undergradly.
For-profit College

Kenneth Shuler
School of Cosmetology and Nails-Columbia

For-profit College in West Columbia, SC. Median 10-year earnings $25,088.

Verdict Mixed outcomes
Kenneth Shuler School of Cosmetology and Nails-Columbia · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$25,088
Median debt at grad
$5,858
Federal loan default
0%

Ten-year median earnings of $25,088 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Graduates leave owing a median of $5,858 — modest by four-year standards.

Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.

Green Flags
  • ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.23 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
  • ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Academics

Full-time retention
100%
Transfer-out rate
—
Student:faculty
20:1

This institution reports no six-year graduation rate. The federal measure only follows first-time, full-time students, so schools built around part-time or transfer enrollment often fall outside it entirely. Retention is strong at 100%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The student-faculty ratio is 20:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major. 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. This is a small school — 212 undergraduates — so cohorts are tight and the program list is necessarily short.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$17,184
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
79%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
67%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 212 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Average net price after grant aid is $17,184 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Income makes less difference than usual: $15,044 at $0–30k, $22,734 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 79% of students at an average of $6,225. 67% 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.

% receiving grants
70%
Average grant
$7,261

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 30 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 $15,044
$30–48k $15,676
$48–75k $17,339
$75–110k $21,623
$110k+ $22,734

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 142 of these 212 students, totalling $1,025,665 — an average of $7,223 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Lexington County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$1,032/mo
1 bedroom
$1,164/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,276/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

VA caution flag

Probation or Equivalent or More Severe Status: Monitoring (Other - Provide unlisted or multiple justifications); School has an accreditation issue

GI Bill students
7
Yellow Ribbon
No
Principles of Excellence
Yes

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Kenneth Shuler School of Cosmetology and Nails-Columbia with peer institutions

How we evaluate Kenneth Shuler School of Cosmetology and Nails-Columbia

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →