Blalock's Professional Beauty College

The academic offering is singular and concentrated: Blalock's offers just two majors, both in the cosmetology field. The curriculum is a practical study of the skills, practices, and principles needed for success as a cosmetologist. The student-to-faculty ratio is 15:1, which for a hands-on trade school suggests a decent level of individual attention in the salon classroom setting. The institution is licensed by the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology and accredited by NACCAS (the National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts & Sciences), which is the crucial accreditation for federal financial aid eligibility in this sector.

This is a commuter school with no traditional campus life. Described as a 'small, less than 2-year, for-profit school' located in an urban city setting, Blalock's is purely a place of vocational instruction. There are no indications of residential housing, collegiate athletics, or typical student clubs. The social and communal aspect appears to be contained within the cosmetology studio, where students work on their craft. School-promoted videos highlight student talent in beauty techniques, suggesting a focus on skill showcase within the professional community.

Completion is a relative strength: the school reports a 6-year graduation rate of 83%, which is high for a vocational program. However, post-graduation earnings are modest. Graduates report median earnings of about $16,801 six years after entry, which is noted as 62% lower than the national median. Another source lists a 53% graduation rate, indicating some variance in reporting. The College Scorecard notes a 69% completion rate. The dominant outcome is licensure and entry into the beauty industry, not bachelor's degree attainment.

The average net price after grants and scholarships is $18,977. Financial aid is almost entirely federal: 100% of students receive federal grants, averaging $6,895, and 100% take out federal loans, averaging $9,028 per year. There is no reported institutional grant aid or state/local grants. This creates a high-debt model for students; the average loan amount exceeds the national average. The school actively promotes that financial aid is available to those who qualify, which is standard for federally accredited career colleges.

Blalock's stands out for its stark clarity of purpose and its demographic footprint. It is not a college in the liberal arts sense; it's a trade school with a 100% acceptance rate that exists to provide a specific, licensed credential in cosmetology. Its character is defined by being a family-owned, Black-operated business (by Sharon Kay Blalock and Kedra Blalock) serving a student body that is over 80% Black, filling a distinct niche in the Shreveport community. It forgoes all the trappings of traditional campus life for a purely vocational, studio-based education. The high completion rate suggests it effectively shepherds students through to licensure, though the financial model—reliant heavily on federal loans—and modest graduate earnings present a clear cost-benefit equation that students must weigh.