Life is full of trade-offs; picking careers, where to live, what priorities to budget for, they all have upsides and downsides. But what would you do if you had to choose between earning money to support your children and loved ones today, or forgoing that income in hopes of making more a year from now? It’s an impossible choice no one should have to face. But for more than 40 years, that’s been the reality for thousands of aspiring barbering and beauty professionals in Illinois.
Since at least 1985, Illinois has offered no legal pathway for barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians, nail techs, or hair braiders to train as paid apprentices. Forty other states offer apprenticeship programs in these trades, managed either by the Department of Labor or by state licensing boards, putting Illinois in a shrinking minority. For decades, the only way to earn a license here has meant spending an average of $18,000 in tuition and surrendering 350 working days to unpaid training. Nearly 75% of those students take out federal loans to cover the cost.
HB 3460 would change that. The bill creates an apprenticeship pathway for cosmetologists, barbers, estheticians, hair braiders, and nail technicians, allowing aspiring professionals to train under licensed practitioners in licensed salons. Apprentices would receive the same training in sanitation, chemicals, sharp tools, and other core competencies taught in cosmetology school, and would still pass the same licensing exam as everyone else. The key difference is they’d be earning money from day one, building toward a licensed professional’s wages instead of going into debt while they wait.
This doesn’t make cosmetology school obsolete. In fact, most people still choose school even in states that offer apprenticeships, because school is often the faster route to licensure. When someone decides to enroll, they’ve weighed the trade-offs and concluded they can absorb the costs; maybe they’ve saved up, maybe they’re just starting out with fewer obligations, maybe they have family support for childcare, housing, or food.
HB 3460 is for everyone who doesn’t have those options. It’s for survivors of domestic violence who need income now to get out of their situation. It’s for people working to break cycles of reincarceration, where every extra dollar means another day on the right path. It’s for parents and caregivers who need every hour of work to count. It’s for people in communities where the nearest training program is an hour’s drive away. And it’s for salon owners who know talented people in their communities who have the drive but not the funds for school.
Crucially, the Illinois Association of Cosmetology Schools recognized that there are people who want careers in this industry but can’t make school work. That’s why they’ve worked with us on this bill over the past year to get it right.
Both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly voted to pass HB 3460. Governor Pritzker should sign it!