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Best Value Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

15 Colleges
$8,966 Avg Tuition & Fees*

Finding the Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate 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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Trade College Search has created the Best Value Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 15 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value basic certificate 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 Basic Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Colleges.

Top 10 Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools

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

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

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

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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Madison Area Technical College is a great value for culinary arts students working on their basic certificate. Located in the large city of Madison, Madison College is a public school with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Madison College are $6,812 per year.

Madison College not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #1 on our Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Full Culinary Arts at Madison Area Technical College Report

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Gateway Technical College is a great value for culinary arts students working on their basic certificate. Gateway Technical College is a medium-sized public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Kenosha.

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

Gateway Technical College also claimed a spot on our Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.

Full Culinary Arts at Gateway Technical College Report

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Fox Valley Technical College is a great value for culinary arts students working on their basic certificate. FVTC is a large public school located in the midsize suburb of Appleton.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at FVTC are $6,977 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, FVTC is ranked #5 for overall quality for culinary arts in the Great Lakes Region .

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Fox Valley Technical College

#5

Schoolcraft College

Livonia, MI

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Schoolcraft College. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the small city of Livonia, Schoolcraft College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Schoolcraft College undergraduate students pay an average of $7,652 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Culinary Arts at Schoolcraft College Report

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for culinary arts students to get a basic certificate. It came in at #6 on the list. 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.

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Milwaukee Area Technical College came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. MATC is a fairly large public school located in the city of Milwaukee.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at MATC are $7,018 a year.

Full Culinary Arts at Milwaukee Area Technical College Report

#8

Ivy Tech Community College

Indianapolis, IN

Ivy Tech Community College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for culinary arts students to get a basic certificate. It came in at #8 on the list. Ivy Tech Community College is a fairly large public school located in the city of Indianapolis.

Ivy Tech Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $8,927 in tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Ivy Tech Community College also is in the top 10% of our Best Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

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Sinclair Community College ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Sinclair Community College is a large public school located in the city of Dayton.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Sinclair Community College are $8,316 per year.

Read More…

#10

Lake Land College

Mattoon, IL

Lake Land College came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Culinary Arts Basic Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Lake Land College is a small public school located in the town of Mattoon.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Lake Land College are $13,905 a year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Lake Land College

Best Culinary Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best culinary arts schools 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 15 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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