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

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

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

16 Colleges
$8,897 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$20,089 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Culinary Arts Undergraduate 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.

The Best Value Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking is one of many tools that Trade College Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 16 schools in the Great Lakes Region 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.

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 Undergraduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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

Top 10 Best Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Madison Area Technical College the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for culinary arts students working on their undergraduate certificate. Located in the city of Madison, Madison College is a public college with a large student population.

Madison College undergraduate students pay an average of $6,812 in tuition and fees each year. The average amount in student loans that culinary arts majors at Madison College take out while working on their Undergraduate Certificate is $12,047.

In addition to its great value ranking, Madison College is in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Madison Area Technical College

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Waukesha County Technical College. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the large suburb of Pewaukee, WCTC is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

WCTC undergraduate students pay an average of $6,722 in tuition and fees each year.

WCTC also claimed a spot on our Best Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Waukesha County Technical College

#3

Oakland Community College

Auburn Hills, MI

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Oakland Community College. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Undergraduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the suburb of Auburn Hills, Oakland Community College is a public school with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Oakland Community College are $5,400 a year.

Full Culinary Arts at Oakland Community 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 undergraduate certificate. FVTC is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Appleton.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at FVTC are $6,977 a year.

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

Read More…

#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 Undergraduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the small city of Livonia, Schoolcraft College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Schoolcraft College are $7,652 per year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Schoolcraft College

#6

Grand Rapids Community College

Grand Rapids, MI

Grand Rapids Community College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for culinary arts students to get a undergraduate certificate. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the midsize city of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Community College is a public school with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Grand Rapids Community College are $11,679 per year. On average, culinary arts graduates from Grand Rapids Community College take out $10,832 in student loans while working on their Undergraduate Certificate.

Read More…

With a ranking of #7, Milwaukee Area Technical College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their undergraduate certificate. MATC is a large public school located in the large 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

With a ranking of #8, Kalamazoo Valley Community College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their undergraduate certificate. Located in the midsize suburb of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Valley Community College is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Kalamazoo Valley Community College are $8,596 a year.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Kalamazoo Valley Community College

#9

Baker College

Owosso, MI

Baker College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for culinary arts students to get a undergraduate certificate. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the town of Owosso, Baker College is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Baker College undergraduate students pay an average of $12,710 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Culinary Arts at Baker College Report

#10

Lake Land College

Mattoon, IL

With a ranking of #10, Lake Land College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for culinary arts students working on their undergraduate certificate. Lake Land College is a small public school located in the distant town of Mattoon.

Lake Land College undergraduate students pay an average of $13,905 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Culinary Arts at Lake Land College Report

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 16 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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