COSMETOLOGY SCHOOLS IN NEBRASKA — Federal Data, September 2026
Cosmetology Schools in Nebraska, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
5 accredited institutions in Nebraska report enough federal data on this program to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 5 ranked programs in Nebraska, the median graduate needs 6.4 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $12,000, against median earnings of $23,179 one year after completion.
That is faster than the national median of 6.8 months for this field, measured across the 987 institutions in our national cosmetology schools ranking. The best performer in the state is Capitol Beauty School in Omaha, at 4.2 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Nebraska institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about cosmetology schools in Nebraska
The Ranking
5 cosmetology schools in Nebraska, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Capitol Beauty SchoolOmaha, NE | for-profit | Certificate | 4.2 | $9,166 | $25,942 | 87% |
| 2 | Xenon A Stephanie Moss AcademyOmaha, NE | for-profit | Certificate | 6.2 | $12,000 | $23,179 | 82% |
| 3 | Joseph’s College CosmetologyLincoln, NE | for-profit | Certificate | 6.4 | $12,000 | $22,479 | 88% |
| 4 | Entourage Institute of Beauty and EstheticsLincoln, NE | for-profit | Certificate | 7.5 | $15,137 | $24,101 | 60% |
| 5 | College of Hair Design-DowntownLincoln, NE | for-profit | Certificate | 8.8 | $14,119 | $19,274 | 83% |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers in this program; earnings are median earnings one year after completion. Where a school offers the program at both certificate and associate level, the shorter payback is shown. Completion is the institution’s published rate, not the program’s.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback programs in Nebraska, one by one
Capitol Beauty School
Omaha, NE
Capitol Beauty School is a private for-profit institution in Omaha. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $9,166 and report median earnings of $25,942 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 4.2 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 2.2 months faster than the Nebraska state median of 6.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 87% completion rate.
Xenon A Stephanie Moss Academy
Omaha, NE
Xenon A Stephanie Moss Academy is a private for-profit institution in Omaha. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $12,000 and report median earnings of $23,179 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 6.2 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and right on the Nebraska state median of 6.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 82% completion rate.
Joseph’s College Cosmetology
Lincoln, NE
Joseph’s College Cosmetology is a private for-profit institution in Lincoln. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $12,000 and report median earnings of $22,479 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 6.4 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and right on the Nebraska state median of 6.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 88% completion rate.
Entourage Institute of Beauty and Esthetics
Lincoln, NE
Entourage Institute of Beauty and Esthetics is a private for-profit institution in Lincoln. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $15,137 and report median earnings of $24,101 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 7.5 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and 1.1 months slower than the Nebraska state median of 6.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 60% completion rate.
College of Hair Design-Downtown
Lincoln, NE
College of Hair Design-Downtown is a private for-profit institution in Lincoln. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $14,119 and report median earnings of $19,274 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 8.8 months of gross pay: fifth in the state, and 2.4 months slower than the Nebraska state median of 6.4. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 83% completion rate.
Read It Carefully
What this ranking does not measure
Absence from this page is not a verdict. The Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, so a small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all. Schools that enroll no students on federal aid are outside this dataset entirely.
The measure is a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing inside one state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
Other States
The same program, another state
Other Programs in Nebraska
Comparing a different trade in Nebraska
For NEBRASKA School Operators
Want to know how your program ranks against these?
We run this analysis for individual schools against their own federal data and show them where they sit against both the Nebraska median and the national one. Where the answer is good, it is the strongest recruitment argument a school owns.
Book Your Free Enrollment AuditBy application only — reserved for trade and vocational school operators enrolling 50+ students a year.