Almost everyone who walks through our door already knows they want to cut hair for a living. What they are far less sure about is which license Ohio expects them to hold while they do it. Barber and cosmetology are two separate licenses, issued by the same board, earned on two separate programs, and the one you pick shapes the next year of your life and the kind of chair you sit behind afterward.
The short answer
If the work you picture yourself doing is clipper work, tapers, fades, beard shaping and razor work on a mostly male clientele, the barber license is the one built for that. An Ohio Master Barber license takes 1,800 clock hours of training in a licensed school, and that is the program we run at GOAT Barber Academy.
If you picture yourself doing color, chemical services and a wider range of hair work, cosmetology is the lane people usually point you toward. We do not teach the cosmetology program, so we are not going to summarize its requirements for you from memory. Both licenses are administered by the Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board, and the Board publishes what each one requires at cos.ohio.gov. Read it there, from the source, before you commit money to either path.
Why people get this decision wrong
The most common mistake is picking the license based on which school called back first. The second most common is picking based on what a friend did five years ago. Neither of those is a plan.
The useful way to run the decision is backward, from the chair you want. Walk into the shop or salon you would like to work in two years from now. Look at what the people there are actually doing all day. Look at what they are charging for it. Then find out which license the people doing that work hold. That single afternoon of research is worth more than any brochure, including this page.
Questions worth answering before you enroll anywhere
- What do you want to be doing all day? Not what sounds impressive. What you would still enjoy on a Tuesday afternoon in your third year.
- Who is your client? The answer usually points at the license more clearly than any course catalog does.
- Where do you want to work? Shops and salons often have a strong preference about which license they hire, and they will tell you if you ask.
- What does the state require for that license? Confirm it with the Board, not with a school’s sales pitch.
- What can you actually attend? A license you can finish beats a license you abandon at 600 hours.
What the barber route looks like here
If barbering is the answer, here is the shape of it at GOAT. The program is 1,800 clock hours, built on the Pivot Point curriculum, and every schedule runs Monday to Friday:
- Full Time, 9 AM to 5 PM: about 12 to 13 months
- Part Time B, 9 AM to 4 PM: about 13 to 15 months
- Part Time A, 9 AM to 2 PM: about 18 to 19 months
There is no evening track and no Saturday track, so the honest question is how many weekday hours you can protect every week for a year or more. New classes start the first Monday of every month, which means the gap between deciding and starting is weeks rather than seasons.
Our head instructor is Alex Sierra-Tirado, Ohio instructor license INSTR.057163, who has spent more than ten years in the industry and has the competition awards to show for it. The school is licensed by the Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board, License No. SCHL.000792. Those two numbers are worth checking on any school you consider, ours included. A school license number and an instructor license number are both public records, and a school that hesitates to give you either one has told you something.
What it costs to go the barber route
Cost belongs in this decision, because the two programs are not the same length and therefore not the same price anywhere. For the barber program here, the numbers are: tuition $15,000, kit and supply fee $1,612.50 including tax, and a $150 registration fee due at signing, which is non-refundable. That totals $16,762.50.
We are not Title IV approved, so there is no FAFSA and no federal financial aid for this program. Financing is available through in-house payment plans and outside funding, and the tuition and funding page walks through the options. State exam and license fees are separate, set by the Board, and they change, so get the current figures from cos.ohio.gov rather than from a school page.
Can you switch later?
This is the question we get right after the first one, and it is a Board question, not a school question. Whether hours or credentials carry from one license to another, and under what conditions, is set by state rule and by the Board’s own process. Ask the Board directly at cos.ohio.gov before you count on it. We would rather tell you to go check than give you a confident answer that costs you a year.
What we will say plainly is this: do not enroll in a program you are lukewarm about on the theory that you will correct course later. Pick the license that matches the work, then commit to it.
How to settle it this week
Go sit in a barber chair and watch the floor. Our student clinic takes walk-ins Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM, haircuts are $11, and the services are performed by supervised students. Thirty minutes in that chair will tell you more about whether this is your trade than a week of reading will. The clinic line is (330) 953-0880.
If you want to see the classroom and the floor from the other side, tours run Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM. You can book a visit online or walk in. Bring the questions above with you; the useful ones are the ones you ask out loud.
When you have decided, the program page lays out the barber program week to week, the FAQ covers hours and attendance in more detail, and you can start an application in about five minutes. If you would rather ask a person first, admissions texts are answered at (330) 249-1760.
GOAT Barber Academy LLC, 1741 S Raccoon Rd, Suite 3, Youngstown, OH 44515 (Wedgewood Plaza, Austintown). Licensed by the Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board, License No. SCHL.000792. Program lengths shown are estimates based on scheduled hours and assume satisfactory attendance and progress; your actual completion date is governed by your signed enrollment agreement. Requirements for the cosmetology license, and any transfer of hours between programs, are determined by the Board. State exam and license fees are set by the Board and are subject to change. We do not guarantee employment.