List of Schools with Low Tuition Costs and Offers Culinary Arts Programs

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Deciding What’s Best for You

A cooking career isn’t the best guarantee for a high-paying job, although if you’re even a halfway decent cook, the chances are you’ll find employment. People, who commit themselves to a life-long career in cooking, do so because it’s genuinely what they love doing most. Their delight is aesthetic. They take pride in their golden-brown casserole dishes, their rich, bubbling sauces, and the final touches to a platter that makes it both artistic and appetizing. It may take them many years to work up to the position of chef, and a great deal of formal and informal training.

A culinary arts degree familiarizes you quickly with the techniques and skills involved in the food industry and can move you more rapidly into a chef’s position, but considering a culinary arts education at a private university can cost you as much as $45,000, while your first culinary year may earn you an average of $30,000 a year, you may wish to consider a cheap culinary school.

Cheap Culinary Schools in Your Community

You don’t have to move miles away to a campus setting in order to learn the arts of cooking fine cuisine. Your hometown or one close to it may offer culinary training for just a fraction of what it would cost to attend a major university or a renowned culinary arts school. The course of studies will teach a variety of recipes, kitchen safety and food handling, plus management skills. Most community schools offer certification upon completion. The certification is diploma based, but not degree based. Usually, you will need certification as part of your chef qualifications. Many restaurants send their employees to a diploma-based program before moving them into management positions.

Attending a Culinary School

A community college study program may run from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the state you are in and the depth of the program. A college program will teach all the basic skills necessary as a culinary school, but there is a difference. Culinary schools often have larger kitchen spaces and a lower teacher to student ratio. There is room for more specialization, with the option to acquire a degree in hotel and hospitality management, the culinary arts, baking and pastry arts and hotel management. Culinary schools usually have their own restaurants where the students gain experience in serving customer, and must perform outside restaurant work before receiving their degree.

The costs of attending formal culinary schools vary greatly. You can find cheap culinary schools for an average of $7,000 – $15,000, while the more expensive ones can run as high as $52,000 to attend. When choosing a culinary school, familiarize yourself with the staff. Graduates from the schools with little to no corporate enterprise experience may be hired to become the instructors of the school. Other schools hire established chefs who have worked for high-end restaurants and hotels. You may feel that all you need is the formal training, or decide you would like to learn under a well-known chef. Regardless of the cost of the school, the study program must meet the same criteria, with the same guidelines for culinary school chef instructors as issued under the guidelines by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Public Versus Private Universities

A public university can be one of the best ways to find a cheap culinary school. Tuition costs can range between $3,000 and $18,000, but public universities have a variety of student aid options, including scholarships, grants and disbursements. Through a public university, you choose a diploma-based curriculum, or opt for a degree program. You will be exposed to an International atmosphere and have a choice in any number of specializations, including restaurant and hospitality management, pastry chef, beverages, catering, seafood chef, food research, food packaging and nutrition.

Private universities are profit based and have much higher tuition fees. Their curriculum focuses on comprehensive culinary skills and the practical and administrative aspects of the hospitality industry.

Your culinary degree can make a difference in the type of job you will get upon graduation, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to go to culinary school. Choose a culinary school that has the curriculum, which fits your goals. Gain as much restaurant experience as possible before, during and upon completion of your studies. Impress your instructors with your performance in turning out fabulous dishes and running a kitchen. Take comprehensive courses in business administration and hospitality if you wish to become an executive chef and complete a four to six year degree program, if you wish to go into food science. Most of all, always be willing to experiment, use your imagination and try new things.