Federal rule could shutter 92% of cosmetology and barber programs
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In 1980, I was a Navy veteran sleeping in a 20-year-old car, saving $700 to start a hair care company with a stylist named Paul Mitchell. We believed that the American Dream was still open for business. Forty-six years later, the same dream is the dream of a federal administration about to close for the next generation.
The Department of Education has proposed an earnings premium metric under the gainful employment rule that would evaluate career programs based on a single hard number: whether career graduates earn more four years after completion than the typical full-time worker ages 25 to 34 in the same state without a college degree. Programs that fail the test in two out of three years lose access to federal student aid. According to the department’s own data, more than 92% of beauty and barbering programs nationwide will fail.
This is no small regulatory change. This is a death sentence for thousands of cosmetology, barbers, estheticians and nail salons across America. Without Title IV aid, most students (mostly single mothers, veterans, first-generation Americans and working-class children) cannot afford the education and training required for state licensure. Schools will close. The pipeline of newly licensed professionals will collapse. And just as we are being told that skilled trades and human-centered careers will come in an AI-driven economy, we are threatening to fund an industry built on human connection, creativity, and applied expertise.
The beauty industry is a $100 billion economic engine that employs 1.3 million Americans. It is one of the few industries where a person can gain a marketable qualification, walk into a shop or salon and start a business in under a year. The overwhelming majority of our professionals are women who rely on flexible, part-time schedules to support their families while earning an income. Many make most of their money through tips and client generation; this income increases significantly after the first few years but does not appear in the Department’s early-career snapshot.
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The new regulations put hair salons and barbers at risk of exclusion from Title IV student aid. (iStock)
By ignoring these realities—part-time work, tips, self-employment, and the female-dominated nature of the field—the rule systematically understates the true value of beauty education. It compares new licensees to full-time workers with only a high school diploma, many of whom have already been in the workforce for a decade. The result is a false narrative that beauty programs don’t, but actually provide exactly what millions of Americans need: flexible, entrepreneurial, in-person careers that can’t be automated.
The economic repercussions will be rapid and widespread. School closures mean fewer licensed professionals entering the workforce at a time of increased demand. Salons, spas and barbershops will face chronic staff shortages. Rural communities and small towns already struggling with service gaps will face “beauty deserts” where basic care and wellness services disappear. Consumers will lose access to safe, licensed care. Small business owners who rely on barbers and stylists will watch their revenues plummet. Ripple effects will impact product manufacturers, distributors, real estate agents and local tax bases.
This is not just about beauty and barbering schools. This is about taking away opportunity from the people the American economy claims to defend. Single mother who sees beauty as the path to independence. Veteran looking for a stable second career. Young entrepreneur who dreams of owning his own salon. These are the people who built this $100 billion industry, and they have the most to lose if there is a lack of equitable access to new talent and training.
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Congress understood this when it passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law deliberately limits this earnings framework to undergraduate students degree programs and graduate certificates. Undergraduate certificate programs such as cosmetology and barbering were intentionally excluded. The Ministry should follow the law, not rewrite it.
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Minister Linda McMahon has the power and lived experience to fix this. He knows what it means to start a business from scratch. Consistent with statutory intent, direct the department to exclude non-graduate degree programs and certificate programs in licensed trades from the earnings bonus test. This single change will preserve opportunities, preserve workforce lines, and protect a vital sector of our economy.
The comment period ends May 20. Now is the time for everyone who loves this industry—school owners, professionals, salon owners, manufacturers, and the millions of Americans we serve—to speak up and preserve it for the next generation.
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Beauty and barbering are not fallback careers. These are the path to independence, entrepreneurship, creativity and human connection. Behind the chair, they change their lives every day.
We established this industry with our own hands. We will fight for his future.
