Cheapest Hospitality Degree in 2024

Sunny northern San Diego County is home to MiraCosta College, a large public community college. MiraCosta offers its students panoramic views of the coastline and nearby mountains. It runs a number of community enrichment programs. These include a Child Development Center and a Community Learning Center. Students at MiraCosta can study for an A.S. in Hospitality Management or an A.S. in Restaurant Management, among multiple other degrees.

The College of the Redwoods in located in the forested northwestern part of the state, near Humboldt Bay on the coast. The entire town is designated a California Historic Landmark and relics of the Gold Rush and lumber industry are everywhere. Although tuition is affordable, this is an area with a fairly high cost of living. Students who don’t live nearby may need to be creative when budgeting. The institution offers an A.S. in Restaurant & Hospitality Management.

Since its establishment in 1888, Western Carolina University has offered an afforable education in the western mountains of North Carolina. This is an NC Promise Campus, which is a state program that defrays some university costs. Tuition has been reduced to an afforabel sum, but the university adds numerous other fees. You’ll want to look carefully at the final costs of a B.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management. For the tenth year in a row, WCU has made the Princeton Review’s list of designated Green Colleges.

Albany Technical College is a public community college is located on the banks of the Flint River in Albany, Georgia. The town itself is well-known for its tree-lined streets, numerous parks, garden clubs, and local trails. At Albany Tech, you can earn an A.A.S. degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management.

As the first public junior college in the state, Palm Beach State College was founded in 1933. It has relocated several times in its long, varied history. These locations included a deactivated Army Air Force base and a local town hall. The college offers over 100 programs for certificates, associate degrees including an A.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management, and bachelor’s programs. Burt Reynolds is perhaps the most famous alumni from this institution.

Gulf Coast State College was founded in 1957. True to its name, this college is just a quick drive from the coastline. It has a comparatively smaller student body and a more compact campus than many of the other Florida institutions in this list. Gulf Coast State College offers a variety of associate and bachelor’s degrees such as an A.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Oakland Community College is one of the largest in the state. Students attending can choose among 57 different associate degrees including an A.A.S. in Hotel Management and an A.A.S. in Culinary Arts. The college is quite active in varsity sports including basketball, cross-country, and golf. It’s speech and performance team regularly makes the National championships.

Over 260 certificates and degree programs (including an A.S. in Hospitality and Restaurant Management) are offered at Mt. San Antonio College. However, academics are only one part of life in this public community college. Its diverse population of enrolled students are active in volunteering groups, dozens of student clubs, and athletics. Mt. San Antonio College occupies 420 acres. The large campus houses a 250 acre farm, a working veterinary hospital, a planetarium, and a 15 acre wildlife sanctuary.

East Carolina University is the fourth largest such institution in North Carolina and offers a competitive tuition for the area. It has six campuses including an overseas branch in Certaldo Alto, Italy. This public research university offers students a B.S. in Hospitality Management. If you want to get a more advanced degree in this field, ECU also offers an M.S. in Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality. The student body is diverse and socially active, with 27 social organizations including historically black and Native American sororities and fraternities.

Spokane Community College is in the eastern part of Washington, sandwiched between the Rocky Mountain foothills and the Columbia River. The campus is fairly large and includes multiple academic and support buildings, an Apprentice and Journeyman Training Center, and even an aviation hangar. It supports a robust athletics program that includes multiple sports like basketball, soccer, track and field, and golf. You can earn an A.A.S. in Culinary Arts here.

There are over forty degrees available at the University of South Florida-Sarasota-Manatee in a variety of subjects in Science and Math, Liberal Arts, and the Social Sciences. You can earn a B.S. in Hospitality Management or go for the more advanced M.S. in Hospitality Management. This university offers over 400 internship and research positions to students. These positions let you get a head start on networking and applying what you’ve learned in the real world.

Pensacola State College was opened in 1948 but expanded quickly over the coming decades, opening multiple campuses in the surrounding counties. It’s mini-campus on Naval Air Station Pensacola was sadly destroyed in 2004 by hurricane Ivan. Pensacola State College offers over 120 majors and concentrations including an A.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management. It is also closely partnered with the University of West Florida in Pensacola and the University of Florida in Milton.

Ogeechee Technical College, created in 1987, is one of the newer institutions on this list. It has slowly grown from offering a credited program in practical nursing to a variety of other programs. Many of these are in the medical field including Dental Assisting, Radiologic Technology, Veterinary Technology, and more. The college offers an A.A.S. in Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management.

Despite its name, South Seattle College is actually in West Seattle. This is a group of neighborhoods between the Duwamish River and the ocean. West Seattle offers all of the culture and excitement of a big city while still being in view of the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade Range. The area’s also well known for the West Duwamish Greenbelt, a long connected area of green space and urban forest. You can earn a B.A.S. in Hospitality Management at South Seattle College.

As a historically black college and university, Coahoma Community College has a diverse student body and deep roots in the area. It was established in 1920. The campus is located amid peaceful farms a few miles outside of Clarksdale, MS. Coahoma Community College offers an A.S. in Hotel & Restaurant Management Technology with a possible concentration in Culinary Arts Technology.

The Olympic Mountains, Pacific Ocean, and nearby National Park make Peninsula College’s area particularly beautiful. This college offers an A.A.S degree in Hospitality and Ecotourism. Its program has multiple courses exploring ecologically sustainable practices that preserve the natural environments tourists have traveled to enjoy. Peninsula College also works closely with other institutions in the area to create transfer-friendly courses of study.

Valencia College is one of the largest in the area, with eight campuses scattered across Orlando, Kissimmee, and Winter Park. It’s also a prestigious one, having won the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Valencia offers a wide array of programs including an A.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management. Through the college, you can also get on a career path to a B.S. in Hospitality Administration/Management.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College offers students a varied and flexible academic program. In addition to degrees including an A.S. in Hospitality and Tourism, attending students can also earn affordable college credits that can be transferred to the four-year program of their choice. Copiah-Lincoln Community College has three main campuses serving Wesson, Natchez, and Mendenhall. The college sponsors six men’s sports and four women’s sport and has an award-winning cheerleading team.

Although this is one of the smaller campuses on this list, Mississippi Delta Community College offers a lot for sports fans. It has a Coliseum, a Baseball Complex, and a Women’s Softball Field. Mississippi Delta Community College supports students from seven local counties, excluding nearby Coahoma. That one area is served by number 15 on our list. You can earn an A.A.S. in Hospitality & Tourism with a possible Culinary Arts Technology concentration.

Indian River State College used to be housed in a former public school building. However, in 1963 the city of Fort Pierce donated the current campus site and the college moved. Although it offers a variety of bachelor’s degree programs, hospitality isn’t one of them. However, you can get an A.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management. This is available with concentrations in Guest Services, Event Planning Management, and Rooms Division Management.

Students who enroll in bustling St. Petersburg College can enjoy a solid educational program as they work on an A.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management. It’s a big college, as you can tell by the enrollment figure, but the individual campuses themselves are fairly small and accessible. The town itself is located in a historic and attractive part of Florida. In fact, St. Petersburg actually won the Conde Nast Traveler 2020 Reader’s Choice Awards as a great getaway.

Here’s good news for students living in western states: Northern Arizona University participates in the Western Undergraduate Exchange Program. This institution offers lower tuition for students in western states even if they aren’t residents of Arizona itself. Northern Arizona University opened in 1899 with just 23 students and its first graduation class included four women, unusual for that era. As you can see, the university has grown significantly since then. You can earn a B.S. in Hotel & Restaurant Management here.

Lincoln Land Community College is located in the state capitol. However, this institution has branches in multiple smaller towns in the area. You have a choice of practical, hands-on degrees here. The college offers both an A.A.S. in Hospitality Management and Services and an A.A.S. in Culinary Arts. Lincoln Land Community College is also very active in sports. It has seven teams including baseball, soccer, volleyball, and more. Their baseball team has won two NJCAA national titles.

It’s tricky to find a budget degree in New York, but Cayuga Community College is a solid option in the area. As part of the SUNY system of public colleges and universities, this institution offers an A.A.S. degree in Culinary Arts and Event and an A.A.S. in Tourism Management. In 2020, its faculty and staff members received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, recognizing the quality education that they provide to the rapidly growing student body.

Established in 1909, Arkansas Tech University began as an agricultural school. It has since then expanded its programs to cover Business, Natural & Health Sciences, Arts & Humanities, and more. You can earn a B.S. in Hospitality Administration with majors in Event Management, Foodservice Management, and Lodging Management. When not studying, students can take in the area’s natural beauty. This includes Lake Dardanelle, Ouachita National Forest, and the Ozark Mountains.

The City Colleges of Chicago is composed of six satellite sites and seven community colleges including Harold Washington College. This institution offers a wide variety of associate degrees and transfer-friendly programs for students who want to go on to a four-year degree. The City Colleges of Chicago runs a College to Careers program that helps match graduating students with businesses in high-growth fields. Harold Washington College offers an A.A.S. in Hospitality Management.

Southeast Missouri State University is a public university in eastern Missouri. It offers over 200 areas of study at both undergraduate and graduate levels. This university was founded in 1873 and underwent some dramatic changes after burning down in 1920. It now has a large campus that includes multiple halls, a stadium, a winery turned President’s house, and a dedicated power plant. You can get a B.S. in Hospitality Management here.

The University of Nevada Las Vegas, located just east of the Las Vegas Strip, is a well respected doctoral university. It offers overs 350 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees across its 24 schools and departments. If you’re interested in a higher level hospitality degree, this is an affordable option. The University of Nevada Las Vegas awards a B.S. in Hospitality Management, an M.S. in Hotel Administration, and a Ph.D. in Hospitality Administration

Orange County Community College is relatively more expensive than many other institutions here, but it offers something special: the largest number of program concentrations in the list. If you are interested in niche specialties instead of a general Hospitality Management degree, take a look at the SUNY Orange program catalog. It includes a variety of degrees like an A.S. in Advanced Baking and Pastry and an A.S. in Spa Management. As another bonus, this college has an open enrollment policy for anyone with a high school or equivalency diploma.

As the oldest public university on the west coast, San Jose State University is a large and well respected institution. The college has one of the most diverse student bodies of the nation. Although the San Jose State University is best known for connecting alumni to Silicon Valley tech companies, it offers a wide variety of other programs. These including a B.S. in Hospitality, Tourism, and Event Management.