Altoona Beauty School students scramble after changes to tuition aid

Owners of Altoona Beauty School stop accepting federal Title IV tuition money

The new owners of the Altoona Beauty School have stopped accepting federal Title IV tuition assistance on behalf of students, and the transition hasn't gone smoothly for everyone.

Owners Ly and Nathan Nguyen took over the school in March and decided in mid-August to stop accepting Title IV loans and grants that students had obtained because the funding process was causing cash flow problems due to the requirement for the school to buy costly student "kits" before classes started, while Title IV payments didn't begin arriving until 30 days after classes began, according to Ly Nguyen.

The school instead will self-fund financial aid through the Lumion payment platform, with arrangements made between the school and individual students -- customized when necessary -- along with a three-month delay following completion of courses for paybacks to begin and interest rates between 0% and 8%, depending on length of payback periods, according to Nguyen.

While the decision to break away from Title IV occurred in mid-August, the school didn't inform students about the change until Sept. 11, when the process was finalized, to ensure all information that the school provided would be accurate, according to an email from Ly shared by a student.

But that delay was the cause of much consternation among students, many of whom were close to graduating from their courses and who were under the impression that their Title IV aid was still in play, according to nail technician student Jessica Turkovich, who reached out to the Mirror.

The school gave those students only a short time before requiring them to come up with a plan for alternative tuition funding, according to Turkovich.

Without such a plan, the school would withhold transcripts and affidavits of course completion that are necessary for board testing and thus for certifications to begin jobs that were already lined up -- including for her, Turkovich said.

The school assured those students that no transcripts or affidavits would be withheld as long as students were in an active payment plan, but provided little time for the students to consider their options, according to Turkovich, who called the school's behavior "manipulative" and suggested that the delay was intended to encourage some students to enroll who might not have otherwise, if they knew Title IV was not an option.

Ly Nguyen disputed the criticism and leveled her own criticism against Turkovich.

Turkovich's Title IV funding was originally going to cover only about half the cost of her three-month, $5,000 nail tech course, while Turkovich would pay the rest with three payments of $600-plus per month, starting when the course began in June, according to Nguyen.

Turkovich paid the first month, but was past due on the remaining two payments, Nguyen said.

Furthermore, when the transition was announced, Turkovich was "disrespectful" to the school official who handles Title IV issues, according to Nguyen.

Because the nail tech course was short, none of the nail tech students were actually eligible for Title IV funding anyway,

Nguyen said during a couple of initial phone interviews with the Mirror.

After being told that Turkovich had given the Mirror a copy of her Title IV promissory note, signed by the school's director of education, and after consulting with that director, Nguyen backed off her assertion that nail tech students were Title IV ineligible.

Turkovich was indeed eligible for Title IV money, but it had never arrived -- likely because the first payment that should have come to the school in July was withheld, due to the school's having initiated its Title IV breakaway, Nguyen said.

Actually, the new owners were not certified to receive Title IV funds, said Turkovich, citing a phone conversation she had with a Title IV representative.

"I'm confused that they let that (Title IV breakaway) sit in limbo, never mentioning it until the week before I'm due to graduate," Turkovich wrote in an email.

In spite of her initial resistance, Turkovich offered a payment plan to the school.

She did so after confirming that her Title IV loan was never activated, she wrote.

"Although it is a breach of my enrollment agreement, I cannot afford to not get my license and start my job," she wrote.

Many of the other students are also working with the school to reach agreements so they can continue on time and graduate, according to Turkovich.

The school intends to be accommodating to all cooperative students in dealing with finances, according to Nguyen.

"All we need from them is an effort and a commitment," she wrote.

She highlighted one student who had explained to the school that she needed the school to be flexible with her, due to her own financial and housing instability.

The school's terms through the Lumion platform will be more favorable than those of the Title IV programs, both in terms of interest and length of payback period, according to Nguyen.

Making those terms more favorable for the students was part of the motivation for switching away from Title IV, Nguyen wrote.

The switch will work in Turkovich's favor also, Nguyen said.

The school is more liberal about finances than some beauty schools, which don't provide the necessary documents for post-graduation certification unless they've received full payment, Nguyen said.

Altoona Beauty School doesn't insist on full payment because the owners realize that in many cases, students need to begin work to make such payments and because, as owners also of salons, they know the beauty industry is short of employees, she said.

There are some students at the school for whom Title IV has made payments, but who owe additional tuition that will need to be paid through Lumion, Nguyen said. Those students will pay back their Title IV obligation to the designated agency for that federal program.

The school didn't have the option of breaking away from Title IV at a time when there would be no issues with mid-course transitions because students are starting and graduating almost continuously, Nguyen said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.