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School lends a helping hand
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Times photo: Brenda Steurer Heather Hale gives a customer a pedicure Monday at the Four Seasons Cosmetology school on the west side of Monroe.

How to Apply

Students interested in applying for transfer to Four Seasons Cosmetology School can call Kristin Allison at 329-7004, or go to www.hairdirections.com to schedule an interview.

MONROE - A Monroe cosmetology school is offering to help students after the owner of Madison Cosmetology College (MCC) announced last Thursday the school was closing.

"We don't know where to turn," said Vicki Crump, 37, who entered the cosmetology program two months ago. "We don't know if we should stay with this school or try to get into another school."

Kristin Allison, owner and president of Four Seasons Cosmetology School in Monroe, is waiving the normal transfer fee for MCC students.

"I just feel so sorry for those girls," she said.

Transfer students could be allowed to start classes almost immediately.

Allison said Four Seasons could take five to 10 extra students for the summer, depending on how much more schooling they need. The school has about 10 students, four of them scheduled to graduate in the fall.

"Whatever these students do, I encourage them to not give up on their dreams or pursuing a career in the cosmetology industry," Allison said. "The opportunities in this industry are impressive particularly for careers that require only two to 12 months of schooling."

Allison first heard about the students' predicament Monday morning. A woman intending to move to Madison to attend MCC this summer called her, asking about the possibility of attending Four Seasons instead.

MCC is Madison's oldest school of cosmetology and has about 30 students.

Colette Walters, an instructor at Four Seasons, told Allison her cosmetology school closed when she was a student, leaving her to take a job in a factory. Eventually, Walters returned to school and graduated from Four Seasons.

Allison realized the difficulty students may face with closing and decided to offer her school as a way for Madison students to finish on time.

"Accreditations are different; there's all the paperwork to go through, and everything. But I know those things take time," Allison said about a possible takeover of the Madison school.

Allison doesn't want to see the Madison students wait that long. Allison said she has taken transfer students in the past.

"We try to fit them where they belong," she said.

Four Seasons is structured with "theory time" in the mornings, with 648 hours in face-to-face time with instructors for reading and going through textbooks together, Allison said. Students put in another 1,152 hours of "floor time," for real-life experience.

"I believe that's why we have 100 percent first-time passing the state board," she said. Four Seasons also has a 100 percent placement rate.

Allison also said tuition at Four Seasons is "substantially lower than most of the other private schools."

MCC owner Bruce Bennett told students the school was closing immediately due to low enrollment. Then, the same day, they learned that the owner of Vici Beauty School in Milwaukee might try to keep the college open.

Bennett, who has owned MCC for 40 years, said so much is up in the air that it would be premature to comment in any detail.

He said he is hopeful that Marvin Rushing, a longtime friend and owner of the school in Milwaukee, will succeed in taking over the college.