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Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

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2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

22 Colleges
$11,127 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.

It's not easy to decide which trade school program to enroll in when you have so many options available. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses.

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 Southwest Region ranking. This report analyzed 22 schools in the Southwest 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.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for culinary arts majors pursuing a associate degree.

Top 10 Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools

#1

Lee College

Baytown, TX

Our 2023 rankings named Lee College the best value school in the Southwest Region for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Located in the city of Baytown, Lee College is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

Lee College undergraduate students pay an average of $4,302 in tuition and fees each year.

Lee College excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Southwest Region list.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Lee College

#2

El Centro College

Dallas, TX

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend El Centro College. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list. Located in the city of Dallas, El Centro College is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at El Centro College are $6,000 a year. After completing their Associate Degree, culinary arts graduates from El Centro College carry an average student debtload of $9,985.

El Centro College also made our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Southwest Region list, coming in at #4.

Read More…

#3

South Plains College

Levelland, TX

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend South Plains College. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list. Located in the town of Levelland, South Plains College is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at South Plains College are $4,857 per year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at South Plains College

#4

Grayson College

Denison, TX

The excellent associate degree programs at Grayson College helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value culinary arts schools in the Southwest Region . Located in the rural area of Denison, Grayson College is a public college with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Grayson College are $5,692 per year.

Read More…

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means San Jacinto Community College is a great value for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Located in the large suburb of Pasadena, San Jacinto College is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at San Jacinto College are $5,040 a year.

Read More…

#6

Del Mar College

Corpus Christi, TX

Del Mar College came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Located in the large city of Corpus Christi, DMC is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

DMC undergraduate students pay an average of $5,990 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Del Mar College

With a ranking of #7, Houston Community College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Houston Community College is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Houston.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Houston Community College are $5,460 a year. After completing their Associate Degree, culinary arts graduates from Houston Community College carry an average student debtload of $19,775.

Full Culinary Arts at Houston Community College Report

#8

Kilgore College

Kilgore, TX

Kilgore College landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value associate degree culinary arts programs. Kilgore College is a moderately-sized public school located in the fringe town of Kilgore.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Kilgore College are $5,256 per year.

Read More…

Austin Community College District did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for culinary arts students to get a associate degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the city of Austin, Austin Community College District is a public school with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Austin Community College District are $10,590 per year.

Full Culinary Arts at Austin Community College District Report

Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for culinary arts students to get a associate degree. It came in at #10 on the list. OSU Institute of Technology is a small public school located in the distant town of Okmulgee.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at OSU Institute of Technology are $11,384 per year. While working on their Associate Degree, culinary arts majors at OSU Institute of Technology accumulate an average of around $15,266 in student debt.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, OSU Institute of Technology also did well on our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Southwest Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best culinary arts schools for a specific state in the Southwest region.

State Degrees Awarded
Arizona 376
Texas 1,430
Oklahoma 332
New Mexico 109

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

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 22 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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