2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Culinary Arts (Income $30-$48k) in the Southwest Region

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

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 the Southwest region, there were 2,671 culinary arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $23,641 and $21,214 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 51 culinary arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,896 and $23,899 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree 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.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the culinary arts program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Culinary Arts Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Making $30-$48k” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Making $30-$48k

The colleges and universities below are the best for southwest region bachelor’s degree culinary arts students whose families make $30-$48k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Culinary Arts (Income $30-$48k) in the Southwest Region

#1

The Art Institute of Houston

Houston, Texas

#1 in overall quality

$21,747 Average Net Price

$28,816 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Making $30-$48k that were part of this year’s ranking, The Art Institute of Houston landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Houston, Texas, this small private for-profit school handed out 13 degrees to qualified bachelors’s culinary arts students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our southwest region bachelor’s degree culinary arts students whose families make $30-$48k list, Ai Houston has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Culinary Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” ranking. It costs about $21,747 for Southwest Region Bachelor’s Degree Culinary Arts students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend The Art Institute of Houston.

Full Ai Houston Culinary Arts Report

#2

The Art Institute of San Antonio

San Antonio, Texas

#2 in overall quality

$22,788 Average Net Price

$28,816 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend The Art Institute of San Antonio. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Making $30-$48k list. This small school is located in San Antonio, Texas, and it awarded 14 bachelors’s culinary arts degrees in 2019-2020.

Ai San Antonio also took the #2 spot in our “Best Culinary Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Ai San Antonio is $22,788 for southwest region bachelor’s degree culinary arts students whose families make $30-$48k.

Read more about Culinary Arts at Ai San Antonio

#3

The Art Institute of Austin

Austin, Texas

#3 in overall quality

$22,824 Average Net Price

$28,816 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend The Art Institute of Austin. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Culinary Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Making $30-$48k. Austin, Texas is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private for-profit school handed out bachelors’s culinary arts degrees to 5 students in 2019-2020.

Ai Austin did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Culinary Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” list. It costs about $22,824 for Southwest Region Bachelor’s Degree Culinary Arts students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend The Art Institute of Austin.

Read full report on Culinary Arts at Ai Austin

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Culinary Arts (Income $30-$48k)

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

• Credit for the banner image above goes to U.S. Army Europe Images.

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