The students you're losing can't be on campus five days a week
The person working full time, the parent doing school runs, the applicant an hour up the highway — they do not turn down your program because it is bad. They turn it down because they cannot be in a chair on your floor every weekday for a year.
Texas already lets you take half of that off the table. Up to 50% of every course can be delivered as distance theory — 500 of the 1,000 hours on a Class A barber course. The half that stays on campus is the practical half, which is the half worth showing up for.
What it is not is an online school. Practical hours can never be delivered remotely, and any vendor telling you otherwise is selling something TDLR will refuse to approve.
A ShearQuery rep calls you back within 24 hours.
What the rule actually says
“Schools offering distance education may not designate more than 50% of the total hours in each course as theory hours delivered via distance education.”
“Courses taught by distance education do not satisfy the requirements of the practical portion of the course curriculum.”
Read the rule and TDLR's page yourself — we would rather you did. Figures on this page were read from the rule text on 2026-08-30.
How many hours you can actually move, by course
16 TAC §83.202(e)(2) states a maximum in hours as well as the percentage. They agree on every line — which matters, because it means the number is not arguable in either direction.
| Course | Total hours | Max online | On campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmetology operator(A) | 1000 | 500 | 500 |
| Class A barber(B) | 1000 | 500 | 500 |
| Class A barber to cosmetology operator(C) | 300 | 150 | 150 |
| Cosmetology operator to Class A barber(D) | 300 | 150 | 150 |
| Manicurist(E) | 600 | 300 | 300 |
| Esthetician(F) | 750 | 375 | 375 |
| Manicurist / esthetician(G) | 800 | 400 | 400 |
| Eyelash extension specialist(H) | 320 | 160 | 160 |
| Hair weaving specialist(I) | 300 | 150 | 150 |
| Hair weaving specialist / esthetician(J) | 800 | 400 | 400 |
What TDLR expects once you offer it
This is the part schools underestimate. The 50% is a number to plan around; these are ongoing duties an inspector checks — and they are why moving theory online is a program change rather than a software purchase.
Practical hours can never be remote
Courses taught by distance education do not satisfy the requirements of the practical portion of the curriculum. Every hands-on hour stays on campus, in front of an instructor.
An instructor is physically present for practical
For theory, an instructor may participate through distance education. Distance education hours are the only hours that can be completed without an instructor physically present.
Approval comes first, per program
Distance education is a section of the curriculum application, submitted per course. An inspector verifies the Certificate of Approval — and a new curriculum application is required if the approved distance hours change at all.
Hours are accounted for the same way as attendance
Schools must document the distance hours granted and reported for each student, verify them by the same methods used for regular attendance, and report electronically as the department prescribes.
Distance education is a section of the curriculum application, submitted per course.
Want to know what this looks like for your courses?
Tell us your school and a rep will walk you through the hour split for your exact course mix, on a call, with a working interface in front of you.
Request Callback or DemoWhat we'd build with you
A hybrid interface for your school: theory delivered online up to your approved cap, hours tracked in a form that survives an inspection, and the on-campus practical schedule sitting alongside it rather than in a separate book.
We are not going to pretend it is a finished product you can switch on this week. What it looks like depends on your course mix, what you already run, and what you are actually trying to fix — enrollment, completion, pass rates, or the hour paperwork itself. No two of these engagements are the same, which is why it ends in a conversation rather than a price list: what your school needs scoped is not what the school across town needs scoped.
Book the call
Five fields, then a ShearQuery rep calls you back within 24 hours.
- 1.We look at your courses and current hour split before we ring.
- 2.Live on the call, you see a hybrid interface built around your school — not a recorded demo.
- 3.What it becomes depends on the data you can share and the goals you set. We will tell you plainly if it is not worth doing.
What school owners ask us
- Will TDLR approve this, or am I risking my school license?
- Distance education is already permitted and already has a form: it is a section of the curriculum application, submitted per course. Nothing here asks you to do something novel or to seek an exception. What it does ask is that the hours are designed to the cap before you apply, because a curriculum that designates more than 50% as distance theory is the version that gets refused.
- Does moving theory online cost me practical instruction time?
- No — it protects it. The practical hours are unchanged and must stay on campus with an instructor physically present. What changes is that theory stops competing with the clinic floor for room and instructor time, which is usually the constraint a school is actually fighting.
- What happens at my next inspection?
- An inspector verifies the Certificate of Approval and checks that distance hours are documented per student, verified the same way regular attendance is, and reported electronically. That record-keeping is the part schools underestimate, so it is the part we build first. If you cannot evidence the hours, the hours are the problem — not the delivery.
- We already have an LMS. Why would we need you?
- If your LMS tracks hours in a form TDLR accepts and enforces your approved cap per course, you may not. Most do not — they were built for semesters and credits, not clock hours with a regulatory ceiling and a practical component that can never be remote. The gap is usually accounting, not video hosting.
- How much of the work falls on my staff?
- The curriculum application is yours to file — we will not sign it and could not. What we take on is the build and the hour accounting behind it. Where your staff time goes is one of the things the call is for, because it depends on what you already have.
- What does it cost?
- It depends on your course mix, what you already run, and what you are trying to fix, and we would rather tell you that than post a number that turns out to be wrong for you. No two of these engagements are the same. The call is where it gets scoped, and if it is not worth doing we will say so.
- We are not in Texas. Does any of this apply?
- The 50% cap and the per-course hours on this page are Texas law and do not travel. Other states differ sharply — some allow distance hours with a different ceiling, some allow none. Tell us your state on the form and we will tell you what your board actually permits before we talk about anything else.
Still deciding?
The fastest way to find out whether this is worth doing at your school is twenty minutes on the phone with someone who has read the rule.
Request Callback or DemoRelated: Texas distance education compliance · States that allow online cosmetology school · Texas school pass rates