Empire Beauty School-Charlotte
For-profit College in Charlotte, NC. Median 10-year earnings $24,022.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $24,022, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,667 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
No six-year graduation rate is reported for this institution, which is common for schools whose students are mostly part-time, transfer in, or enroll in short programs that the federal cohort measure does not track. Its absence is not itself a bad sign, but it does remove the clearest completion signal. 48% first-year retention is low enough to be the defining risk of enrolling here. The 15:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. Being a for-profit short-program school is the single most useful context for these numbers — the sector's spread is wide enough that the school-level figures matter more than usual.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 144 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $15,794 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($15,961 versus $21,775), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. About 77% get grants averaging $5,303, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Borrowing is widespread: 66% take federal loans.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 53 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $15,961 |
| $30–48k | $15,461 |
| $48–75k | $17,021 |
| $75–110k | $21,775 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 95 of these 144 students, totalling $806,633 — an average of $8,491 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Mecklenburg County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Probation or Equivalent or More Severe Status: Monitoring (Other - Provide unlisted or multiple justifications); School has an accreditation issue
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)