Empire Beauty School-Lancaster
For-profit College in Lancaster, PA. Median 10-year earnings $25,073.
Ten-year median earnings of $25,073 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Graduates leave owing a median of $13,000 — 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
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. Retention is strong at 87%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The part-time picture is harder: 50% return, against 87% full-time. At 21:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution. As a for-profit short-program school, outcomes here deserve a harder look than the sector average suggests: for-profit institutions vary enormously, and the sector's aggregate numbers hide both strong and very weak performers.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 138 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $16,886 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Income makes less difference than usual: $15,950 at $0–30k, $20,372 at $110k+. 62% of students receive grant aid, averaging $5,593 — common but not automatic. Borrowing is widespread: 55% 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 · 65 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 | $15,950 |
| $30–48k | $16,994 |
| $48–75k | $17,701 |
| $75–110k | $20,373 |
| $110k+ | $20,372 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 76 of these 138 students, totalling $573,250 — an average of $7,543 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lancaster 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)