$50K per year for a degree in a low-wage industry − is culinary school worth it?

Cooks and chefs regularly debate the merits of culinary school. Diy13/iStock via Getty Images by Ellen T. Meiser, University of Hawaii at Hilo America’s culinary schools are feeling the heat. When chef Gordon Ramsay appeared on an episode of the YouTube series “Last Meal” in January 2024, he described U.S. culinary schools as “depressing” places that “sandbag” students with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt before releasing them into a low-wage industry. He added that graduates are pressured to select jobs that will put them in the best position to pay off their loans, rather than ones that will give them opportunities to learn and grow as chefs. Ramsay singled out the Culinary Institute of America, one of the most prestigious cooking schools in the country, as it sets students at its New York campus back US$52,090 per academic year. Then, at the end of February, The New York Times published a compilation of interviews from 30 chefs around the U.S. They chimed in on a range of topics, but they were pretty much in lockstep when it came to culinary degrees: “People ask me, ‘What’s a good culinary school to go to?’” chef Justin Pioche said....