Niagara County Community College Culinary Arts (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Culinary Arts and Related Services
- Public college
- Sanborn, NY
- About 37 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Niagara County Community College culinary arts graduates earn about what culinary arts graduates earn nationally, $26,514 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $12,000 in federal loans, less than at 76% of culinary arts programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying culinary arts degrees in New York.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The New York and national columns are the medians across all culinary arts associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Niagara County Community College graduates earn less than the national figure and about $3,282 less than the New York median.
Debt and first-year pay at every New York culinary arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the New York 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 18% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $2,511 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $127 a month, or 5.7% 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
94% of graduates (89 of 95) were working in New York one year after graduating. Prices in the Buffalo area are about 4% below the national average, so a $26,514 salary here buys what about $27,664 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
$43,680Median pay in New York. 71,530 people work in this job in New York. 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
$47,190Median pay in New York. 65,580 people work in this job in New York. 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
$61,210Median pay in New York. 43,130 people work in this job in New York. 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
$79,460Median pay in New York. 31,240 people work in this job in New York. 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 Niagara County Community College
Culinary Arts ranks 9th of 10 associate's programs at Niagara County Community College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($72,260), Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($52,564), and Accounting ($39,761).
Other culinary arts associate's programs near Sanborn
Common questions
The median graduate earns $26,514 one year after graduating and $31,183 five years after. The median across culinary arts associate's programs in New York is $26,556.
The median federal loan balance is $12,000, which ranks 2nd lowest of 5 culinary arts associate's programs in New York. That works out to about $127 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 45% 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.
Most do. 94% (89 of 95) were working in New York 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 New York 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