Accreditation: What Does it MEAAANNNN!?

Happy Sunday Queens! Did you have a fun-filled weekend? We can’t believe Philly is actually like, open again. Dinners out, happy hours, dance parties, drunken people on the street, bar fights… what more could we ask for in our City of Sisterly Love? With COVID-19 kind of wrapping up (yes, it’s been over a year), Queen Beauty Institute has been able to get back to one of our main goals: getting accredited! We’ve received so many calls with questions about whether we’re accredited or not, and there seems to be A LOT of confusion about what it all means. Don’t fret queens, we’re here to help.

You can think of accreditation as quality assurance. The US Government, as y’all already know, looooves to R E G U L A T E. This means setting up certain standards, rules & regulations for businesses and organizations to follow so they can operate how the government sees fit. Accreditation agencies are like the health inspectors of cosmetology schools. Except less intense! Lol.

The significance of accreditation varies depending on what you’re looking for. When it comes to cosmetology schools, if a school is ACCREDITED, they can likely offer FINANCIAL AID. In order to offer financial aid to cosmetology students, schools HAVE to be accredited. Y’all really think our stingy government is gonna give away money to just anyone!? Oh noooooooo no no no. They need some PROOF honey! Accreditation is that proof.

Accreditation agencies establish academic and institutional requirements for schools to meet. These requirements cover everything from graduation rates to instructor qualifications to school policies and anything in between. Generally, it takes schools 2+ years to complete the accreditation process because the requirements are so exhaustive. In addition, accreditation is expensive. Due to application costs and extra agency fees, the accreditation process can cost schools thousands! So yeah, the stakes are pretty high. It’s really important to get things right the first time– which is difficult when there are seemingly endless rules to follow. It’s not just organizing paper materials and making sure syllabi are uniform. It’s implementing new strategies, gathering community intel, performing evaluations, organizing feedback, and ensuring the school’s entire team is onboard to function a little differently. This is no small feat! And it’s made even scarier by the long list of fees that can be applied if a school makes a mistake.

Accreditation agencies also have to inspect the school in-person to make sure the school is actively in compliance with all their regulations. Their team will sit in classes, review paper materials, interview staff and students, and basically obtain all the information they can about the functionality of the school. What the inspection team witnesses and reports must follow accreditation requirements AND stay consistent with every bit of information listed in the school’s application.

The main difference in attending an accredited school is that you’ll likely have the option to apply for financial aid. Some think that you have to attend an accredited school to obtain your license… FALSE! One can, and SO many do, attend a non-accredited school to obtain their license. Being accredited doesn’t make a school better than others, or even good at all. There are some accredited institutions out there (we won’t name names) that won’t teach y’all effectively. There are some non-accredited institutions (QUEEN BEAUTY INSTITUTE!!!!!!) that will give you the best education you could receive. Just don’t base your judgement of a school off of that one word! Unless you’re looking specifically for financial aid… then it makes sense.

Queen Beauty Institute is still young, but we’re working through the accreditation process to be able to offer financial assistance to those who apply. Schools don’t need accreditation to function well– that’s a fact. It’s just a lil’ seal of approval for the government. We hope this clears it up a bit!

Have a wonderful week, Queens! Keep killin’ it!

Toodles <3