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

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 medium-sized city of Overland Park, JCCC is a public school with a large student population.

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

JCCC 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 Plains States Region list.

Full Culinary Arts at Johnson County Community College Report

#2

Saint Paul College

Saint Paul, MN

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Saint Paul College. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Saint Paul College is a moderately-sized public school located in the large city of Saint Paul.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Saint Paul College are $6,318 per 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.

Full Culinary Arts at Saint Paul College Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southeast Community College Area. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the city of Lincoln, Southeast Community College is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

Southeast Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $3,864 in tuition and fees each 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

Out of the 9 schools in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Kirkwood Community College landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Cedar Rapids, Kirkwood Community College is a public school with a large student population.

Kirkwood Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $7,604 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Culinary Arts at Kirkwood Community College Report

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 suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public school with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at DMACC are $10,680 per 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 landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value associate degree culinary arts programs. Located in the midsize city of Springfield, OTC is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at OTC are $6,368 per 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 ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Western Iowa Tech Community College is a medium-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

Butler 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 #8 on the list. Butler CC is a medium-sized public school located in the town of El Dorado.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Butler CC are $6,010 per 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 More…

Saint Louis Community College came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Saint Louis Community College is a fairly large public school located in the 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 More…

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best culinary arts schools 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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