Empire Beauty School-Cheltenham
For-profit College in Wyncote, PA. Median 10-year earnings $23,921.
Ten-year median earnings of $23,921 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. 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. Retention is weak: only 56% of full-time first-years return, so roughly two in five leave after one year. Part-time retention runs ahead at 78% — a sign this campus supports non-traditional schedules well. The 23:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 258 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $18,066 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($17,706 versus $23,983), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 77% of students at an average of $5,130. 64% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 126 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 | $17,706 |
| $30–48k | $17,787 |
| $48–75k | $20,069 |
| $75–110k | $23,983 |
| $110k+ | $23,983 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 165 of these 258 students, totalling $1,313,056 — an average of $7,958 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Montgomery County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)