Empire Beauty School-Michigan
For-profit College in Grand Rapids, MI. 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
- ! Mobility score 0.0 — limited economic uplift documented
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 of 73% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The part-time picture is harder: 57% return, against 73% full-time. The 12:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 418 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $16,705 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($16,158 versus $21,154), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. About 55% get grants averaging $5,078, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. About 49% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 180 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 | $16,158 |
| $30–48k | $16,111 |
| $48–75k | $17,816 |
| $75–110k | $21,312 |
| $110k+ | $21,154 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 204 of these 418 students, totalling $1,497,280 — an average of $7,340 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Kent 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)