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Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina

2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

11 Colleges
$5,801 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$25,389 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree School for You

With 811 degrees and certificates handed out in 2021-2022, culinary arts is the #11 most popular major in North Carolina.

Today's trade school students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house.

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 North Carolina ranking. This report analyzed 11 schools in North Carolina 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.

Top 10 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools

Our analysis found Wake Technical Community College to be the best value school for culinary arts students who want to pursue a associate degree in North Carolina. Wake Technical Community College is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Raleigh.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Wake Technical Community College are $2,768 a year. The average amount in student loans that culinary arts majors at Wake Technical Community College take out while working on their Associate Degree is $20,302.

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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Central Carolina Community College is a great value for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Central Carolina Community College is a moderately-sized public school located in the distant town of Sanford.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Central Carolina Community College are $2,554 per year.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Central Piedmont Community College. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina list. Located in the large city of Charlotte, Central Piedmont Community College is a public college with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Central Piedmont Community College are $2,792 a year.

Central Piedmont Community College also took the #2 spot in our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in North Carolina rankings.

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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College is a great value for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Located in the city of Asheville, A-B Tech is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at A-B Tech are $2,832 per year.

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Out of the 11 schools in North Carolina that were part of this year’s ranking, Guilford Technical Community College landed the # 5 spot on the list. Guilford Technical Community College is a large public school located in the midsize suburb of Jamestown.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Guilford Technical Community College are $2,319 a year. Culinary Arts majors at Guilford Technical Community College take out an average of $28,153 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

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Southwestern Community College landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value associate degree culinary arts programs. Located in the town of Sylva, Southwestern Community College is a public college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Southwestern Community College are $2,229 a year.

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With a ranking of #7, Fayetteville Technical Community College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Fayetteville, FTCC is a public school with a fairly large student population.

FTCC undergraduate students pay an average of $2,564 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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With a ranking of #8, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. CCCTI is a small public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Hudson.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CCCTI are $2,537 per year.

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#9

Robeson Community College

Lumberton, NC

Robeson Community College came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking. Robeson Community College is a small public school located in the distant town of Lumberton.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Robeson Community College are $2,563 a year.

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#10

Carteret Community College

Morehead City, NC

Carteret Community College came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking. Located in the distant town of Morehead City, Carteret Community College is a public college with a small student population.

Carteret Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $2,610 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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Best Value Culinary Arts Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Value Culinary Arts Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
South Carolina 215
Georgia 864
Arkansas 283
Florida 1,298
West Virginia 59
Louisiana 367
Virginia 357
Alabama 94
Kentucky 359
Tennessee 104
Mississippi 320

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 11 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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