How will your hospitality education stack up?

If you want to study hospitality at home, you should be aware of how your education will compare to the education available elsewhere in the US. Below is some information to help you get started. The US has 529 brick and mortar hospitality schools.

Top Schools

The top schools in the nation in 2010 that had hospitality programs were:

1. University of Southern California - located in Los Angeles, California
2. New York University - located in New York, New York
3. Boston University - located in Boston, Massachusetts

Student Demographics

In the US, 13,148 students graduated from hospitality programs in 2010. Of these students, 1,286 graduated from certificate programs in hospitality, 11,265 graduated from undergraduate programs in hospitality, and 597 graduated from graduate-level programs in hospitality.

Academics

Students can pursue education in hospitality at the following levels:

Hospitality students can expect to gain the following skills and/or knowledge while studying hospitality:

• Judgment and Decision Making
• Accounting and Finance
• Observation
• Hotel Operations
• Business Statistics

Cost

Students at hospitality schools around the nation paid an average of $15,679 in tuition fees per year in 2010. The hospitality schools charging the highest tuition were:

1. George Washington University - located in Washington, Washington DC, students paid $41,655
2. University of Southern California - located in Los Angeles, California, students paid $39,183
3. New York University - located in New York, New York, students paid $38,765

The hospitality schools that charged students the lowest tuition rates were:

1. Florida Atlantic University - located in Boca Raton, Florida, students paid $3,349
2. East Carolina University - located in Greenville, North Carolina, students paid $4,477
3. University of North Carolina at Greensboro - located in Greensboro, North Carolina, students paid $4,234

How will your hospitality job compare?

Some of the most popular jobs hospitality graduates in the US pursue include restaurant manager, sous chef, dietary cook, certified personal chef , or line cook. In 2010, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were 2,293,800 hospitality professionals working in the US, including 29,920 hotel managers, 186,830 restaurant managers and 90,510 sous chefs. The largest populations of hospitality professionals are in the following states:

1. California - 285,540 Hospitality Professionals
2. Texas - 186,510 Hospitality Professionals
3. Florida - 134,250 Hospitality Professionals

Projected Growth

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of hospitality professionals is expected to grow by 4% by 2018. There are projected to be 2,735,190 hospitality professionals working in the US then. Of these 2,735,190 hospitality professionals, the government predicts that 340 will become hotel managers, 980 will become restaurant managers, and 108,500 will become sous chefs. The following states are projected to have the fastest growth for hospitality professionals over the next few years:

1. Utah - 17%
2. Texas - 17%
3. Georgia - 17%

Salary

Hospitality professionals in the US can make an average of $31,410 per year. However, factors such as work conditions, seniority, and your previous performance reviews can cause the salary for hospitality professionals to vary greatly dependent on the exact hospitality profession you pursue. Approximately 10 percent of hospitality professionals earn less than $15,270 per year, while another 10 percent earn more than $163,290 per year. Hospitality professionals in the following states make the highest salaries on average:

1. Nevada - $42,443 per year
2. Delaware - $41,046 per year
3. New Jersey - $41,023 per year

The states with the lowest average salary for hospitality professionals are:

1. Idaho - $27,006 per year
2. Oklahoma - $27,069 per year
3. Tennessee - $28,019 per year

The hospitality professionals with highest average salaries in 2010 were:

1. Hotel Manager - $54,570 per year
2. Restaurant Manager - $52,220 per year
3. Sous Chef - $44,780 per year

On average the lowest paid hospitality professionals were:

4. Line Cook - $23,260 per year
5. Delicatessen Cook - $21,030 per year
6. Pizza Maker - $18,540 per year