The following Policy Guideline is designed to replace Informational Policy Memorandum (IPM) 39, issued June 29, 1992.
Section 5002 of the Education Law states in part,
Any school licensed pursuant to section five thousand one of this article shall be organized and conducted only as a school and shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the department exclusively, or in conjunction with such other state agency or department or district attorney upon which jurisdiction has also been conferred by law. Such schools shall be subject to and comply with the provisions of this section.
This policy guideline will identify the process for evaluating and granting clock hours of instruction to students having completed some or all of their instructional hours at other cosmetology schools either within or outside New York State.
According to the Department of State's Division of Licensing Services, New York State currently has reciprocity with a number of other states. Different requirements for reciprocity exist depending upon the reciprocal state. For specific requirements on reciprocity, parties should check the Department of State website. Similarly, cosmetologists from outside the United States should contact the Department of State, Division of Licensing Services, directly to determine requirements.
Individuals not meeting the above requirements must be evaluated by an approved public or private cosmetology school to determine if additional clock hours of instruction are required prior to taking the State Board examinations. Based upon the results of the in-school evaluation, a proprietary school may accept in transfer as many or as few clock hours towards program completion, as it deems appropriate. The evaluation is limited to a review of prior formal training, specifically the review of a transcript from a previously attended school. An evaluation may not include the review of prior experience. For those students accepted for transfer into a school, the respective student files must include the rationale used by the school in identifying the needed number of instructional hours. Therefore based upon evaluation, a proprietary school may determine the individual needs no further training to take the State Board examinations. All records of such evaluations must be kept for seven years, even if a student is determined to require no further training by the school. In such a case, the school would complete the appropriate section of the "Cosmetologist Application" for processing by the Department of State, Division of Licensing Services. The individual may reject the results of the school's evaluation, choosing to be re-evaluated by another school.
In no case is a student required to enroll in a proprietary school prior to being evaluated. The student must know, prior to enrollment, exactly how many hours must be completed at the school and the cost of that instruction.
If an individual decides to enroll in the school, that school would use the approved enrollment agreement showing the appropriate schedule for which the student will attend. The school will indicate the actual number of hours of instruction to be offered to the student by crossing off the original number of hours (usually 1000) and replacing that number with the actual number of hours. The school will then calculate a pro-rated tuition fee for the number of hours to be offered, and indicate this by crossing off the tuition listed on the enrollment agreement and the total cost, and replacing those numbers with the pro-rated figures.