What happened
The Trump administration is facing a decision on whether to eliminate the primary accreditor for beauty schools, which could impact loan access for women seeking to become beauty professionals. The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality (NACIQI) recommended the elimination in a 9-3 vote, citing concerns over low earnings for beauty professionals.
However, the beauty school accreditor is only authorized to evaluate student achievement based on graduation, job placement, and state licensure rates, not earnings. Critics argue that penalizing beauty schools would distract from the real issues facing higher education and unfairly target low-income women and mothers seeking flexible career paths.
The proposed elimination has been criticized as a continuation of the Obama and Biden legacy of penalizing trade schools, which could lead to a loss of job opportunities for women in the beauty industry. Instead, the Trump administration is being urged to require the beauty school accreditor to improve any areas of weakness during a year of federal scrutiny and oversight.
This approach would allow the administration to avoid throwing beauty schools into a tailspin and give them time to improve their oversight function and establish more accountability for the schools themselves. The decision is expected to be made by October, and its outcome could have significant implications for the beauty industry and the women who rely on it.
