So, What’s the Big Deal About an Associate Degree When I Really Just Want to Do Hair?
We hear it all the time:
“I don’t really care about getting a college degree. I just want to do hair.”
Fair enough.
If you love hair, you probably aren’t dreaming about sitting behind a desk. You’re thinking about color transformations, extensions, fades, blonding, building a clientele, opening your own salon or barbershop, and creating a career doing something you actually enjoy.
So why would an Associate of Applied Science degree matter?
Because you may just want to do hair today, but your career can become much bigger than the chair.
Your License Gets You Behind the Chair. Your Education Can Help You Decide Where You Go Next.
Becoming a licensed cosmetologist or barber is an accomplishment in itself. It gives you the professional credential to begin working in the industry.
But think about what happens next.
You start building a clientele. You get busier. You increase your prices. Maybe you rent a suite. Then you start thinking about opening a salon or barbershop. You may eventually hire employees, manage inventory, negotiate a lease, market your business, understand your financial statements, train other professionals, work for a major beauty brand, or move into education or management.
Suddenly, you aren’t just doing hair.
You’re running a business.
You’re managing people.
You’re making financial decisions.
You’re building a brand.
You’re creating a career.
That is where additional education begins to make a lot more sense.
The Goal Isn’t to Replace Your Cosmetology or Barber Education
It is to build on it.
At The Institute Rockwall, our partnership with Lamar State College Orange creates a pathway that allows eligible students to work toward an Associate of Applied Science degree while building their professional career in cosmetology or barbering.
Instead of thinking of college and cosmetology as two completely separate choices, think of them as pieces of the same career plan.
Your technical education teaches you the craft.
Your academic and business coursework helps you understand the business behind the craft.
Together, they prepare you for more than your first job.
“But I Want to Own My Own Salon.”
Exactly.
That’s one of the strongest arguments for continuing your education.
Being an incredible hairstylist doesn’t automatically teach you how to read a profit-and-loss statement, calculate whether a business decision makes financial sense, communicate professionally, understand basic accounting, develop a business plan, or manage the dozens of decisions that come with entrepreneurship.
The beauty industry is full of talented professionals.
The professionals who learn how to combine talent with business knowledge have an entirely different set of tools available to them.
Your hands may generate the revenue, but understanding the business helps you keep it.
An Associate Degree Can Also Give You Something for the Future
Here is something that’s difficult to imagine when you’re just beginning your career:
You may not want to stand behind the chair forever.
That doesn’t mean leaving the beauty industry.
Twenty years from now, you may want to become an educator, salon manager, admissions representative, school administrator, manufacturer educator, distributor representative, business owner, consultant, or entrepreneur.
You may even decide to pursue a bachelor’s degree someday.
You don’t have to know that today.
That’s the point.
Education can give your future self options that your 18-, 20-, or 25-year-old self may not even know you will want.
What About Transferring?
This is where students need to understand an important distinction.
An Associate of Applied Science (AAS) is designed primarily as a workforce degree. It combines technical career education with college-level academic coursework. It is not the same thing as a traditional Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree designed specifically for transfer.
That does not mean the college courses you complete have no value beyond the AAS.
Students who think they may eventually pursue a bachelor’s degree should plan ahead and work closely with Lamar State College Orange and the university they may eventually attend.
One strategy may be to continue taking academic courses through LSCO until you have completed the Texas Core Curriculum. Becoming core complete can make a significant difference when transferring to a Texas public college or university because the completed core is generally recognized as a block rather than requiring the student to start over with general education coursework.
Your pathway might eventually look something like this:
Cosmetology or Barber License → Associate of Applied Science → Complete the Texas Core → Transfer toward a Bachelor’s Degree
Not every student will choose that path.
But having a path available is powerful.
“I Still Just Want to Do Hair.”
Then do hair.
Do incredible hair.
Become the stylist people wait weeks to see. Become the barber whose books stay full. Become the colorist everyone recommends. Build the suite. Open the salon. Create the brand.
An associate degree doesn’t make you a better hairstylist simply because you have a diploma hanging on the wall.
What it can do is help you build something around your talent.
Because there is a big difference between knowing how to perform a $200 service and knowing how to build a profitable business that delivers hundreds of $200 services.
There is a difference between having a clientele and building a company.
There is a difference between earning money and understanding how to manage it.
And there is a difference between preparing for your first job and preparing for an entire career.
It’s About Having More Choices
At The Institute Rockwall, we don’t believe students should have to choose between career education and college education.
Why not have both?
Learn the craft.
Earn the license.
Build the clientele.
Learn the business.
Earn the degree.
And create as many options for your future as possible.
So, what’s the big deal about an associate degree when you really just want to do hair?
Maybe the degree isn’t about changing what you want to do.
Maybe it’s about expanding what you can do with it.
I especially like that last line as the theme for the post. It could also become a social graphic or website callout: “The degree isn’t about changing what you want to do. It’s about expanding what you can do with it.”
