Available Financial Aid for Students Pursuing Culinary Arts Programs

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Finding financial aid for culinary school requires a little bit of research, but it can be done. There are quite a few financial aid options available for culinary arts students in the form of scholarships, grants, loans, private donations, and more. Since the cost of culinary school is high, most students require financial assistance in order to attend. This makes finding the best financial aid option fairly important.

Scholarships

Culinary scholarships are a great option for financial aid for culinary school. The best thing about a scholarship is that the money doesn’t have to be paid back and there are tons of scholarships available for culinary students. All it takes is a little research, time, and effort to take the necessary steps to apply. The website, www.scholarships.com is a fantastic resource for culinary scholarships and supplies a list of current scholarships available to help provide financial aid for culinary school.

Grants

Culinary school grants are a lot like scholarships in that the money students receives does not have to be repaid. Most grants are ‘needs-based’ however, which means income will play a huge role in approval or denial. In addition, although a grant isn’t normally considered a loan, if a student fails to complete a semester or meet the terms of the grant – the money will have to be repaid. One of the best resources to apply for federal grants is www.fafsa.ed.gov.

Loans

Federal and private student loans are another option for financial aid for culinary school. Stafford Loans are the most affordable government loans and are given by the U.S. Department of Education. Perkins Loans are given to students with extreme financial need, meaning income and economic situation will be a strong deciding factor in approval or denial. A PLUS Loan is for graduate students and has an annual limit. The PLUS Loan is only given to those with good credit and must start being repaid within 60 days after the loan is given.

Non-traditional Financial Aid

All of the financial aid options previously mentioned are commonplace methods to help students attend culinary school. However, there are other ways to raise money for culinary school that might not be typically considered. For example, turning to community businesses, churches, or other support groups might be a good way to raise money. Family members are another possible option for financial aid. Consider ideas that are a little out of the box in order to make up the difference when money is short and culinary school is on the horizon.

Summary

Culinary school is expensive. There is no question about it. Gaining a culinary education is something most students cannot do without financial assistance. For that reason, it is important to know which financial aid option will work best in a specific situation. Whether it is a scholarship, grant, loan, or other financial aid choice – culinary students with financial need have a wide array of options to help them get into and through culinary school.