Let’s walk together through what federal data do say about this school and what—in all honesty—they do not say. By the end, you will understand what kind of place it is, how much it may cost, and which questions you need to ask before your child enrolls.
Where this school stands
Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas is in Dallas, Texas, within Dallas County, in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area. Its census code places it in a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more. That tells you what the map looks like, not what daily life is like: how to get to campus and what living options are nearby are questions the data do not answer. If your child plans to live at home, drive the route yourself on a weekday at the exact time of your child’s classes. The actual travel time is almost never what the navigation app promises.
It is a private for-profit school, and its programs last less than two years. IPEDS, the federal government’s official database on colleges, records that the highest level this institution reports offering is a postsecondary credential: a certificate or diploma of at least one year but less than two years. It does not award academic degrees. This is an institutional fact, not a description of every program. Before signing anything, ask for the exact name of the credential your child will receive upon completion in writing, and ask whether those credits can later be used at a four-year university.
As for broader classifications, Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas does not appear in the 2021 Carnegie Classification, nor does it have any of the three special federal designations—it is not a historically Black college or university, a tribal college or university, or a land-grant institution. Of the 3,012 colleges in this directory, 138 have at least one of those three labels; this school is not among them. None of these absences tells you whether the school is good or bad. It means that the classification did not apply to the school or that the school did not seek it. What you do need to do is call admissions and ask what accreditation the school has and exactly what credential it awards. No label can spare you from making that call.
A small classroom, mostly made up of adult women
This is where size really begins to matter. In the most recent fall term, Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas had 149 students enrolled across the entire campus. It is a very small school—the official size category that applies to it is fewer than 1,000 students—but compared with the 362 private schools with programs lasting less than two years that are part of this same census, its size is among the most common: it falls near the middle, neither among the largest nor among the smallest schools of its type.
All 149 of those students are undergraduates; no graduate enrollment was recorded that fall. And almost all of them attend full time.
Now, here is something worth knowing before you picture the classroom: out of every 100 undergraduates, 95 are women. It is, for practical purposes, a space made up of women. And 33 out of every 100 are between 25 and 64 years old—in other words, one-third of enrollment consists not of teenagers who just left high school, but of adults building or rebuilding their professional lives. If your child enrolls immediately after graduating from high school, ask what the actual schedules are like and what student life exists during the week. The data tell you students’ ages; they do not tell you how people interact.
Regarding Hispanic or Latino enrollment, 21 out of every 100 undergraduates identified as Hispanic or Latino in the fall of 2023. They are not the majority, but they are not unusual either; compared with the 362 similar schools in this census, the school ranks above the comparison-group midpoint. IPEDS does not provide information for this school in this cycle about where new students came from—which states or which countries. That information simply is not available.
One figure is worth emphasizing because it often surprises people: the official ratio is 11 students per full-time-equivalent instructional staff member. It is a low ratio, and compared with similar schools in this census, it falls in the lowest quarter—meaning its ratio is lower than that of three out of four similar schools. But be careful about what this does not say: a low aggregate ratio does not, by itself, demonstrate that more staff are available to each student, nor does it tell you the actual size of a classroom. It is an institutional average, not a snapshot of your child’s classroom.
What is studied here and how the academic calendar works
Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas reports a continuous calendar: there is no single “August” when everyone starts together. Students begin when the program opens. That changes how you should think about cost: IPEDS asks this type of school to report the cost of the entire program, not annual tuition. Ask for the program’s total cost and your child’s exact start date in writing. Comparing a “program cost” with another school’s annual tuition means comparing different things.
In its report, the school did not indicate that it awards credit for life experience or AP examinations, and it responded that it does not enroll high school students in college-credit courses. That question also did not measure whether it accepts dual credit or has other credit-transfer policies; those details must be confirmed directly with the school.
The most recent federal completions report shows no bachelor’s degrees awarded by this institution—which makes sense because its institutional focus is short programs, not four-year programs. Of the 364 private schools with programs lasting less than two years covered by this same census, all 364 are in the same situation: none awarded bachelor’s degrees that year. This is not unique to this school; it is the nature of this type of institution. Even so, this is a count for only one year: a new program may not appear yet. Ask admissions for a written list of the credentials the school currently awards.
As for structured academic pathways, the institution reports one: a complete program that can be taken exclusively during evenings or weekends. If your child works, or if you work and need the program to fit around a household schedule, that is a concrete option worth exploring directly with the school.
How admission works here
This is one of the areas where you will find the most gaps in the official information, and it is important to understand why those gaps exist: it is not that the school failed to respond, but that IPEDS simply does not ask certain questions when the admissions policy is open.
Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas reported an open admissions policy for all or most of its first-time undergraduate students. The published application fee is $50. But “open admissions” is not the same as “open program”: that classification describes the general policy, does not guarantee that every applicant will be admitted to every program, and a specific program may have its own requirements. Verify those conditions directly.
Because it reports open admissions, this school is not required to provide IPEDS with counts of applicants and admitted students, an enrollment rate following admission, or a policy on the use of the SAT or ACT. Those three entries appear as not applicable, not as blank fields or as evidence that the school lacks transparency. They are gaps built into the design of the federal report, not gaps left by Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas.
Regarding transfers, in the fall 2023 count, the school reported no undergraduate students who enrolled there for the first time after previously attending another higher education institution. The count was zero. That describes a single fall term; it does not say whether the school accepts transfer students in general or what would happen to your child’s credits if your child transferred in. Ask admissions directly.
The listed price and what students actually pay
At Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas, among 4 first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000, the average net price was $24,514. Among 2 students in the same population with EFC family income from $48,001 to $75,000, it was $28,281; among 2 students with EFC family income above $110,000, it was $29,115. For dependent students, the income band combines their parents’ income with their own.
There is a difference of $4,601 between the average for the lowest-income band (4 students) and the average for the highest-income band (2 students). Among first-year students who received any grant or scholarship aid, the average was $31,230.
This official average was calculated using 4 students: a cell containing between 1 and 5 students. With so few cases, a single person can significantly change the average. Do not use this figure alone to compare or rule out the school; run the net price calculator using your family’s information.
An average does not show how different the cases within that band were; these data do not support claiming that some families were far below or above the published figure. The income bands in this profile describe first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid; at public institutions, they use the in-state or in-district rate. The overall average for students receiving grant or scholarship aid, when shown, describes first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal, state, local, or institutional grants or scholarships.
How students pay here: grants, loans, and payment plans
Out of every 100 degree- or certificate-seeking students at this school, 62 received aid that does not have to be repaid—grants or scholarships. That is more than half, though not everyone. Among those who received it, the average amount for the year was $3,264. That same proportion, 62 out of every 100, also describes those who received Pell Grants, the federal aid for low-income students with demonstrated financial need. Receiving that aid here is neither rare nor limited to a small number of students: half of the group or more receives it.
Now for the other side of the equation, and I want to be direct with you because this is money that must be repaid with interest: out of every 100 undergraduates at this school, 65 received a federal student loan in the most recent academic year. That is more than six out of ten. Among those who received one, the average loan amount for the year was $4,946. Compared with the 364 private schools with short programs in this census, Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas ranks on the high side: seven out of ten similar schools, or more, had a share of students with loans that was equal to or lower than this school’s share.
Here, financing the year with debt is more common than not. And that average of $4,946 is for only one year and includes only federal loans in the student’s name—it does not include parent borrowing, bank debt, or credit cards. It is also not the total debt students have when they graduate, because that figure would require adding together all years of the program, and those data are not in this report. Do the calculation yourself: multiply $4,946 by the number of years your child expects to remain enrolled, and ask for the estimated monthly payment before accepting any financial aid offer.
The fact that borrowing is common here does not determine whether your child will need a loan. That depends on your child’s individual financial aid offer and the difference between the net price and what your family can pay. On the positive side, the school reports two specific mechanisms for managing payment: a guaranteed tuition plan and an installment payment plan. Both are worth asking about.
Campus life: what is not available and what is
I will be brief here because the data are brief: Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas does not provide its own housing—neither dormitories nor apartments under its control—and it does not report meal plans. That does not remove estimates for off-campus housing and food from the official financial aid budget; ask what specific budget financial aid would use for your child if your child lives independently.
The school did not indicate any ROTC opportunities, and this is not unique to this school: of the 383 schools lasting less than two years in this same guide, none indicated ROTC in this cycle. If that pathway interests your child, you will need to look for it at another type of institution.
The entire athletics section appears as not applicable—there is nothing to interpret either positively or negatively. The school reports that it does not offer distance education: not even one course, at either the undergraduate or graduate level, and the fall count showed zero students taking all their classes online. If your child works or cares for someone at home, the schedule will have to work in person. The library component also appears as not applicable in the federal source, although the institution separately reports that it provides physical facilities and access to digital resources.
As for support, the school reports three specific offerings: a combined academic and career counseling service, placement services for students who complete their programs, and a web address for services for people with disabilities. The fact that they are reported does not tell you how good they are or how many people use them successfully; ask directly by speaking with someone who is already there.
Persistence and graduation: numbers that are unavailable and why
This may be the section that requires the most patience because almost everything is blank, and I want to explain precisely what each blank means so you do not mistake it for a poor outcome.
The retention rate—how many first-time students remain enrolled the following year—has no figure to report because the school reported a cohort of zero first-time, full-time students entering during that specific period. Without a group, there is no percentage to calculate. That does not say whether the school is good or bad; it says that this specific calculation had no group on which to be based that year.
There is also no six-year bachelor’s-degree graduation rate because the institution was not operating in the year of the cohort required for that calculation. And the federal component called Outcome Measures, which normally tracks outcomes over eight years, is marked as not applicable for this institution in the most recent cycle. None of these three gaps means that the institution failed to respond, and none allows you to infer how students at this school actually performed.
If your child chooses this path, what you need to do is ask the school directly and in writing for those figures: how many of the students who entered last year are still enrolled today, and what specific support is available during the first year.
What you decide, what your child decides, and what the school decides
It is up to Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas to admit students, charge what it charges, and offer—or not offer—what it reports. It is up to your child to decide whether this short program, with this continuous calendar and this classroom made up mostly of adult women, is where your child wants to earn a specific credential. Your role is different: understand the real cost before any document is signed, ask the questions that federal data leave unanswered, and support the decision without carrying it alone or leaving it entirely to a teenager who is only beginning to learn how to read a financial aid offer.
This school is neither a promise nor a warning. It is one already fairly complete piece of information that you now have in your hands. Combine it with what your child actually wants to study, what your child has researched independently, and what your family can afford without becoming overwhelmed. A plan that truly works for your family comes from that combination—not from this profile alone.
Source note: The information in this article comes from IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) and public reports from the United States Department of Education, primarily from the 2022–23 and 2023–24 cycles. Best College Aid does not represent Collectiv Hair Dressing Academy-Collectiv Academy-Dallas or any government agency; this article is an independent informational guide intended to help families understand official data.