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Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

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2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

9 Colleges
$5,947 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. 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 help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Trade College Search has developed this Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 9 schools in the Plains States Region to see which associate degree programs offered the best value experiences for culinary arts students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

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 Plains States Region

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

Best Plains States Region Schools for Affordable Quality for an Associate in Culinary Arts

#1

Johnson County Community College

Overland Park, KS

Our analysis found Johnson County Community College to be the best value school for culinary arts students who want to pursue a associate degree in the Plains States Region . Located in the city of Overland Park, JCCC is a public college with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at JCCC are $5,472 a year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, JCCC also did well on our Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Trade Schools in the Plains States Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read More…

#2

Saint Paul College

Saint Paul, MN

The excellent associate degree programs at Saint Paul College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value culinary arts schools in the Plains States Region . Saint Paul College is a moderately-sized public school located in the large city of Saint Paul.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Saint Paul College are $6,318 a year. The average amount in student loans that culinary arts majors at Saint Paul College take out while working on their Associate Degree is $11,696.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Saint Paul College

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Southeast Community College Area is a great value for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Located in the large city of Lincoln, Southeast Community College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Southeast Community College are $3,864 per year. On average, culinary arts graduates from Southeast Community College take out $14,745 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

Full Culinary Arts at Southeast Community College Area Report

#4

Kirkwood Community College

Cedar Rapids, IA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Kirkwood Community College. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the city of Cedar Rapids, Kirkwood Community College is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Kirkwood Community College are $7,604 a year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Kirkwood Community College

The excellent associate degree programs at Des Moines Area Community College helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value culinary arts schools in the Plains States Region . Located in the large suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at DMACC are $10,680 a year. After completing their Associate Degree, culinary arts graduates from DMACC carry an average student debtload of $9,745.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Des Moines Area Community College

Ozarks Technical Community College came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Located in the city of Springfield, OTC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

OTC undergraduate students pay an average of $6,368 in tuition and fees each year. While working on their Associate Degree, culinary arts majors at OTC accumulate an average of around $12,671 in student debt.

Read More…

Western Iowa Tech Community College 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 #7 on the list. Western Iowa Tech Community College is a moderately-sized public school located in the small city of Sioux City.

Western Iowa Tech Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $4,946 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Western Iowa Tech Community College

#8

Butler Community College

El Dorado, KS

With a ranking of #8, Butler Community College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Butler CC is a medium-sized public school located in the town of El Dorado.

Butler CC undergraduate students pay an average of $6,010 in tuition and fees each year. The average amount in student loans that culinary arts majors at Butler CC take out while working on their Associate Degree is $15,471.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Butler Community College

With a ranking of #9, Saint Louis Community College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their associate degree. Saint Louis Community College is a large public school located in the large suburb of Bridgeton.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Saint Louis Community College are $6,990 a year. After completing their Associate Degree, culinary arts graduates from Saint Louis Community College carry an average student debtload of $9,079.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Saint Louis Community College

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best culinary arts colleges for a specific state in the Plains States region.

State Degrees Awarded
Kansas 96
Missouri 87
Minnesota 125
South Dakota 3
Iowa 200
North Dakota 4
Nebraska 130

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 9 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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