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Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Schools in Iowa

2023 Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Schools in Iowa

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

13 Colleges
$4,922 Avg Tuition & Fees*

Finding the Best Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate School for You

In 2021-2022, personal & culinary services students earned 953 degrees and certificates from an Iowa school, making the subject the 3rd in the state.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for trade school students. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Trade College Search has created its Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Schools in Iowa ranking. This report analyzed 13 schools in Iowa to see which ones offered the best value basic certificate programs for personal & culinary services students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Schools in Iowa

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Colleges.

Top 10 Best Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Western Iowa Tech Community College the best value school in Iowa for personal & culinary services students working on their basic certificate. Located in the small city of Sioux City, Western Iowa Tech Community College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

Western Iowa Tech Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $4,922 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Western Iowa Tech Community College also took the #3 spot in our Best Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Trade Schools in Iowa rankings.

Read full report on Personal & Culinary Services at Western Iowa Tech Community College

The excellent basic certificate programs at La James International College-Johnston helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value personal & culinary services schools in Iowa. Located in the large suburb of Johnston, La James International College-Johnston is a private for-profit school with a fairly small student population.

Read full report on Personal & Culinary Services at La James International College-Johnston

#2

Capri College, Davenport

Davenport, IA

The excellent basic certificate programs at Capri College, Davenport helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value personal & culinary services schools in Iowa. Capri College, Davenport is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Davenport.

Read full report on Personal & Culinary Services at Capri College, Davenport

The excellent basic certificate programs at La James International College-Davenport helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value personal & culinary services schools in Iowa. Located in the city of Davenport, La James International College-Davenport is a private for-profit college with a fairly small student population.

Full Personal & Culinary Services at La James International College-Davenport Report

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means La James College of Hairstyling and Cosmetology is a great value for personal & culinary services students working on their basic certificate. LaJames College is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the town of Mason City.

Full Personal & Culinary Services at La James College of Hairstyling and Cosmetology Report

#2

PCI Academy-Ames

Ames, IA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend PCI Academy-Ames. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Schools in Iowa list. PCI Academy-Ames is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the city of Ames.

Full Personal & Culinary Services at PCI Academy-Ames Report

The excellent basic certificate programs at Iowa School of Beauty-Des Moines helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value personal & culinary services schools in Iowa. Located in the large suburb of Des Moines, ISB is a private for-profit school with a small student population.

Read More…

#2

Capri College, Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids, IA

Out of the 13 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Capri College, Cedar Rapids landed the # 2 spot on the list. Capri College, Cedar Rapids is a small private for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Cedar Rapids.

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Out of the 13 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Faust Institute of Cosmetology-Spirit Lake landed the # 2 spot on the list. Faust Institute of Cosmetology-Spirit Lake is a small private for-profit school located in the town of Spirit Lake.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend La James International College-Cedar Falls. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Basic Certificate Schools in Iowa list. Located in the city of Cedar Falls, La James International College-Cedar Falls is a private for-profit college with a small student population.

Full Personal & Culinary Services at La James International College-Cedar Falls Report

Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Value Personal & Culinary Services Schools in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Kansas 1,296
Minnesota 1,197
South Dakota 212
North Dakota 207
Missouri 1,495
Nebraska 571

Personal & Culinary Services Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Cosmetology 124,611
Culinary Arts 22,075
Funeral & Mortuary Science 2,186
Casino Operations and Services 385
Other Personal & Culinary Services 95

Related Major Annual Graduates
Mechanic & Repair Technologies 105,741
Precision Production 55,411
Construction Trades 40,802
Transportation & Materials Moving 33,306

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 13 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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