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Best Value Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools in California

2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

4 Colleges
$1,301 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$20,089 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate School for You

Culinary Arts is the #16 most popular major in California with 1,378 degrees and certificates awarded in 2021-2022.

With all the trade school programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Trade College Search has created the Best Value Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 4 schools in California to see which undergraduate certificate 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.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for an Award Taking 1 to 4 Years in Culinary Arts

#1

Cerritos College

Norwalk, CA

Our 2023 rankings named Cerritos College the best value school in California for culinary arts students working on their undergraduate certificate. Cerritos College is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Norwalk.

Cerritos College undergraduate students pay an average of $1,364 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Culinary Arts at Cerritos College Report

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

Los Angeles Trade Technical College undergraduate students pay an average of $1,238 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Los Angeles Trade Technical College

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Antelope Valley. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools in California list. UAV is a small private for-profit school located in the large suburb of Lancaster.

On average, culinary arts graduates from UAV take out $9,439 in student loans while working on their Undergraduate Certificate.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Institute of Technology. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools in California list. Fresno Institute of Technology is a small private for-profit school located in the large suburb of Clovis.

While working on their Undergraduate Certificate, culinary arts majors at Fresno Institute of Technology accumulate an average of around $10,379 in student debt.

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Best Value Culinary Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 342
Oregon 123
Nevada 74
Alaska 33
Hawaii 212

Culinary Arts is one of 4 different types of trade school programs to choose from.

Culinary Arts Concentrations

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 4 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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