Blue Cliff Career College Cosmetology (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Cosmetology and Related Personal Grooming Services
- Private for-profit college
- Mobile, AL
- About 35 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Blue Cliff Career College cosmetology graduates earn about what cosmetology graduates earn nationally, $20,014 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $9,833 in federal loans, close to the national median of $9,833. One other Alabama program reports higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Alabama and national columns are the medians across all cosmetology certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Blue Cliff Career College graduates earn about the national figure but about $1,834 less than the Alabama median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Alabama cosmetology program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Alabama medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 13% between the first and fifth year. Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in Alabama earn a median of $29,150 across all experience levels, which shows how much room there is to grow after the first few years.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate. BLS figures cover hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists at every experience level.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $104 a month, or 6.2% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
91% of graduates (42 of 46) were working in Alabama one year after graduating. Prices in the Mobile area are about 12% below the national average, so a $20,014 salary here buys what about $22,718 buys in a typical US city.
The median Alabama cosmetologist earns $29,150, compared with a national median of $35,790. After adjusting for Alabama prices, that pay is worth about $32,818, which puts Alabama behind.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to cosmetology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists
$29,150Median pay in Alabama. 3,300 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 73,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
Manicurists and Pedicurists
$30,300Median pay in Alabama. 920 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 21,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers
$40,810Median pay in Alabama. 1,280 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Skincare Specialists
$39,260Median pay in Alabama. 590 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
About Blue Cliff Career College
Cosmetology is the only certificate program at Blue Cliff Career College that reports first-year earnings.
Other cosmetology certificate programs near Mobile
Common questions
The median graduate earns $20,014 one year after graduating and $22,661 five years after. Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in the Mobile metro area earn a median of $29,700 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $9,833, which ranks the lowest of 5 cosmetology certificate programs in Alabama. That works out to about $104 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 49% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 55%.
Most do. 91% (42 of 46) were working in Alabama one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Alabama comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the cosmetology program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024