The Top Esthetician Schools in Each State

The global facial esthetics market is expected to reach $5.5 billion by 2020, growing at a rate of nearly 10 percent every year.

That’s music to our ears– and great news for your dream of turning your passion for skincare and beauty into the career you’ve always wanted.

With the beauty and wellness industry growing and creating exciting new opportunities in the field of esthetics, now is the time to get the professional education and training you need to become an expert in the art and science of skincare.

The esthetician program you choose will not only prepare you to ace your state licensing exams, but will also arm you with the knowledge, skills and business know-how you need to confidently make your way as a professional in the beauty and wellness industry.

So, where do you start? With our state-by-state guide to the top esthetics schools, of course.

Here at estheticianEDU.org, we are proud to offer a featured listing of the top esthetician programs in each state.

We hope our carefully selected list of esthetics institutes will allow you to confidently choose a program that supports your ambitions and that prepares you for a successful career as a professional esthetician.

How We Came Up With Our List of Top Schools in Each State

We took the guesswork out of finding a quality esthetics training program. For a school to even make the cut and be considered, it had to qualify for Title IV federal financial aid funds and offer a program that meets state licensing requirements.

We then took the qualifying beauty institutes in each state and subjected their esthetics programs to our rigorous scoring system, which looks only at the key aspects of education that are most important to aspiring students of esthiology:

• Graduation rate
• Student debt
• Success rate
• Career assistance
• Facilities
• Scholarships
• Business training
• Value
• Veteran benefits
• Community engagement

Our scoring system awards one point for each of these criteria.

We made every effort to be completely objective in how we selected and scored schools, looking primarily at measurable criteria.

Still, we know there is more to a great learning experience than what can be reduced to numbers, so we also called in industry experts to help identify schools that provide a truly exceptional student experience worthy of an additional “Wow!” point – whether for having bi-lingual instructors, top-notch customer service, or study abroad opportunities—anything that made us say “Wow!”

Our scoring system sets the bar high, so even among the best schools, it’s not uncommon for us to only award a point or two. Only exceptional schools made our lists.

Established Standards in Esthetics Education and Training

State licensing boards, professional associations and respected esthetics spas and clinics all agree, at the very minimum, esthetics education and training needs to meet basic national accreditation and state licensing standards.

State Licensing Requirements

To qualify for an esthetician license, candidates need to complete a program that meets the minimum educational requirements set forth by their state licensing board. This varies widely depending on the state, from as little as 300 hours of training to as much as 1000 hours.

To make sure we provided a like-to-like comparison, we only looked at schools in each state that met the minimum esthetician licensing requirements for the state in which they were located.

National Accreditation

Most state licensing boards look to national accreditation when selecting approved programs. This is because schools that receive accreditation have met specific minimum educational requirements. Further, schools that receive national accreditation through one or more of the established accrediting bodies qualify for Title IV federal financial aid funds.

Choosing a school that qualifies for Title IV federal financial aid funds allows you to take advantage of grants and loans offered through the federal government, if you qualify. These include the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Perkins Loan, as well as subsidized and unsubsidized direct loans.

These are the three major accrediting agencies for schools in the U.S. that offer esthetics programs:

• National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts & Sciences (NACCAS)
• The Council on Occupational Education (COE)
• Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC)

The National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts & Sciences (NACCAS), the largest accrediting agency of its kind, accredits more than 650 esthetics schools and beauty institutes with esthetics programs.

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