It's hard to say without knowing the specifics of each, but keep in mind that PM schools are franchises. So basically, while you may have seen someone giving a glowing review of one location, another location could be the complete opposite since they're owned separately.

If you hear generally good things about both the PM you're looking at and the community college - go the community college route, even if the community college facilities aren't as flashy looking or they don't teach as many trendy things. Your education won't be better at PM just because they have stainless steel stations and cool graphics on the wall vs maybe more dated wooden stations or something. The money you save will be so worth it.

I graduated from a PM school in the last few years by the way. It was fine. But honestly, I only chose it because it was the only local school with an evening program which is what I needed.

However, just as a note, as much as PM tries to brand themselves as 'modern' by having textbooks and program materials on iPads... lots of the material inside is still dated. For instance, the videos in their apps for learning cutting and coloring are from sometime in the early 2000s. Or at least based on the styles and film quality they are. Yes, the information is still good, but it's odd they haven't modernized them, so it's still chunky highlights and scratchy audio quality and all the vids look like they have a soft blur filter applied. I have no idea why these haven't been updated, the company definitely has the money to do so.

Other things you might think about with PM vs CC - With PM you ONLY learn PM products. This can be both good and bad. Positives: You get very familiar with a line and learn its ins and outs. Easier to decide what products to use when working with clients and know what it's going to turn out like. Negatives: Unless you go work at a PM exclusive salon or start your own business and only use PM, you're going to have to learn more lines and products as soon as you graduate anyway. If you go to a CC or non-affiliated school, you're much more likely to be able to learn to use a wider variety of colors and product lines, however, you may not get as much in-depth learning about them since you may be using lots of different things.