Accredited beauty school: What’s that mean?
Do you already know you want to attend beauty school? As you think about which beauty school you want to attend, you will see the word ‘accredited’ associated with some locations. In trying to find a school, it’s important you know exactly what this means and why it can have a huge impact on you. You don’t want to become overly interested in a school only to discover it’s not the right fit for you.
Accreditation means that the school has been recognized for meeting national standards in educational performance. An accrediting agency checks the curriculum and teacher certifications, among other things, to make sure the school is meeting a certain standard. If you have a friend that attends another high school, you know that you both study English. They learn the same stuff as you, only at different times or using a different text book. Accreditation is similar to this concept. The accrediting agency makes sure what you learn covers all the necessary points, even if its in a different order, or taught with different programs. Empire Beauty School uses CLiC, Certified Learning in Cosmetology, just one of several cosmetology programs.
Once a school is accredited, they are also able to offer financial aid (to those who qualify.) Financial aid can be given by a federal or a state source. You have to speak to the school in the state you are going to attend beauty school in to determine what this means for you. Only you know your financial circumstances. A good school will walk you through the steps to figure out how to apply for financial aid. However, unless a school is accredited, they cannot offer financial aid. If you are one of millions of students deciding how you will be able to afford beauty school, you need to look only at accredited schools since they offer financial aid.
There is one more point: Accredited looks great to a potential employer. When they see ‘accredited beauty school’ on your resume, they know you were taught from a standardized program. It tells them what you learned since, again, all accredited programs have to meet a certain educational standard. As you know, a beauty career can take you anywhere people have hair. If you think your beauty career could end up in another state, or country, where you will need to look for a job, you may consider only attending an accredited school. If not, you may be relying on the reputation of a private academy, which might not be recognized in Timbuktu.
Empire Beauty School is accredited by the NACCAS (National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts & Cosmetology) www.naccas.org, in case you want to read more about who accredits cosmetology schools. (They are just one accrediting body. There are dozens.) If you attended a non-accredited school, we’d love to hear about how the experience worked out for you. Were you happy with the school? Did you look at both schools and decide on an accredited one? What made you pick an accredited school? Let us know!
