
A $21,000 Cosmetology School Debt, and a $9-an-Hour Job - howard941
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/business/cosmetology-school-debt-iowa.html
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tzs
> 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. In
> Iowa in particular, the companies charge steep prices — nearly $20,000 on
> average for a cosmetology certificate, equivalent to the cost of a two-year
> community-college degree twice over — and they have fought to keep the
> required number of school hours higher than anywhere else in the country.

For comparison, I looked up the cosmetology program at a nearby non-profit
community college here in Washington, Olympic College. The Associate in
Technical Arts degree in Cosmetology program, which qualifies you for the
Washington State Cosmetology License examination, take 5 quarters. It requires
109 credits, and it looks like tuition and fees would be about $10k.

The required cosmetology course list is (first column is number of credits):

    
    
       2 COS 101 Professional Career
       2 COS 102 Cosmetology General Sciences
       3 COS 103 Hair Care, Hairstyling & Haircutting
      12 COS 151 Cosmetology Lab Clinic I
       2 COS 105 Hair Color
       2 COS 113 Intermediate Haircutting
       2 COS 114 Advanced Chemical Texture Services
       2 COS 120 Cosmetology Skin Care
      13 COS 152 Cosmetology Lab Clinic II
       2 COS 115 Intermediate Hair Color
       2 COS 123 Advanced Haircutting
       1 COS 130 Nail Care
       1 COS 135 Wigs, Braiding/Extensions
      13 COS 153 Cosmetology Lab Clinic III
       1 COS 121 Facial Makeup
      13 COS 154 Cosmetology Lab Clinic IV
       2 COS 225 Advanced Hair Coloring
       1 COS 231 Business Skills I
      13 COS 155 Cosmetology Lab Clinic V
       1 COS 232 Business Skills II
       4 COS 240 State Board Preparation
       2 COS 104 Chemical Texture Services
    

(A couple of these have prerequisites that are not in the list. My tuition
estimate took those into account)

Also required is 5 credits of business math, 5 credits of business
writing/grammar or English composition, and 3 credits on human relations in
the workplace.

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jelliclesfarm
I think the tuition fee is reasonable. It’s the interest. Let’s define the
problem. Basically, usary.

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jopsen
9$ an hour is also pretty bad for an adult.

I was making that sweeping the floor in factory after school when I was 14
(must be like 15 years ago). Of course I live in Denmark.

(Not that I think tuition is a good idea, but it's not necessarily the
problem).

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jilop
There's a key para in the middle. The legislature mooted a bill to reduce the
excessive school-hours requirement, but since more paid lobbyists from the
schools (paid for by the scam schools that the bill was trying to stop) showed
up than victims (who couldn't afford to travel to the senate to beg for help),
they dropped the bill.

Also the private schools lobbied successfully to make school was required by
law but make publicly funded schools illegal. Their argument was simply that
publicly funded school would hurt their profits. Strangely the same economic
argument does not apply to the citizens of the state, who are not presumed
entitled to profit. Legislatures make laws to protect moneyed interests, not
the public.

I hope that salons unite to boycott licensing requirements and hire staff who
skip these scam schools.

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pkaye
> Thirteen years after graduating, she still owes more than $8,000.

Paying off $13K+interest in 13 years with a $9/hour job is not bad really.
There are some people in better situations that still don't pay of their debt.

~~~
LoSboccacc
The course expensiveness might take some blame, but there are key questions
being unanswered here: if the barrier to entry is so high why are them earning
from 9$ to 10.5$/h after years of practice? That's like a 1% yoy increase in
wages, they aren't even keeping up with inflation.

Seems the journalist skept a lot of the more interesting questions to pursue
the sob story angle while presenting a very narrow view that prevents
understanding the situation fully.

~~~
pkaye
Its actually regulatory capture by the existing players that makes it harder
for a newcomer to work in the industry. The training required by laws for hair
dressers can be long and onerous.

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ordinarydev
Would be really great if articles behind paywalls weren't being featured

~~~
lsc
I actually think the rise of "free" news is a big problem; like there has
always been the crazy free daily that you could get if you went down to your
local city, but it was local and of limited distribution, 'cause printing
costs money.

The marginal cost of printing has gone to nearly zero, while the cost of
writing good content has, if anything, gone up.

Now, I, too, want a more reasonable way to pay to read news. I mean, it's damn
inconvenient to just buy that one story. But I have subscribed to a few papers
on my kindle and try to get more of my news from those than from "free"
sources on the internet.

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RickJWagner
Interesting article, but why single out cosmetology?

Artists, writers, musicians, etc. all pay hefty fees for school and most don't
make great salaries. This is true for public schools, many have 4 year
programs that end up costing much more than $21k.

~~~
tzs
Artists, writers, and musicians generally do not require a state license to
practice commercially. They _can_ choose to attend expensive schools, but they
aren't _required_ to do so.

Cosmetologists, on the other hand, are required to obtain a license, and
qualification for that license includes educational requirements, and in some
states that education is provided by for-profit schools who have successfully
made it so that you are required to attend an expensive school if you want to
be a practicing cosmetologist.

