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Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in Virginia

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2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in Virginia

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

5 Colleges
$12,576 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$22,637 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Culinary Arts School for You

With 261 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, culinary arts is the #84 most popular major in Virginia.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in Virginia ranking. Our analysis looked at 5 schools in Virginia to see which 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 Schools in Virginia

Check out the culinary arts programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Best Virginia Schools for Affordable Quality in Culinary Arts

$5,561 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found Tidewater Community College to be the best value school for culinary arts students who want to pursue a degree in Virginia. Tidewater Community College is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Norfolk.

Tidewater Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $5,561 in in-state tuition and fees each year. While working on their degree, culinary arts majors at Tidewater Community College accumulate an average of around $20,593 in student debt.

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$5,355 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Virginia Western Community College. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in Virginia list. Virginia Western Community College is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Roanoke.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Virginia Western Community College are $5,355 per year. While working on their degree, culinary arts majors at Virginia Western Community College accumulate an average of around $14,000 in student debt.

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#3

Stratford University

Fairfax, VA
$15,130 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 5 schools in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, Stratford University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Fairfax, Stratford University is a private for-profit college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Stratford University are $15,130 per year. After completing their degree, culinary arts graduates from Stratford University carry an average student debtload of $35,750.

Full Culinary Arts at Stratford University Report

#4

ECPI University

Virginia Beach, VA
$17,479 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend ECPI University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in Virginia list. Located in the large city of Virginia Beach, ECPI University is a private for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at ECPI University are $17,479 a year. Culinary Arts majors at ECPI University take out an average of $14,698 in student loans while working on their egree. The average monthly payment of a loan this size is about $135, assuming that the borrower is on a 10-year repayment plan.

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$19,354 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 5 schools in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, The Art Institute of Virginia Beach landed the # 5 spot on the list. Ai Virginia Beach is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the city of Virginia Beach.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Ai Virginia Beach are $19,354 per year. The average amount in student loans that culinary arts majors at Ai Virginia Beach take out is $27,418. This translates to an average monthly loan payment of $331, based on a 10-year repayment plan.

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Best Value Culinary Arts Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Value Culinary Arts Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Georgia 192
North Carolina 401
Florida 298
Tennessee 36
Kentucky 109
South Carolina 85
Louisiana 132
Arkansas 53
Alabama 64
Mississippi 105
West Virginia 33

One of 4 majors within the area of study, culinary arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Culinary Arts

Related Major Annual Graduates
Cosmetology 107,895
Funeral & Mortuary Science 2,354
Casino Operations and Services 192
Other Personal & Culinary Services 81

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 5 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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