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2022 Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k

8 Ranked Colleges
469 Degrees Awarded
$5,500 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Culinary Arts is the 80th most popular major in the country with 21,906 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, culinary arts graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $23,822 and had an average of $19,004 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 1,907 culinary arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $24,600 and $22,956 respectively. At the associate degree level specifically, there were 469 culinary arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $36,451 and $19,634 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 8 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in culinary arts. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent culinary arts programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the culinary arts program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Culinary Arts Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 8 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Culinary Arts (Income $0-$30k) in California

#1

Orange Coast College

Costa Mesa, California

Out of the 8 schools in the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Orange Coast College landed the #1 spot on the list. Orange Coast College is a public institution located in Costa Mesa, California. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 25 associates’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Orange Coast College did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend Orange Coast College is $2,438 for California Associate Degree Culinary Arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

Full Orange Coast College Culinary Arts Report

#2

Santa Rosa Junior College

Santa Rosa, California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Santa Rosa Junior College. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. Santa Rosa Junior College is a public institution located in Santa Rosa, California. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 14 associates’s degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at SRJC, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend SRJC is $5,026 for California Associate Degree Culinary Arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

Full SRJC Culinary Arts Report

#3

Cypress College

Cypress, California
#3 in overall quality

Out of the 8 schools in the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Cypress College landed the #3 spot on the list. Cypress, California is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out associates’s culinary arts degrees to 29 students in 2019-2020.

Cypress College not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $2,782 for California Associate Degree Culinary Arts students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Cypress College.

Read more about Culinary Arts at Cypress College

#4

San Diego Mesa College

San Diego, California

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend San Diego Mesa College. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k. San Diego Mesa College is a large school located in San Diego, California that handed out 9 associates’s culinary arts degrees in 2019-2020.

San Diego Mesa College also made our “Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #6. It costs about $4,232 for california associate degree culinary arts students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend San Diego Mesa College.

Full San Diego Mesa College Culinary Arts Report

#5

Riverside City College

Riverside, California
#7 in overall quality

Out of the 8 schools in the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Riverside City College landed the #5 spot on the list. Riverside City College is a large school located in Riverside, California that handed out 17 associates’s culinary arts degrees in 2019-2020.

Riverside City College also made our “Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #7. The yearly cost to attend Riverside City College is $4,620 for California Associate Degree Culinary Arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

Read more about Culinary Arts at Riverside City College

#6

Los Angeles Trade Technical College

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles Trade Technical College ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Los Angeles, California, this fairly large public school awarded 42 degrees to qualified associates’s culinary arts students in 2019-2020.

Los Angeles Trade Technical College also made our “Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for Los Angeles Trade Technical College is $6,716 for california associate degree culinary arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

Full Los Angeles Trade Technical College Culinary Arts Report

#7

Santa Barbara City College

Santa Barbara, California
#8 in overall quality

Santa Barbara City College ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. Santa Barbara City College is a fairly large public school situated in Santa Barbara, California. It awarded 3 associates’s culinary arts degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california associate degree culinary arts students whose families make $0-$30k list, SBCC has also earned the #8 rank in our “Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $6,058 for california associate degree culinary arts students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Santa Barbara City College.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at SBCC

#8

Laney College

Oakland, California

Laney College ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for an Associate in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. Laney College is a medium-sized school located in Oakland, California that handed out 15 associates’s culinary arts degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california associate degree culinary arts students whose families make $0-$30k list, Laney College has also earned the #5 rank in our “Best Culinary Arts Associate Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $11,752 for california associate degree culinary arts students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Laney College.

Full Laney College Culinary Arts Report

Notes and References

References

  • 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 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).
  • Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

  • *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
  • Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

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