DUBUQUE — Cosmetology schools in Iowa have been in the crosshairs in recent years, as some state lawmakers question their education requirements.

Two bills in the Legislature would have reduced the minimum number of hours of education required to become a certified cosmetologist. Both failed to pass out of committees after heated pushback from nonprofits and lobbying groups representing the schools and Iowa cosmetologists.

Proponents of reducing the education requirement from 2,100 hours to about 1,500 — more in line with the requirements in most states — argue it is too costly and takes too long for Iowa students to get certified.

Capri College is one of the institutions training the state’s cosmetologists. The school has locations in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Dubuque and Waterloo.

In Dubuque, eight instructors — soon to be 10 — currently teach 40 students. The college’s leaders are among those vouching for the current state standards.

“Legislators, when they’re making decisions, don’t understand our business,” said Admissions Director Erin Fiegen, whose father founded Capri. “They don’t understand our industry. They’re not looking at the details.”

Marilee Mai heads the cosmetology department at Northeast Iowa Community College’s campus in Calmar.

She also told the Telegraph Herald that the current hours requirement provides Iowa graduates with extra experience that makes them workforce ready.

“With those 2,100 hours of training, I was able to start my own salon and felt comfortable,” she said.

Critics argue that more hours equals higher costs to become certified.

Capri’s website features a cost calculator for potential students. For example, a 22-year-old single parent can expect to pay $17,280 in tuition and fees. Books and supplies should run another $2,100 or so.

The calculator also anticipates that same student should qualify for more than $12,000 in grants and financial aid.

Capri’s Chris Fiegen, Erin’s brother, referenced that aid when discussing the impacts of reducing the number of hours. Capri students typically fulfill their hours requirement in about 15 or 16 months.

“A 1,500-hour program has less federal financial aid eligibility than a 2,100-hour (one),” he said. “In the (U.S. Department of Education’s) mind, an academic year has a certain amount of length. We don’t make those rules.”

The department’s communications services director, April Jordan, said there is some truth to that, but that schools define their academic years, which impacts grant possibilities.

“The student can receive a Pell Grant for the first 900 hours as a year,” she said. “If a school says the program is 1,500 hours, then the second (grant) a student could get at that school would only be for two-thirds. It wouldn’t be fair for them to get two full if they didn’t need them.”

On the floor of Capri’s clinical salon in Dubuque, students said the college’s staff strives to highlight those options.

“They try to give you as much help as they can,” said Christina Robey, who has completed 1,700 of her hours so far at Capri. “They’re always coming to us with ideas.”

At NICC, tuition and fees for the cosmetology program total about $13,700. Students potentially are eligible for federal and state financial assistance.

In Fennimore, Wisconsin, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College offers a 1,500-hour program — that state’s standard — at a cost of $6,920.

Just like at other higher-education institutions, costs have climbed over time.

Verla Tegeler, a cosmetologist at The Head Shed Salon in Dyersville, Iowa, recalled her tuition totaling about $825 at Capri when she graduated in 1976.

Nearby, Jill Scherbing was cutting and dyeing her mother’s hair. Scherbing believed her tuition was $5,000 in 1988.

Federal government databases estimate a cosmetologist’s annual salary at between $27,000 and $35,000. Proponents of cutting Iowa’s minimum hourly requirement question whether that is enough for the cost of getting certified at the current threshold.

Staff from tri-state-area schools, however, said those average salary estimates are low.

“Within the first couple of years, it is reasonable to say that’s the salary,” Erin Fiegen said. “But we know we have graduates making $400 in two hours. Maybe they specialize and they’re eyelash extension artists or hair extension queens.”

Iowa professional cosmetology organizations have conducted studies that point closer to $50,000 as an average in the state.

“That’s not bad for not having a two- or four-year degree,” Fiegen said.

Mai, of NICC, agreed.

“There is a huge range of opportunities in the cosmetology field,” she said. “You can go work for someone, be your own employer (or) there are chair rentals. That is just a ballpark number that comes off the government website.”

Amy Chamberlin heads the cosmetology program at Highland Community College, which has its main campus in Freeport, Illinois. She works there full time but runs a salon out of her home on the side.

“I do hair three days a week out of my house,” she said. “I easily brought in $20,000 by myself. You can bring in $40,000 to $60,000 easily. If you make it bigger, there’s more.”

Jordyn Sarbacker is studying at Capri in Dubuque, commuting from her home in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, after first attending business school at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin. She said she was particularly confident that she can have a lucrative career if she uses the full set of tools that Capri teaches students.

“I have always seen my salon as a salon and a spa, using everything I have learned,” she said. “The more services you offer, the more money there is.”