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Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

21 Colleges
$9,287 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$25,389 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree School for You

Culinary Arts is the #11 most popular major in the country with 22,075 degrees and certificates awarded in 2021-2022.

Today's trade school students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Trade College Search has created its Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This report analyzed 21 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value associate degree programs for culinary arts students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Colleges.

Top 10 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools

Our analysis found Chippewa Valley Technical College to be the best value school for culinary arts students who want to pursue a associate degree in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the small city of Eau Claire, CVTC is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

CVTC undergraduate students pay an average of $6,793 in tuition and fees each year.

CVTC excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read More…

Out of the 21 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Madison Area Technical College landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of Madison, Madison College is a public school with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Madison College are $6,812 a year. Culinary Arts majors at Madison College take out an average of $12,211 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

In addition to its great value ranking, Madison College is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Madison Area Technical College

Out of the 21 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Waukesha County Technical College landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Pewaukee, WCTC is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

WCTC undergraduate students pay an average of $6,722 in tuition and fees each year. The average amount in student loans that culinary arts majors at WCTC take out while working on their Associate Degree is $20,902.

In addition to its great value ranking, WCTC is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Waukesha County Technical College

#4

Oakland Community College

Auburn Hills, MI

The excellent associate degree programs at Oakland Community College helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value culinary arts schools in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the suburb of Auburn Hills, Oakland Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Oakland Community College are $5,400 a year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Oakland Community College

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Gateway Technical College. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Gateway Technical College is a medium-sized public school located in the suburb of Kenosha.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Gateway Technical College are $6,917 a year.

Read More…

With a ranking of #6, Fox Valley Technical College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. FVTC is a fairly large public school located in the midsize suburb of Appleton.

FVTC undergraduate students pay an average of $6,977 in tuition and fees each year.

FVTC excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Fox Valley Technical College

#7

Schoolcraft College

Livonia, MI

Schoolcraft College ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the small city of Livonia, Schoolcraft College is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

Schoolcraft College undergraduate students pay an average of $7,652 in tuition and fees each year. After completing their Associate Degree, culinary arts graduates from Schoolcraft College carry an average student debtload of $14,643.

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Cincinnati State Technical and Community College landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value associate degree culinary arts programs. Cincinnati State is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Cincinnati.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cincinnati State are $9,558 per year. Culinary Arts majors at Cincinnati State take out an average of $10,789 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

Cincinnati State also claimed a spot on our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

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Milwaukee Area Technical College ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. MATC is a fairly large public school located in the city of Milwaukee.

MATC undergraduate students pay an average of $7,018 in tuition and fees each year. While working on their Associate Degree, culinary arts majors at MATC accumulate an average of around $17,154 in student debt.

Read More…

Kalamazoo Valley Community College landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value associate degree culinary arts programs. Located in the midsize suburb of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Valley Community College is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

Kalamazoo Valley Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $8,596 in tuition and fees each year. On average, culinary arts graduates from Kalamazoo Valley Community College take out $13,005 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Kalamazoo Valley Community College

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best culinary arts colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 413
Indiana 181
Wisconsin 333
Ohio 305
Illinois 668

One of 4 majors within the trade school area of study, culinary arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Culinary Arts Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Culinary Arts/Chef Training 10,546
Baking & Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef 5,029
General Cooking & Related Culinary Arts 3,303
Restaurant, Culinary, & Catering Management/Manager 1,394
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant 786
Other Culinary Arts & Related Services 335
Institutional Food Workers 204
Culinary Science/Culinology 203
Bartending/Bartender 157
Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, & Dining Room Management/Manager 82
Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter 28
Wine Steward/Sommelier 8

Majors Similar to Culinary Arts

Related Major Annual Graduates
Cosmetology 124,611
Funeral & Mortuary Science 2,186
Casino Operations and Services 385
Other Personal & Culinary Services 95

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 21 schools only.

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to U.S. Army Europe Images.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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