The Trump administration is weighing the future of an accreditor overseeing roughly 1,300 beauty and cosmetology schools and more than 120,000 students, in a decision that could test how the president’s push to overhaul higher education accreditation is applied beyond the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) battles that have dominated the issue. President Donald Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to "fire the radical left accreditors" and called accreditation his "secret weapon" against colleges and universities he argued had been captured by the political left. But the case now before the U.S.
Department of Education (DoE) is different. Rather than allegations involving DEI requirements, it centers on whether the National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts and Sciences, or NACCAS, has complied with federal requirements and what consequences should follow if it has not. MCMAHON TELLS HOUSE PANEL TRUMP ADMIN MOVING TO DISMANTLE ‘FAILED’ $3T EDUCATION BUREAUCRACY That distinction matters to students because recognition by a DoE-approved accreditor is generally necessary for schools to participate in federal student aid programs.
NACCAS says it accredits approximately 1,300 institutions serving more than 120,000 students in cosmetology, beauty and related career programs. DoE staff identified deficiencies with NACCAS but recommended continuing its federal recognition with restrictions, additional reporting and monitoring while it works to come into compliance. The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, or NACIQI, took a harder line at its July meeting, voting 9-3 to recommend that the department deny NACCAS renewed recognition.
TRUMP ADMIN TIGHTENS VISE ON STUDENT AID FRAUD IN ‘GHOST STUDENT’ CRACKDOWN The Department of Education told Fox News Digital that accreditor recognition is reviewed every five years through a three-step process: DoE staff make a recommendation; the independent bipartisan NACIQI makes its own recommendation; a senior department official makes the final judgment based on both. "We will not comment on details as the process is ongoing," the DoE said. For some students, the federal process has raised concerns about a source of funding they say they could not have attended beauty school without.
TRUMP ADMIN URGES RETURNING EDUCATION TO STATES, CITING $3 TRILLION OF TAXES SPENT AND POOR PROFICIENCY SCORES Aliyah Fernandez, a recent Hollywood Institute cosmetology graduate and mother who now works as an assistant in a salon, said federal aid made her education possible. "I could not have afforded beauty school without federal financial aid," Fernandez told Fox News Digital. "It was because of that, that I could attend at all." Fernandez said she chose cosmetology in part because she wanted a career that would allow her to earn a living while remaining present in her daughter's life.
"I knew that if I worked full-time 9 to 5, I wouldn't barely have any time to see her grow up," Fernandez said. "I really just wanted to be there for her." "I wanted an opportunity to financially support her and be present in her life at the same time," she added. "I wanted to have both." I’M A UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT.
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