‘Do right by our students’: Provo beauty school launches novel tuition reimbursement model

PROVO — Despite being a third-generation beauty-school owner, there’s something about the core operation of the beauty school model that has never seemed quite right to Josh Starita.

“If we’re a beauty school, you know, we make money on tuition. That’s no secret,” Starita said. “But why do we also make money on our unpaid students doing haircuts and hair colors and nail services and aesthetic services … (for) the general public?”

Starita has been involved with Paul Mitchell The School Provo for a decade, working in various roles since he left his job at Vivint to dive headfirst into the family business. At the end of 2025, Starita purchased the remaining stores from his father and assumed the role of president of Paul Mitchell Schools North Star Group, which operates a seven-school network across Utah, Idaho and Washington.

As part of the beauty school model, services are offered to the public at discounted rates so students get hands-on experience practicing on real people.

The schools, Starita said, make money from that. The students don’t.

“The students aren’t getting paid because they don’t have a license, obviously, and they do it under the direction of our educators,” Starita said. “It’s kind of always been the thing of, like, ‘Why is this part of our business model?’ Our business model should be giving our students the best education we can possibly give them. We should be trying to do right by our students.”

For three years, ideas of actually changing that longstanding model have swirled around Starita’s head.

He’s involved lawyers to ensure no boundaries are crossed and that the initiative won’t disrupt Paul Mitchell’s broader business model (the company also sells salon and beauty products and owns 50% of the schools).

Then came the Style It Forward initiative, which was announced at the Provo location on Tuesday.

Through Style if Forward, all net proceeds from services done and product sales made at Paul Mitchell The School Provo will go back to students through institutional grant disbursements, which will happen monthly, Starita said.

He noted that Paul Mitchell The School Provo’s student base primarily consists of non-traditional students and those who come from “disproportionately” lower-income backgrounds.

“Our hope is that this is giving them an opportunity to have a cheaper cost of education,” Starita said, adding that he’s also hopeful the initiative will draw more community members to the school for all their beauty needs.

“The more people that come in, that’s just more, more money that’s going to go back to our students and lower their cost of attendance,” he added.

Starita also pointed out that the school isn’t raising tuition costs as part of the initiative, either.

While the initiative is only launching at the Provo location, Starita said he’s also looking to bring it to his six other Paul Mitchell The School locations.

“Who knows? Maybe Paul Mitchell Schools will adopt it overall and implement it in all the schools if it’s successful,” Starita said.