Robert Fiance Beauty Schools Perth Amboy, NJ

The company traces its roots to the Robert Fiance Hair Design Institute in New York City, which opened in 1939 as an advanced training center for hairdressers. The Robert Fiance School of Beauty Culture followed in 1955, and the Robert Fiance Makeup Academy was founded in 2009 as a New Jersey school focused on professional makeup artistry and special effects. The Pitman campus opened in 2012 to extend the company into South Jersey, and the Boynton Beach campus came through the company's purchase of the Redken Hair Design Institute in Palm Beach County. The company states that it has trained more than one million beauticians and that it has more than 50 years in the beauty industry. It describes itself as a family-run company that is not a franchise, and the legal entity behind the schools is Reignbow Beauty Academy Inc.

Each campus has its own setting. The Ocean Township campus is about 10,000 square feet and includes two makeup studios, a photo studio and a film studio; the business describes it as a destination near the beach, Pier Village, Monmouth Mall, Red Bank and Asbury Park. The West New York campus sits in the center of a historic shopping district and an Urban Enterprise Zone with reduced sales tax, and the Pitman campus is across the street from the Pitman fire station. The Boynton Beach campus is in the Sunshine Square shopping plaza in Palm Beach County and has a full-service student salon and spa, a makeup and photo studio, and the Makeup Bar. Classes are kept small so teachers can give students close attention, and prospective students are invited to visit a campus before enrolling.

Students learn in the school's salon and spa, where senior students provide hair, skin and nail services and makeup applications to the public under licensed instructors and master educator supervision. Before moving onto the senior salon floor, students complete a 50-hour Pre-Salon course and receive Certified pins. The cosmetology program requires 1,200 training hours before a student can sit for the New Jersey cosmetology license exam. In Florida, the Facial Specialist skin care program runs 260 hours and meets the base requirements for the state facial specialist license, and the 880-hour Full Specialist program covers skin, nails and makeup artistry. The Special FX Makeup program is 149 hours. The school does not grant licenses or run the licensing exam, since the state does; the New Jersey State Board does not credit off-campus training hours, and there is no apprenticeship program.

Costs are presented as all-inclusive: students are not charged hidden fees, and equipment and books are included in the program cost. Schedule changes are free up to two times, after which an administrative fee applies. The state board registration and permit fees are listed at $5 each, the written exam fee at $40 and the practical exam fee at $130. Students may use federal grants and loans after completing the FAFSA, and private tuition financing through TFC Credit Corp is listed as pre-approved for all students, with a co-signer required for students under 24. The school is also approved for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and unemployed students may use the New Jersey Workforce grant through a local One-Stop Career Center. Job placement assistance is offered, with career fairs held at least four times a year at each campus, though the school does not guarantee employment.

Students train on several product lines rather than one franchised line, and the company's stated values are integrity, creativity and innovation, excellence, lifelong learning and fun.

Campuses range from a large upscale building near the Jersey Shore to shopping-district and plaza locations, with small classes and studio spaces for makeup and photo work.