An Expensive Makeover – Inside Higher Ed
As colleges struggle with the financial cost of the pandemic, beauty schools are getting $160 million in higher education stimulus dollars.
Neil Heller, who owns two beauty school chains, apologized for being on the phone when a reporter called Tuesday.
“I was putting in an order for hand sanitizer,” he said from his home in Hollywood, Fla., which, as is the case for many people, has been functioning as Heller’s office. A small bottle of hand sanitizer sat on his desk, as did the mask he puts on when he goes out.
While much has been made of the struggles of colleges and universities during the pandemic, Heller’s schools — the Hollywood Institute of Beauty Careers and Cortiva Institutes, which teaches skin care and massage — also had to go online.
But there’s only so much students can learn about doing hair, painting nails or putting on makeup from watching a video. Soon, Heller hopes, his students and instructors will be back to working hands-on.
Which is why, in addition to ordering 96 gallons of hand sanitizer, Heller said he’s also ordering 26,000 face masks.
However, according to an Inside Higher Ed tally of who will receive the billions in funds Congress set aside for higher education, beauty schools are getting tens of millions of dollars in help.