Grand Rapids Community College Culinary Arts (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Culinary Arts and Related Services
- Public college
- Grand Rapids, MI
- About 28 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Grand Rapids Community College culinary arts graduates earn about what culinary arts graduates earn nationally, $24,473 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $15,125 in federal loans, close to the national median of $15,750. Several Michigan programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Michigan and national columns are the medians across all culinary arts associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Grand Rapids Community College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $6,814 more than the Michigan median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan culinary arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Michigan medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 74% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $160 a month, or 7.8% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (26 of 28) were working in Michigan one year after graduating. Prices in the Grand Rapids area are about 4% below the national average, so a $24,473 salary here buys what about $25,614 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to culinary arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Cooks, Restaurant
$36,980Median pay in Michigan. 39,100 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 12% from 2025 to 2035, with about 218,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: no formal educational credential, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers
$37,940Median pay in Michigan. 32,890 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 171,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Bartenders
$36,780Median pay in Michigan. 21,100 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 121,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: no formal educational credential.
Buyers and Purchasing Agents
$75,900Median pay in Michigan. 16,680 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Grand Rapids Community College
Culinary Arts ranks 12th of 12 associate's programs at Grand Rapids Community College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($69,764), Welding and Machining ($50,089), and Drafting and Design Technology ($49,865).
Other culinary arts associate's programs near Grand Rapids
Common questions
The median graduate earns $24,473 one year after graduating and $42,557 five years after. The median across culinary arts associate's programs in Michigan is $26,639.
The median federal loan balance is $15,125, which ranks 4th lowest of 6 culinary arts associate's programs in Michigan. That works out to about $160 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 62% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 63%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Michigan programs report higher pay.
Most do. 93% (26 of 28) were working in Michigan one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Michigan comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the culinary arts program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024