the Price of Career Training

I paid 28,000 dollars for a 30 week course that would give me a degree in culinary arts. This education included 440 classroom hours plus 210 hours "externship"- working at the job and getting credit for it. The cost was for tuition and books only. I went to school 41/2 hours a day and worked my externship a few evenings a week at a local hotel kitchen. The classes ranges from soups and sauces to basic baking. I learned a lot about stocking and running a kitchen, buying produce and other supplies, creating menus and planning for large crowds of diners. I learned how to cook some wonderful meals.

The service was pretty good. There were some times when I felt the instructors were not as helpful as I would have liked, but otherwise it was a good education. The Institute helped me get my financial aid, and was very helpful during the sign up process.There was a lot of hands on, not just book learning. We spent a lot of time in the kitchens and I liked that. I felt like I was really learning by doing. The class sizes were mostly small, not over 20 students so that was good too. We usually worked in groups and that made learning more fun. The school had counselors to help with job placement after graduation and I appreciated that.

Ask a lot of questions! Are they accredited? Can they give you former students names and numbers to contact for references? Find out how much the financial aid will cost in the long run. How much is the interest? When do you have to start paying it back-is there a grace period after graduation? Find out what other expenses might come up, tools, books, uniforms, things like that. Are there any field trips that might cost extra? What are the requirements for your hands on training- called the externship. Can the school help get you an externship? Make sure the hours work with the rest of your life, it's a very intense program with a lot of work and homework involved. Do they help with job placement after graduation? What are the class sizes going to be? Be ready to work hard, it's fun but intense!