What kind of school it is—and what kind it is not
Healing Mountain Massage School is a private, for-profit institution, and its programs last less than two years. That already tells you something important: it is not a bachelor's-degree-granting college. The federal government classifies it as a non-degree-granting school—it awards certificates or other credentials—and its highest reported level is a postsecondary credential requiring at least one but less than two years. This information alone does not tell us the exact credential for the program your son might be interested in. You need to request that in writing before paying for the first term: the exact name of what he will receive upon completion and whether those credits can later be used at a four-year university.
It is in Salt Lake City, within Salt Lake County, in the Salt Lake City-Murray metropolitan area. Being in that metro area does not mean the campus is downtown, and the fact that a census code places it "in a city" tells you where it is, not how to get there. If your son plans to live at home, drive the route yourself on a weekday at the time he would have class. A map almost never tells the truth about actual traffic.
Something else worth clarifying: Healing Mountain Massage School simply does not appear in the Carnegie Classification, which is commonly used to categorize higher education institutions. It falls outside that classified universe. That is not a judgment of quality—Carnegie did not assign it a classification, and that does not indicate whether it is a good or bad school—but it does signal that you cannot rely here on the reference points you would use to compare traditional colleges. It also is not listed as a historically Black college or university, tribal college, or land-grant institution; that says nothing about the community it serves today or how your son will feel there. Those questions are answered by talking with the school and, if possible, with someone who is already studying there.
A small school for adults: understanding who else is in the classroom
The key enrollment figure here is straightforward: total enrollment across the entire school last fall was 39. It is a very small school—the official size category it falls into is "fewer than 1,000"—and, compared with the 362 similar private schools reporting this same information—private schools with programs lasting less than two years—it ranks among the smallest: at least nine out of ten schools in that group have more students.
What matters is understanding who will share the classroom with your son. Among undergraduates, the share between the ages of 25 and 64 is 79 out of every 100. In practical terms, this is a classroom of adults. Women are a clear majority: 82 out of every 100. And the share who reported being Hispanic or Latino is 18 out of every 100, a figure that—when compared with the 362 schools of the same type in this census—falls below the group midpoint without falling into the lowest quartile.
If your son enrolls right out of high school, he will be among the youngest in the group. That is neither good nor bad by itself, but it changes the social experience: ask what the weekday schedules are like and how much student life exists outside class. The age data describe the entire school; they do not show how students interact from day to day, nor do they indicate where new students came from—that item simply is not reported for this school.
One figure is both surprising and helpful: the student-to-instructional-staff ratio is just 3 to 1. Compared with similar schools, it falls in the lowest quartile—in other words, among the lowest ratios reported. But be careful not to read this as "small classes guaranteed": the figure compares full-time equivalents; it does not count seats in an actual classroom. Ask directly how many students are in the first-year classes for the program that interests him.
How the calendar works and what credentials the school actually awards
This school does not operate on a September-to-May semester calendar. It reported a continuous calendar: students may enroll at any time during the year, without one fixed start date for everyone. It also accepts what IPEDS calls credit for life experience—independent study, noncredit adult courses, work experience, portfolios, previous licenses, or military or professional opportunities—although it did not indicate that it accepts credit through AP examinations, and it does not enroll high school students in college-credit courses.
This has a direct practical consequence for cost: IPEDS asks this type of school to report the price for the entire program, not for an academic year. So when you compare prices, you are not making an apples-to-apples comparison with a traditional college. Request in writing the total cost of your son's specific program and the exact date his cohort begins.
As for credentials: in the federal report of credentials awarded that year, Healing Mountain Massage School is not shown as having awarded any bachelor's degrees. That is not unusual for its type of school—the 364 private schools with short programs covered by this same census are in exactly the same position: none awarded bachelor's degrees. If your son's eventual goal is a bachelor's degree, you need a written transfer agreement and a current list of the credentials the school awards today, because this count covers only one year and a new program might not yet have appeared.
Admission works differently here: there is no "selectivity" to calculate
Healing Mountain Massage School reports an open-admission policy for all or most of its first-time students. That does not mean every applicant is automatically admitted or that space in every program is guaranteed: each person must still meet the applicable eligibility conditions, and a specific program may have its own requirements.
Precisely because the school reports open admission, several things you would normally expect to see in IPEDS simply do not apply here: there are no applicant and admission counts, no post-admission enrollment rate, and no reported policy on the use of the SAT or ACT. None of these gaps reflects a lack of transparency by the school—it is what the school is required to report under open admission. The undergraduate application fee is published: $100.
Regarding transfers: in the fall 2023 count, this school reported no students who were enrolling for the first time after having attended another institution. A zero like this does not mean the school does not accept transfers—it means that no one fell into that category in that specific count. If your son's plan involves transferring here or transferring from here, ask admissions directly whether that is possible and which credits would be recognized.
The price: what is published and what families actually pay
Among the population of first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000—28 in total—the average net price at Healing Mountain Massage School was $22,425. Among members of the same population whose EFC family income was from $48,001 to $75,000—5 in total—the average was $22,694; among those whose EFC family income was above $110,000—5 in total—it was $26,591. For dependent students, the income band combines their parents' income with their own.
The difference between the average for the lowest-income band, whose total count was 28, and the average for the highest-income band, whose total count was 5, is $4,166. Among first-year students who received any grant or scholarship, the average was $22,151.
Even after grants and scholarships were deducted, the average net price for families in the lowest-income band was $22,425 for the largest program, whose reported duration, measured in months, was 9. If that figure does not fit your budget, it is better to see it today than in August.
An average does not show how much individual cases differed within that band; 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; for public institutions, they use the in-state or in-district rate. The overall average with grant aid, when shown, describes first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal, state, local, or institutional grants or scholarships.
The aid students receive—and the debt that accumulates
More than half of degree- or certificate-seeking students—53 out of every 100—receive aid that does not have to be repaid, meaning grants or scholarships, with an average of $4,981 among recipients. Pell, the federal aid for students with demonstrated financial need, reaches exactly the same proportion: 53 out of every 100. Applying for this aid here is neither unusual nor limited to a small few: it is half the group or more. Do not hesitate to ask which documents are required and when they are due.
Now for the other side. Among undergraduates, 72 out of every 100 received a federal student loan during the 2022-23 academic year—that is, the majority, and this count includes all undergraduates, not only degree-seeking students. Among borrowers, the annual average was $7,171. Compared with 364 private schools offering short programs, this share of students with loans is on the high side: seven out of ten similar schools, or more, had an equal or lower share.
Financing an education with debt is the most common situation here, and a loan is not a grant: it must be repaid, with interest. It is worth taking out a pencil and multiplying that $7,171 by the number of years your son expects to remain—and remember that this average covers only the federal loan in the student's name: it does not include Parent PLUS loans, bank debt, or credit card debt, nor is it the total debt a student has upon graduation. If a loan appears in your son's aid letter, request the estimated monthly payment before accepting it. The school also reports a tuition installment payment plan, another option to explore directly with the school.
Campus life: what is available and what clearly is not
It is best to be direct here, without embellishment. Healing Mountain Massage School does not provide its own housing—neither dormitories nor apartments, on or off campus—and does not report meal plans. That does not prevent the official financial-aid budget from including estimates for off-campus housing and food; ask for the specific budget the school would use to calculate your son's aid.
It also did not indicate any ROTC opportunities, and it is not alone in that respect: none of the 383 schools offering programs of less than two years in this guide indicated one. If ROTC is part of your son's plan, this is not the route, and you will need to look at a different type of institution.
The athletics section is marked not applicable—there is nothing to interpret there, either positively or negatively. If athletics matter, ask the school directly.
Regarding distance education: the school does offer undergraduate courses in that format, but in the fall count, the share taking their entire course load at a distance was zero out of 100—everyone took at least one in-person class. The school also specifically reported that it does not offer a complete program that can be taken entirely at a distance. If that interests your son, confirm it in writing for his exact program.
The library component is marked not applicable for this reporting cycle, although the institution does report having physical facilities, an organized collection of materials, digital access, and established hours. If this matters, ask directly where your son can study and how he can obtain materials.
On the support side, the school does report combined academic and career counseling, placement services for program completers, and a web address for services for people with disabilities. It also reports an interesting structured path: a complete program that can be taken only during evenings or weekends, which is useful if your son works while studying.
Who stays and who finishes
The first-time, full-time cohort that entered between August and October of 2022 had a total size of 11. Of those entrants, 9 met the official retention criterion—82 out of every 100—meaning that they either were still enrolled or had already completed their program. With a cohort size of only 11, comparing it with cohorts at other schools is not especially meaningful: two or three individual decisions can move the percentage by dozens of points.
The graduation rate tells a similar story about a different cohort: among those who entered in 2020 as first-time, full-time students, 82 out of every 100 completed a program at this institution within 150% of normal time. That is a high figure, and it deserves to be described that strongly. But it is the history of a past cohort, not a prediction about your son, and it excludes students who transferred in and those who began part time.
The longer-term Outcome Measures component is marked not applicable for this institution in this reporting cycle. That does not mean the school refused to respond, nor does it support any inference about how any cohort fared.
What this article cannot tell you
We do not know what happens to Healing Mountain Massage School students after they finish: there are no data here on employment, earnings, or debt at graduation. That requires another source and another conversation, probably directly with the school and with people who have already gone through it.
Putting the pieces together
You now have a clear picture of one part of the map: a small school with a flexible calendar, a mostly adult classroom, open admission, a program price that must be confirmed in writing, an actual net price that remains around $22,000 even with aid, and a high graduation rate drawn from a small cohort that attended in the past.
That is the first piece of the plan: what the school actually is and offers. You still need to connect it with what your son wants to do with this occupation, what he has already researched on his own, and what your family can and is willing to pay. A decision you can live with confidently comes from those three pieces together—not from any one of them alone.
Source note: the information in this article comes from IPEDS, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, and from reports that institutions submit to the U.S. Department of Education, primarily from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 reporting cycles. Best College Aid does not represent Healing Mountain Massage School or the U.S. government; this article organizes and explains public data to help you understand them.