COSMETOLOGY SCHOOLS IN OKLAHOMA — Federal Data, September 2026
Cosmetology Schools in Oklahoma, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
13 accredited institutions in Oklahoma 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 13 ranked programs in Oklahoma, the median graduate needs 8.0 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $11,045, against median earnings of $16,948 one year after completion.
That is slower 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 Ponca City Beauty College in Ponca City, at 2.9 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Oklahoma institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about cosmetology schools in Oklahoma
The Ranking
13 cosmetology schools in Oklahoma, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ponca City Beauty CollegePonca City, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 2.9 | $3,390 | $13,838 | 82% |
| 2 | Shawnee Beauty CollegeShawnee, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 3.1 | $4,333 | $16,577 | 83% |
| 3 | Jenks Beauty CollegeJenks, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 5.1 | $6,672 | $15,771 | 72% |
| 4 | Central Oklahoma CollegeOklahoma City, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 5.5 | $8,707 | $19,149 | 53% |
| 5 | Wade Gordon Hairdressing Academy-OklahomaOklahoma City, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 6.7 | $11,285 | $20,065 | n/a |
| 6 | Paul Mitchell the School-TulsaTulsa, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 7.3 | $11,045 | $18,119 | 56% |
| 7 | Community Care CollegeTulsa, OK | nonprofit | Certificate | 8.0 | $11,241 | $16,948 | 67% |
| 8 | Clary Sage CollegeTulsa, OK | nonprofit | Certificate | 8.0 | $11,241 | $16,948 | 80% |
| 9 | Eves College of HairstylingLawton, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 8.3 | $12,252 | $17,702 | 64% |
| 10 | Southern School of Beauty IncDurant, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 8.6 | $6,750 | $9,375 | 95% |
| 11 | Francis Tuttle Technology CenterOklahoma City, OK | Public | Certificate | 9.3 | $12,250 | $15,765 | 52% |
| 12 | Formations InstituteEnid, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 10.3 | $9,500 | $11,050 | 64% |
| 13 | The Academy of Hair Design LLCOklahoma City, OK | for-profit | Certificate | 11.0 | $16,500 | $17,958 | 100% |
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 Oklahoma, one by one
Ponca City Beauty College
Ponca City, OK
Ponca City Beauty College is a private for-profit institution in Ponca City. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $3,390 and report median earnings of $13,838 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.9 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 5.1 months faster than the Oklahoma state median of 8.0. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 82% completion rate.
Shawnee Beauty College
Shawnee, OK
Shawnee Beauty College is a private for-profit institution in Shawnee. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $4,333 and report median earnings of $16,577 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 3.1 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and 4.9 months faster than the Oklahoma state median of 8.0. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 83% completion rate.
Jenks Beauty College
Jenks, OK
Jenks Beauty College is a private for-profit institution in Jenks. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $6,672 and report median earnings of $15,771 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 5.1 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and 2.9 months faster than the Oklahoma state median of 8.0. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 72% completion rate.
Central Oklahoma College
Oklahoma City, OK
Central Oklahoma College is a private for-profit institution in Oklahoma City. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $8,707 and report median earnings of $19,149 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 5.5 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and 2.5 months faster than the Oklahoma state median of 8.0. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 53% completion rate.
Wade Gordon Hairdressing Academy-Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, OK
Wade Gordon Hairdressing Academy-Oklahoma is a private for-profit institution in Oklahoma City. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $11,285 and report median earnings of $20,065 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 6.7 months of gross pay: fifth in the state, and 1.3 months faster than the Oklahoma state median of 8.0. The award measured here is a certificate.
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 Oklahoma
Comparing a different trade in Oklahoma
For OKLAHOMA School Operators
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