If you'd like to spend a day at the spa but can't afford the price, there will be a new option next fall.

The Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School in Jefferson Hills plans to open a day spa, where it will operate a training program for students interested in skin and nail care.

At the spa, students will offer their services at reduced rates, similar to the method used at the full-service salon operated by the school's cosmetology department, said Steel Center Director John Sandrene.

Mr. Sandrene said it will be the first day spa operating at a public technical school in Allegheny County.

The program will focus on adult education --adults already working in the field who want further certification.

However, traditional age students who have completed Steel Center's cosmetology program may also be interested in getting the aesthetic skin care certification, school officials said.

"We cover skin care in the basic program, but this is more extensive, it's considered a specialty license," said Joyce Tomasic, a cosmetology teacher and supervisor.

The day spa will be located in an area that formerly housed the technical academy and marketing programs. The area has been gutted by Steel Center maintenance workers and bids for renovation work will go out on Dec. 7, said Dennis McCarthy, Steel Center's adult education coordinator.

The renovation work is expected to cost about $80,000 and will be paid out of revenues from the school's adult education programs and the equipment will be purchased with grant money, Mr. Sandrene said.

The spa will have a reception area with a "beautiful waterfall," according to Mr. Sandrene.

There will be a locker area to store clothing and a classroom for instructors.

It will also hold a room for manicures and four rooms for aesthetic skin care and massages, Mr. Sandrene said.

If work goes as scheduled, the spa would be completed by April and used by students over the summer.

But it won't open to the public until after Labor Day, Mr. Sandrene said.

The spa is expected to be a self-suffient operation, Mr. Sandrene said, operating on the fees that it charges.

The school also hopes to open a shop at the spa where patrons can buy skin and nail products.