COSMETOLOGY SCHOOLS IN RHODE ISLAND — Federal Data, September 2026
Cosmetology Schools in Rhode Island, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
3 accredited institutions in Rhode Island 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 3 ranked programs in Rhode Island, the median graduate needs 8.7 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $12,000, against median earnings of $16,464 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 COLLECTIV Academy-Cranston in Cranston, at 8.4 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Rhode Island institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about cosmetology schools in Rhode Island
The Ranking
3 cosmetology schools in Rhode Island, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | COLLECTIV Academy-CranstonCranston, RI | for-profit | Certificate | 8.4 | $11,200 | $16,082 | 78% |
| 2 | Paul Mitchell the School-Rhode IslandCranston, RI | for-profit | Certificate | 8.7 | $12,000 | $16,464 | 79% |
| 3 | Empire Beauty School-WarwickProvidence, RI | for-profit | Certificate | 8.9 | $13,849 | $18,639 | 88% |
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 Rhode Island, one by one
COLLECTIV Academy-Cranston
Cranston, RI
COLLECTIV Academy-Cranston is a private for-profit institution in Cranston. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $11,200 and report median earnings of $16,082 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 8.4 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 0.3 months faster than the Rhode Island state median of 8.7. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 78% completion rate.
Paul Mitchell the School-Rhode Island
Cranston, RI
Paul Mitchell the School-Rhode Island is a private for-profit institution in Cranston. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $12,000 and report median earnings of $16,464 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 8.7 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and right on the Rhode Island state median of 8.7. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 79% completion rate.
Empire Beauty School-Warwick
Providence, RI
Empire Beauty School-Warwick is a private for-profit institution in Providence. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $13,849 and report median earnings of $18,639 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 8.9 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and right on the Rhode Island state median of 8.7. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 88% completion rate.
Read It Carefully
What this ranking does not measure
With only 3 institutions publishable here, this page is a short list by construction. It is not a directory of every school in Rhode Island: many programs, especially at institutions that do not take federal student aid, never appear in this data at all.
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 Rhode Island
Comparing a different trade in Rhode Island
For RHODE ISLAND School Operators
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