A penny saved as a student learns

Melissa Schorr

Saturday, Feb. 7, 1998 | 10:38 a.m.

Some people use their bodies to make a buck.

Others use their bodies to save one.

If bargain-hunting is in your blood, there's a little-known trick to getting everything from a head-to-toe make-over a la Paula Jones to a complete psychiatric work-up a la Ted Kaczynski at only a fraction of the price.

The catch?

You'll have to be willing to play human guinea pig, providing practice for those therapists-in-training and beauticians-to-be.

But for those who are long on time, short on cash, and big of heart, the prices can be downright criminal.

A shampoo and haircut? A mere $5.50 at the Academy of Hair Design.

An hour-long massage? A paltry $20 at the Northwest Massage School.

A teeth cleaning? A measly $23 from the community college's Dental Clinic.

Most tempting of all -- a full hour of unloading your troubles to a (nearly) trained therapist. Cost? A meager $5. You can't buy a sympathetic ear much cheaper than that.

"Therapists are hard to find and expensive," says Tom Sexton, director of UNLV's Client Services Center, where clinical graduate students provide low-cost counseling to the public. "This is the site of choice for some, for others, it's economic reality."

And what the students lack in experience, they make up in attentiveness. Remember: they're being graded on this.

Patti Stockwell, a first-time client at the Academy of Hair Design, came in on a recent weekday for a $10 shampoo, cut and blow-dry of her toussled blond hair.

"I've had $50 haircuts that have not looked as good," she tells Deborah Del Popolo, her hairstylist, who is three weeks away from graduating and finding employment in a full-time salon. "I'll have to find out where you're going," Stockwell tells her.

At the Dahan Institute of Massage Studies, owner Serge Dahan says his students, who have more than 500 hours of training and need 50 hours of clinic work to graduate, are in high demand. "It's cheaper than anywhere else," he says, "and they (offer) the same service, if not better."

The main thing that patrons must sacrifice for the savings is time.

"The difference from here and a salon is that they are not as fast," explains Sandy Dunham, owner of the Academy of Hair Design. "All the services have to have everything checked and supervised by the instructors. For a color, the teacher has to check the selection of the color, prior to the applications."

The same goes for the hygienists doing dental work at CCSN's clinic. "It's going to take quite a bit longer, from 2 1 /2 to 3 1 /2 hours," says Theresa Raglin, program director of dental hygiene and dental assisting. "That's where the commitment of the patient comes in."

For retirees Gail Sipple, 63, and his wife Maria, 60, a couple of hours of their time is the one thing they don't mind spending.

"You give up the time to get the attention and the price," Sipple says. He is a 15-year patient at the clinic who, over the years, has referred a dozen of his friends. "It's sort of a tradeoff."

Sipple says that rather than being compromised, his dental care has improved by using the hopeful hygienists. "Even though they are students, everything is checked upon by instructors," he says. "They do a very thorough job."

But other times, the old saying applies: you get what you pay for.

"You're not going to have in-depth spot treatments," says Erin Heimgartner, office manager of the Northwest Massage School. "There's speciality things you could get from a licensed massage therapist -- but it'll cost $40 and up for a pro."

And while all the business owners hasten to point out -- repeatedly -- that there is always a supervisor present, whether it be a professional dentist, licensed masseuse or beautician, it does take practice, after all, to make perfect.

"There's been normal restaurant (disasters) stuff, like when one of the students bumped into something and set off the sprinkler system," recalls Chef Jill Mora, whose Basic Cookery class students at CCSN operate Russell's restaurant. The eatery offers lunch time gourmet meals of Coq au vin and Pasta Pomodoro for around $4.95. "If they make a mistake, we'll cross it off and say we don't have that today."

And Gail Moore, supervisor of the Marinello School of Beauty, points out that no error has ever merited a full-blown crisis or even a lawsuit. "There's been blunders, nothing major," she says. "But their work, isn't supposed to be perfect -- because then we wouldn't be charging (such) low prices."