Empire Beauty School-Harrisburg
For-profit College in Harrisburg, PA. Median 10-year earnings $22,377.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $22,377, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Median debt at graduation is $10,667, a light load against those earnings.
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
The federal six-year graduation rate is not published here — typically because the entering cohort this measure follows is too small or too atypical to report. Treat completion as unknown rather than assuming either direction. First-year retention of 81% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. Retention drops to 52% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic. The student-faculty ratio is 17:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major. This is a for-profit short-program school. That is not disqualifying, but it does mean verifying accreditation, transferability of credits, and job-placement claims directly rather than trusting the category.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 257 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $17,017 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($16,593 versus $20,934), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. About 72% get grants averaging $5,454, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Most students borrow — 57% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 79 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 | $16,593 |
| $30–48k | $17,632 |
| $48–75k | $19,021 |
| $75–110k | $19,788 |
| $110k+ | $20,934 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 146 of these 257 students, totalling $1,169,625 — an average of $8,011 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Dauphin 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)