain her license. Today, she has a cosmetology license and continues to ply her trade in her home, while trying to pay down the debt. And she still lives at home.
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A good way to determine the number of hours needed to be a qualified hair stylist is to compare the hair styles of women in New York to those in Iowa
Are the hair cuts / styles in Iowa over 2 times better?
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@Amy M The salons are training people after they finish beauty school.
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@Amy I live in Iowa and go out of state to get my hair cut if that says anything. I don’t have particularly challenging hair.
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Really? That was your takeaway from this article?
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It costs $10k a year to go to the University of Iowa now?!? At least with cosmetology school you ostensibly come out having a standard set of marketable skills; try having $20k+ in debt, a nebulous "studio art" degree from UI, and zero connection to the actual world of art.
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Cosmetology could be learned for free on YouTube. Stylists should only be required to get a minor safety training, similar to a food handlers permit.
19
Why are these 'schools' even allowed to exist? We prosecute bunko artists don't we . . . oh, wait a sec, isn't there a bunko artist in the WH . . .
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This is disgusting. There should be provision for journeyman work, aka learn on the job. Due to pay, folks should be able to start quickly and work under supervision.
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@pointofdiscovery
That is an old and excellent scheme called apprenticeships. It is a scheme that really worked, the youngsters got paid on the job, there was no debt and usually excellent training. Profit making in education should be banned.
4
It may be a stretch, but I see a correlation with other professional schools. In particular, schools of pharmacy. During the years since my graduation (1983), the schools, and their complicit state boards, have extended the 6 year program to 7. The extra year is rewarded with a title “doctor of pharmacy”. Graduates can claim to be called “Dr” before their names. The schools and state boards benefit from extra tuition and licensing fees; and, students must go ever deeper in debt. In practice, a retail phamacist’s task is not all that complicated (Stressful, Yes: top 10 in professional suicides).
Oh, yes: it’s Mandatory that phamacists must provide flu vaccinations, which can become a very serious issue with patients who develop anaphylaxis. Phamacists are told to be sure they have “liability” insurance.
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Sorry but Pharm.D. is a professional programs and it is 5 years of classroom and 1 year of rotations.
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@Shanalat Hair grows back. An irresponsible pharmacist can kill someone.
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@CN yes, my error. Sorry.
2
Pretty soon our economy will have billions of MDs and no other workers. All of the MDs will be prescribing medications to the few patients out there, but the grocery stores will be closed; the plumbing will be broken; the airplanes will be grounded; the cars will be broken. It will be a modern dystopia since the only jobs that paid okay were MDs until they didn't.
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@Iris
Plenty of plumbers and airplane mechanics are making more money than pediatricians here in California.
6
@Iris Being a doctor doesn't pay any more either. To make money you have to work for an investment bank or a hedge fund.
3
For-profit education is a contradiction in terms.
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@Dave The students do learn an expensive lesson.
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@KM Yeah, unfortunately that's the absolute truth.
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@Dave
Not necessarily. There is no practical or moral reason why a school can operate as a private venture designed to yield a profit (or break even, if the P-word bothers you), as long as the student-customers receive good value for their tuition.
4
it's the same everywhere. You think every lawyer earns north of $100,000? I was a chiropractor and the school all told of how much money you can earn so take out a loan. This happens all over because the schools are a business and the student loan people are running a business and betsy devos won't forgive those loans because she's friends make money off of those loans. Once again it is encumbent on the individual to the math and make an informed judgement.
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@Iris
Not everyone who goes to law school does this for purely materialistic reasons. It is a silly simplification to think so.
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@PS After suffering with upper back and neck problems, a chiropractor helped me become pain free for the first time in years. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
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@Iris What exactly is this society we live in about, other than 'materialism'? And exactly which jobs offer a living wage now?
As for people 'making an informed decision', did y'all think of checking whether the school you're considering is facing litigation? This doctrine of 'every man for himself' is damaging in the extreme. This is wy citizens need the state to provide oversight - it's almost impossible to have a full picture.
12
The drive to fill student roles occurs across the spectrum of upper education. Some years ago a friend of mine enrolled at the Electrical Engineering department at the University of Minnesota. Her choice was largely based on the high salaries paid to their graduates, and because she was admitted to a program for those with a mental illness (she has bipolar disorder). After graduation no job ever materialized, and she was saddled with a great deal of debt. In retrospect there did not seem to be any reason for her program, other than to fill seats at the engineering school.
5
There needs to be occupational licensing reform. It shouldn't have to be that you're not allowed to work in cosmetology unless you spend thousands to prove to the state that you've joined the modern equivalent of a guild.
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Medical students work for free in the Wards while trying to pay for their Education,so what's the difference? Not too long ago,Night Duty was curtailed for Medical Residents,who had trouble staying alert enough to help Patients.
10
@malcolm.greenough
The difference is profit and the drive for profit.
11
@malcolm.greenough
There are many articles about how the numbers of PhDs being produced creates an oversupply chasing weak demand for college faculty. The only demand these days is for college adjuncts. This problem is endemic in academia, where teachers only know how to teach and nothing else, so they have to manufacture more reasons to take classes. Of all of the fake desires out there, manufactured need for knowledge isn't the worst of them. Think about manufactured needs for Lexus cars, for Pantene beauty products, for Super Bowl seats, for the newest Taco Bell offering: comparatively, getting unneeded knowledge could be a worse vice. But it is still the tail chasing the dog. Hence the drive to globalize (global demand) and to create extension schools (don't work so hard to get admitted).
2
I teach medical students because we need well-trained doctors, and because
mentoring young people is a joy - not because they save me work. They don’t. Residents, absolutely. Med students, no. Nothing they do is billable, and every step needs to be repeated by someone with a license. That isn’t to say the debt they pile up isn’t outrageous.
14
Cosmetology programs offered through community colleges are a great solution. Providing these programs offer students a way to accumulate their hours and become eligible to take the state exam. There should be no merit to any litigation by private institutions to prevent these programs from becoming available.
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@PhlGirl61: Yea, I don't see how it's that different from other vocational training like learning to be a plumber or something. Why it should be partitioned off for profit doesn't make sense.
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@PhlGirl61: when I was a teen...my high school offered a cosmetology major! I am sure it had full certification and in high school...would have been FREE.
Is this is a thing of the past now?
6
Context is everything.
Every student needs to have an endgame BEFORE they enroll and the ONLY way you're going to cover tuition is to get your own chair / business as soon as possible.
Most will struggle in this industry. Many will leave. A select few will turn this into a 6 figure biz.
12
@DJ What on earth do you mean by context? Or an endgame? After reading the article, your idea of getting a 'chair', much less business before graduating makes on sense at all -- neither would be possible while learnings, so how can you 'cover' tuition?
It's your comment that needs some context or other. It's meaningless as it stands.
2
I hope she goes to a public community college for her nursing degree. I teach math for medical assistants, and my priority is making sure the students can calculate dosages correctly so they can get a job and be successful; their tuition never comes into play.
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@Morgan
Pretty soon nursing will be glutted with middle class wannabes who only enter this "helping profession" for the high salaries, and with an oversupply of nurses the salaries will take a nosedive.
9
@kim - Many of the "nurses" you see may not actually be nurses at all. They may well be nursing or medical assistants, whose programs do not provide the education that RN programs do. The public sees females in scrubs and assumes they are all nurses, but they are not.
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@Iris Hardly. The country is desperate for nurses who can care for the elderly and change bed pans, and they'll need a living wage. Their living wage will be spent and keep the economy going.
6
Veterinary Assistant programs hold the same peril. Wages and earning potential not commensurate with student debt obtained while acquiring a two-year degree and state certification. Similar to expensive cooking schools, a student debt trap.
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@David Lawson Yes, and this includes the cooking schools at community college. Many of those grads end up washing dishes at Applebees. The community college in my county is larded with "programs" that are obviously designed to raise money and can't be expected to benefit the students. Some of those programs are subsidized, but still a waste for all involved.
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@David Lawson yes and the VCA hospitals are trying to take advantage in exactly the same way
5
@Michelle Definitely not true of the culinary arts program at American River College in Sacramento. Among its graduates is Guy Fieri.
2
Most of these cosmetology schools seem to be offshoots of Trump University. They need to meet the same fate and be replaced with decent community college programs.
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@Jim Mamer
Better yet, eliminate the licensure requirement altogether. Require only a state provided one day health and safety seminar and exam.
8