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Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in Iowa

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2023 Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in Iowa

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

3 Colleges
$5,055 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$25,889 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Culinary Arts School for You

With 85 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, culinary arts is the #101 most popular major in Iowa.

Today's 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. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

The Best Value Culinary Arts Schools in Iowa ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 3 schools in Iowa to see which ones offered the best value programs for culinary arts students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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 Iowa

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

Best Iowa Schools for Affordable Quality in Culinary Arts

$5,220 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found Des Moines Area Community College to be the best value school for culinary arts students who want to pursue a degree in Iowa. Located in the suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at DMACC are $5,220 per year. After completing their degree, culinary arts graduates from DMACC carry an average student debtload of $10,875.

Read More…

#2

Kirkwood Community College

Cedar Rapids, IA
$5,308 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at Kirkwood Community College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best culinary arts schools in Iowa. Located in the midsize city of Cedar Rapids, Kirkwood Community College is a public college with a large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Kirkwood Community College are $5,308 per year. After completing their degree, culinary arts graduates from Kirkwood Community College carry an average student debtload of $16,250.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Kirkwood Community College

$4,802 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Western Iowa Tech Community College is a great value for culinary arts students. Western Iowa Tech Community College is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Sioux City.

Western Iowa Tech Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $4,802 in in-state tuition and fees each year. On average, culinary arts graduates from Western Iowa Tech Community College take out $9,930 in student loans while working on their degree.

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Best Value Culinary Arts Colleges in the Plains States Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Missouri 67
Minnesota 40
Kansas 39
Nebraska 66
North Dakota 4
South Dakota 2

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 3 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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