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Cosmetology Student Loans

If you've chosen to pursue a career in the beauty industry and attend a vocational college as opposed to a traditional 2- or 4-year college or university, you may have assumed that you can't get any grants, scholarships, or loans to help you cover the cost of your education. On top of this, unlike many traditional colleges, most cosmetology schools are not in the habit of offering students any kind of financial assistance, whether through grants, scholarships, or loans. While your choice will leave you at a loss of government funding, you can easily receive cosmetology student loans from a number of alternative sources, each of which will more readily cover your costs than a government loan anyway.

To receive an alternative loan for your cosmetology training, you need not prove that you are seeking a degree, as you would to apply for a federal loan. In fact, with the growing number of individuals seeking non-traditional education, such as enrollment in a professional or trade program such as cosmetology (which envelops careers in hair dressing, barbering, coloring, makeup, nail care, skin care, and general beauty), there are a growing number of student loans offered for such pursuits.

Sallie Mae, one of the largest and best known providers of both traditional and non-traditional educational loan funding, has built several options around the non-degree seeking student. Both the Sallie Mae Continuing Education Loan and the Career Training Loan set high limits and have a broad range of repayment options with terms similar to those of more traditional student loans, including long payoff periods and low interest rates.

Through Chase, Education One also offers loans for students training in a trade or career program as opposed to seeking a degree and can fund an education that is pursued on at least a half-time basis with up to $40,000. Key Bank also offers a nice alternative loan called the Key CareerLoan, geared toward continuing education and career students. Half-time enrollment in your program of choice is required, and you can take out loans equivalent to the full cost of tuition and other fees.

Paying for school is not easy, but we are here to help. OEDb's student finance section will help you find the money you need to pay your tuition and other college expenses. We cover scholarships, college grants, and student loans. Scholarships and grants are both forms of "free money", meaning they don't need to be paid back. Scholarships are typically awarded by businesses or individuals, with the money being earmarked specifically for tuition. They can be awarded based on a student's location or by religious affiliation, such as Catholicism or Islam. Grants are typically awarded by governments or non-profit organizations and the money often can be applied to several different expenses a student may incur, not solely tuition. They can be awarded based on location or ethnicity, for instance African American or Hispanic. Loans are not considered "free money", because unlike scholarships and grants, they do need to be paid back after graduation. Common federal loans include Perkins and Stafford. Loans are also available by location.