CULINARY SCHOOLS IN FLORIDA — Federal Data, September 2026
Culinary Schools in Florida, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
3 accredited institutions in Florida report enough federal data on this program to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 3 ranked programs in Florida, the median graduate needs 8.3 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $17,468, against median earnings of $25,227 one year after completion.
That is slower than the national median of 6.4 months for this field, measured across the 88 institutions in our national culinary schools ranking. The best performer in the state is Florida Education Institute in Miami, at 5.6 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Florida institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about culinary schools in Florida
The Ranking
3 culinary schools in Florida, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida Education InstituteMiami, FL | for-profit | Certificate | 5.6 | $9,500 | $20,531 | 74% |
| 2 | Valencia CollegeOrlando, FL | Public | Associate | 8.3 | $17,468 | $25,227 | 48% |
| 3 | Keiser University-Ft LauderdaleFort Lauderdale, FL | nonprofit | Associate | 8.5 | $20,000 | $28,159 | 61% |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers in this program; earnings are median earnings one year after completion. Where a school offers the program at both certificate and associate level, the shorter payback is shown. Completion is the institution’s published rate, not the program’s.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback programs in Florida, one by one
Florida Education Institute
Miami, FL
Florida Education Institute is a private for-profit institution in Miami. Its culinary arts graduates leave with a median federal debt of $9,500 and report median earnings of $20,531 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 5.6 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 2.7 months faster than the Florida state median of 8.3. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 74% completion rate.
Valencia College
Orlando, FL
Valencia College is a public institution in Orlando. Its culinary arts graduates leave with a median federal debt of $17,468 and report median earnings of $25,227 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 8.3 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and right on the Florida state median of 8.3. The award measured here is an associate degree. The institution reports a 48% completion rate.
Keiser University-Ft Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Keiser University-Ft Lauderdale is a private nonprofit institution in Fort Lauderdale. Its culinary arts graduates leave with a median federal debt of $20,000 and report median earnings of $28,159 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 8.5 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and right on the Florida state median of 8.3. The award measured here is an associate degree. The institution reports a 61% completion rate.
Read It Carefully
What this ranking does not measure
With only 3 institutions publishable here, this page is a short list by construction. It is not a directory of every school in Florida: many programs, especially at institutions that do not take federal student aid, never appear in this data at all.
Absence from this page is not a verdict. The Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, so a small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all. Schools that enroll no students on federal aid are outside this dataset entirely.
The measure is a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing inside one state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
Other States
The same program, another state
Other Programs in Florida
Comparing a different trade in Florida
For FLORIDA School Operators
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