At last: Washington listened to Main Street’s cosmetology and barber schools

Opinion>Opinions - Education The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill At last: Washington listened to Main Street’s cosmetology and barber schools Comments: by Bailey Pennington, opinion contributor - 07/08/26 2:00 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Bailey Pennington, opinion contributor - 07/08/26 2:00 PM ET Comments: Link copied

Eyebrow threader Dipa Bhattarai demonstrates eyebrow threading, the technique of using a single strand of cotton thread to remove hair, on Betty Tucker, of Madison, Wednesday, April 14, 2021, in Madison, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Behind every haircut and shave on Main Street is a small business owner who trained for it and built it one client at a time. Last month, we got welcome news: the U.S. Department of Education finalized its new accountability rule for career-training programs and granted barbering, cosmetology and massage-therapy programs more time before its requirements take effect.

It is a decision worth celebrating, and a chance to get the rest right.

The department is now measuring career-training programs by a single earnings test: whether graduates out-earn a typical high school graduate within a few years, with a school’s federal student aid eligibility tied to the result.

The concern behind the rule is real: Some degree programs leave students buried in debt with little to show for it. But the department clearly understands that cosmetology and barbering are different, which is why it gave these programs more time. These are short, low-debt programs leading to state licenses that put graduates into paying work within months, in fields where most of us are women, many of us first-generation entrepreneurs.

In my first year on my own, fresh out of school, I earned nearly six figures doing work I love. When I had my first child this past winter, that cushion let me take nearly three months of unpaid maternity leave on what I had saved, while still covering my chair rental and my bills. Now, I hire and mentor new graduates so they can build a chair, and a business, of their own — in a field the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to keep growing.

The test also misreads how the work pays. New stylists often start part-time while we build a following; many are self-employed, leasing a chair or a suite; and much of our income comes from tips the federal data never counted before. It also ignores how much skill the job takes. In Michigan, where I am licensed, becoming a cosmetologist takes well over a thousand hours of training — mixing chemicals that can burn or scar, handling blades a fraction of an inch from a client’s skin, mastering sanitation and skin science, and learning to keep the books, file the taxes, and run a storefront.

This spring, the Treasury and the IRS finalized “no tax on tips” rules that recognize hairstylists and other personal-care workers as essential enough to protect. The department’s decision to give these programs more time reflects that same recognition — that this is skilled, tip-earning work worth supporting.

I am one of those owners — a cosmetology-school graduate and stylist in Michigan, and one of millions of licensed professionals who keep the lights on along Main Streets across the country.

The delay gives everyone the time to get this right. Now is the moment for the Department of Education, the administration, Congress, and our industry to come together on a durable solution that judges these schools by the graduation, licensure, and job-placement standards they already meet, and that measures graduates’ earnings in a way that reflects the tips, self-employment, and part-time starts that are normal in our field.

There is far more behind the chair than meets the eye: years of training, real businesses and communities built one client at a time. The American Association of Career Schools and others who represent our industry have long spoken up for these schools and the careers they make possible, and I’m grateful for their work. Washington took an important step for the people who keep Main Street running. Let’s build on it.

Bailey Pennington is a licensed cosmetologist and hairstylist in Michigan and a 2024 cosmetology-school graduate who owns her own business and now trains and mentors new graduates entering the field.

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