Cosmetology

1,000 clock hours, completable in as little as eight months of full-time attendance.

A 30-minute lunch is mandatory when daily attendance exceeds five hours. Administrative hours are Mondays and Fridays 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 10:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Classes start once a month throughout the year for both morning and evening sessions, and more often if space permits.

The hybrid delivery is real distance education, and it carries a warning the academy prints itself. Monday and Friday evenings are delivered by real-time Zoom; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings are in person. Only the theory portion is delivered at a distance.

The rules around it are specific. Cameras must be on for the entire lesson, and instructors validate attendance and interaction as clock hours. Every assessment used to calculate your grade must be taken physically on campus. You must take part in learning activities in person at least once every fifth business day, for a full scheduled class day of five clock hours. And all transcripts and Proofs of Training — official and unofficial — identify the distance education component.

That last point has a consequence the academy states in one sentence: “Academic achievement earned via distance education may not be accepted for reciprocity or eligible licensure in other states.” If there is any chance you will license outside California, ask the destination board about hybrid hours before you choose the evening schedule.

$18,660.00 in total institutional charges. The academy’s own fee table:

Tuition is charged by the hour, and the arithmetic is checkable. The catalog states the rate is $16.00 per hour; 1000 hours at that rate is exactly the tuition line. That is a rare thing to be able to verify from a school’s own numbers.

The iPad is optional but is inside the published total. The $360 iPad line is marked Optional in the academy’s own fee table and is nonetheless counted in TOTAL INSTITUTIONAL CHARGES. Decline it and the figure falls by $360. It is recorded as a cost item here, labelled optional, because that is how the academy totals it.

The kit, book and iPad are non-refundable after the cancellation period — the catalog’s reason is health and sanitation — and the $1,660.00 kit covers all required equipment, supplies, books and materials for the programme. Coba T-shirts and aprons are included; personal clothing and uniforms are not.

The Student Tuition Recovery Fund line is $0.00, and that is correct. California requires the STRF charge to be disclosed; as of 1 April 2024 the rate is $0 per $1,000 of institutional charges. It is shown as a line in the catalog and is not recorded as a cost item here, because a $0.00 item adds nothing true.

The academy’s own payment plan, in its own figures: a 25% down payment of $4,633.75 against a plan total of $18,535.00 — which is the institutional charges less the $125 application fee, already paid — then equal installments of $1,985.89 over seven months on the daytime schedule or $1,390.12 over ten months on the evening/hybrid schedule. Weekly, bi-monthly and monthly schedules are available.

Payment methods: cash, Visa or Mastercard only, money order, cheque, and Title IV disbursements and loans. The final outstanding balance may be paid only by cash or credit card — no personal cheques.

Federal aid. Federal Pell Grants, the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and Federal Direct Loans are available to those who qualify, and the academy is approved for veterans’ educational benefits (facility code 25-1932-05). The catalog notes that the Veterans Information Bulletin supersedes the application fee, tuition, refund and satisfactory-progress sections for VA students — so if you are using VA benefits, that bulletin is the document that governs, not this page.

What happens if you do not pay, stated plainly by the academy: balances are the student’s responsibility; delinquent accounts are assigned to collection agencies; collection costs are added to the balance; and Proof of Training — which the state board requires before you can apply to sit the licensing examination — is only issued after all balances are paid. An unpaid balance does not merely withhold a certificate here; it withholds your route to a licence.

$18,660 total institutional charges — $16,000 tuition at $16.00 an hour, a $125 application fee, $515 of books, the kit, and an optional $360 iPad the academy counts inside the total.

The programme prepares students for the California State Board licensing examination in cosmetology (CIP 12.0401, SOC 39-5012). A licensed cosmetologist may cut hair, style, manicure nails, apply makeup and give skincare within the scope of the licence, for profit, in any licensed facility in California.

The academy’s four stated performance objectives are worth reading because they are not all technical: knowledge of the laws and rules regulating California’s cosmetology establishments; sanitation and sterilisation across hair, skin and nails; general theory including anatomy, physiology and chemistry; and business management techniques common to cosmetology.

The academy does not guarantee placement and says so twice. It provides limited job placement assistance by referral, a Job Listing bulletin board and consultations with the Director of Education. No rate is quoted in its catalog, and none is claimed here.

There is a California document that does carry the numbers, and you should ask for it by name. The catalog records that every student, before signing the enrolment agreement, received the School Performance Fact Sheet, NACCAS statistics, the California licensing requirements and U.S. Department of Labor statistics. The Fact Sheet is California’s own mandated disclosure of completion, placement, licensure and salary data for each programme. It is not in the catalog — ask for it.

The licence is the job requirement. The catalog states the minimum prerequisite for employment as a practising esthetician, cosmetologist or barber in California is a valid state licence in the respective field. On graduation Coba issues a certificate and Proof of Training; you then apply to the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology to sit the examination, and the Board sets the dates and issues the licence.

635 of your 1,000 hours are on the clinic floor. Practical operations under licensed instructors in working conditions is nearly two thirds of this programme, across three clinic floors with manicure stations, a pedicure throne, a makeup station, styling stations and a colour lab.

One campus, and the catalog inventories it. Coba Academy is at 663 North Euclid Street, Anaheim, on the corner of Euclid and Crescent in Euclid Plaza near Freeway 91 and Interstate 5, with lit shopping-centre parking including accessible spaces. The campus is more than 7,570 square feet and accommodates approximately 100 students at one time.

Inside: five classrooms with big-screen monitors and computers, five offices, three clinic floors, a colour lab, a laundry room and a lunch area. The clinic floor carries manicure stations, a pedicure throne, a makeup station with vanity lighting, hair styling stations and barber stations, with designated areas for hot tools. The Esthetics treatment rooms are two practical classrooms of facial beds, each with a facial machine — ultrasonic skin scrubber, high frequency and microdermabrasion — or a hard and soft wax machine.

Five restrooms: one wheelchair accessible, one for women and two gender-neutral. The campus is CASp certified and the catalog describes the interior as ADA compliant.

The library is real and so is the online component. Books, DVDs and periodicals on site, borrowable overnight with administrator approval, plus a school account with Milady MindTap by Cengage giving every student 24/7 access to videos, activities, vocabulary and mock exams from any WiFi-capable device.

Instructors are licensed and experienced. The catalog names nine instructors across the three programmes, all licensed by the California State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology with at least three years of training and industry experience, and notes that instructors may substitute between the day and evening shifts.

Fifty years of one thing. The academy says it has been training students in the beauty field for over 50 years.

Grading is weekly or bi-weekly, in theory and practical separately. Written examinations run A 90–100, B 80–89, C 75–79, D 60–74, F 0–59. Practical operations are graded out of 8 points: 6 of 8 (75%) is the pass mark and 5 of 8 (63%) fails. Graduation needs the programme hours, the theory hours and the practical operations, with a C (75%) GPA and 75% attendance.

Teaching methods are named: discussion, demonstration, question and answer, cooperative learning, problem solving, interactive lecture, individualised instruction, student and classroom presentations, labs and student salon activities.

Housing is not provided and the academy says it cannot help. It has no dormitories, states it is not equipped to assist in finding housing, and — unusually — publishes a figure: approximately $2,500 a month for a one-bedroom in the immediate area, sourced to apartmentguide.com. That is a useful number and most schools do not print one.

Placement assistance is limited and the academy says so in those words. It does not guarantee placement; it offers referrals, a Job Listing bulletin board, and appointments with the Director of Education or administrative staff. Career, academic and individual counselling is offered to all students on a regular schedule and on request. The catalog states the minimum prerequisite for practising in California is a valid state licence in the field.

Transferability is at the receiving institution’s discretion, entirely. The academy publishes the standard California notice: whether anyone accepts your credits or your certificate is their decision, you may have to repeat coursework, and you should contact the institution you might transfer to before attending here.

The bankruptcy statement is clean. The catalog states the academy has no pending bankruptcy petition, is not operating as a debtor in possession, and has neither filed nor had filed against it a petition in the preceding five years. California requires that disclosure; it is worth reading when you see it.