North Charleston cosmetology school closed

Financial shortfalls and other problems have forced the closing of a small, for-profit school that taught hair styling and other beauty skills for several decades in North Charleston.

The Academy of Cosmetology at 5117 Dorchester Road was shut down because “of financial issues and not having the resources to continue operations,” the U.S. Department of Education said in a filing posted on its website this week.

Sewell Gelberd, who bought the school in 2007, agreed with that assessment.

“That and the combination of our own mistakes, increased competition and lack of capital — all of those things sort of sunk us,” Gelberd said Thursday.

Also, he said. a management company that was hired to run the academy pulled out without warning.

“It was sort of a done deal by the time they left,” Gelberd said.

The last day of instruction was in mid- to late January, he said, and five students were unable to complete their coursework because of the closing. Efforts were being made to place them with another school, the Education Department said.

Depending on the course, tuition and other fees at the academy ranged from $3,500 to $14,000.

Gelberd said the school had several owners and that its license dated to the mid-1970s. Academy graduates who need their transcripts can contact him by email at sgelberd@gmail.com.