New York offers baking and pastry training at almost every level, from SUNY microcredentials of 7 to 12 credits to bachelor’s degrees. Eleven public SUNY and CUNY colleges list for-credit baking or pastry credentials, from Buffalo and Niagara Falls to Brooklyn and Riverhead, and four private schools add degree and diploma options, including the Culinary Institute of America’s main campus in Hyde Park.
Many SUNY colleges now offer short, credit-bearing baking microcredentials that stack into a longer degree, and three schools offer baking bachelor’s degrees. Community college tuition is set college by college, and New Yorkers who live outside a college’s home county usually need a Certificate of Residence to pay the resident rate.
Baking and Pastry Programs at a Glance
| School | Location | Programs, Credits and Estimated Costs |
|---|---|---|
| Alfred State College | Wellsville | Culinary Arts: Baking, Production, and Management A.O.S.: 72 credits – about $17,954 |
| The Culinary Institute of America | Hyde Park | Baking and Pastry Arts AOS: 64 credits – about $92,940 Baking and Pastry Arts BPS (degree completion): 123 credits – about $139,410 |
| Erie Community College | Buffalo | Baking and Pastry Arts Certificate: 32 credits – about $6,360 |
| Institute of Culinary Education | New York City | Career Pastry & Baking Arts Diploma: 610 clock hours – about $45,450 |
| Kingsborough Community College | Brooklyn | Culinary Arts AAS, Baking and Pastry Concentration: 60 credits – about $10,506 |
| Mohawk Valley Community College | Rome | Baking & Pastry Arts Management AOS: 63 credits – about $13,020 Introduction to Baking Microcredential: 12 credits – about $3,349 Advanced Baking Microcredential: 9 credits – about $2,467 Bakeshop Facility Design & Planning Microcredential: 11 credits – about $3,091 |
| Monroe University | New Rochelle | Baking and Pastry Arts AAS: 60 credits – about $39,900 |
| Niagara County Community College | Niagara Falls | Baking and Pastry Arts AAS: 64 credits – about $13,712 Baking and Pastry Arts Certificate: 27 credits – about $6,636 Baking Basics Microcredential: 8 credits – about $2,168 Advanced Pastry Microcredential: 10 credits – about $2,710 |
| Paul Smith’s College | Paul Smiths | Baking and Pastry Arts AAS: 62 credits – about $72,320 Baking Arts and Service Management BPS: 120 credits – about $144,990 |
| Rockland Community College | Nyack | Baking Fundamentals Microcredential: 11 credits – about $3,280 Baking Specialization Microcredential: 12 credits – about $3,575 |
| SUNY Adirondack | Glens Falls | Culinary and Baking Arts AOS: 61 credits – about $14,170 Culinary and Baking Fundamentals I Microcredential: 7 credits – about $2,013 Culinary and Baking Fundamentals II Microcredential: 7 credits – about $2,013 |
| SUNY Cobleskill | Cobleskill | Baking and Pastry Skills Microcredential: 9 credits – about $3,275 |
| SUNY Delhi | Delhi | Baking & Pastry Arts AAS: 64 credits – about $18,342 Baking & Pastry Arts Management BBA: 124 credits – about $36,166 |
| SUNY Schenectady County Community College | Schenectady | Culinary Arts A.O.S., Baking Concentration: 64 credits – about $13,836 Fundamentals of Baking and Confections Microcredential: 12 credits – about $3,468 |
| Suffolk County Community College | Riverhead | Baking and Pastry Arts A.A.S.: 63–64 credits – about $13,940 Baking and Pastry Arts Certificate: 24 credits – about $6,940 |
Public college estimates use each college’s 2026–27 (or latest posted) New York resident tuition, including the Certificate of Residence rate at community colleges, plus mandatory fees over the published or assumed semester plan. Private school figures are published tuition and fees or all-inclusive program prices and are the same for every student; the CIA’s include board. Estimates exclude most course and lab fees, textbooks, uniforms, knife kits, housing, and transportation; out-of-state estimates appear in each profile.
Which New York Baking Program May Fit You?
Start With a Microcredential
SUNY Adirondack, SUNY Niagara, Mohawk Valley, Rockland, SUNY Schenectady, and SUNY Cobleskill offer credit-bearing baking microcredentials of 7 to 12 credits. Many qualify for New York’s Part-Time TAP for non-degree credentials, and their credits count toward a longer program.
Earn a One-Year Certificate
SUNY Erie offers a 32-credit Baking and Pastry Arts Certificate with 120 hours of field experience, SUNY Niagara offers a 27-credit certificate, and Suffolk offers a 24-credit certificate at its Riverhead culinary center. Each takes two semesters.
Earn an Associate Degree at a Public College
SUNY Niagara, Suffolk, SUNY Delhi, Mohawk Valley, SUNY Adirondack, SUNY Schenectady, Kingsborough, and Alfred State offer baking associate degrees, AAS or AOS, of about 60 to 72 credits.
Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
SUNY Delhi offers a Baking & Pastry Arts Management BBA, Paul Smith’s College offers a Baking Arts and Service Management BPS, and the Culinary Institute of America offers a Baking and Pastry Arts BPS for students with transfer credit.
Study at a Private Culinary School
The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Monroe University in New Rochelle, and Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks offer residential degree programs. The Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan offers a clock-hour pastry diploma with day, evening, and weekend schedules.
Look for ACF Accreditation
SUNY Erie, SUNY Niagara, Monroe University, and SUNY Schenectady state that their baking programs, or the culinary degree that contains them, are accredited by the American Culinary Federation.
Microcredential, Certificate, or Degree?
Microcredentials
SUNY microcredentials are short, for-credit programs of a few courses that appear on a transcript and often come with a digital badge. They are usually taken part time, and students who enroll only in a microcredential are typically non-matriculated, which can limit federal aid. Several colleges list them as eligible for New York’s Part-Time TAP for non-degree credentials.
Certificates and Diplomas
One-year certificates of 24 to 32 credits focus on baking labs with little general education. ICE’s clock-hour diploma is priced as a single program and carries no college credit at its New York campus.
Associate and Bachelor’s Degrees
New York baking associate degrees come as the AAS, which includes general education, and the AOS, which is almost entirely occupational coursework. AOS credits may transfer less easily into a bachelor’s program, so students with that goal should compare options early.
Tuition and Additional Costs
SUNY community colleges set their own tuition, which for 2026–27 runs roughly $2,600 to $3,025 per full-time semester for New York residents. CUNY’s Kingsborough charges $2,400 per semester, and the SUNY state-operated colleges (Delhi, Alfred State, and Cobleskill) charge $3,535. Out-of-state rates are higher, and New Yorkers from outside a community college’s sponsor county pay the resident rate only after filing a Certificate of Residence from their home county each year.
Baking students should also budget for:
- Course or lab fees, which run from about $75 to $210 per baking course at many SUNY colleges
- Knife kits, baking tools, and uniforms, often several hundred dollars
- ServSafe or other food safety certification
- Textbooks or automatic course material charges, which some colleges let students opt out of
- Housing and meals, especially at residential and private campuses
Programs No Longer Listed
SUNY Sullivan’s Pastry Arts AOS last appeared in its 2022–23 catalog, and the college now offers culinary credentials instead. The International Culinary Center (formerly the French Culinary Institute) joined ICE in 2020 and closed its SoHo campus, the Art Institute of New York City closed in 2017, and the Culinary Academy of Long Island closed in 2016. Tompkins Cortland Community College has discontinued its culinary program, and SUNY Jefferson is no longer accepting culinary applications. Other colleges, including SUNY Westchester, Onondaga, Monroe Community College, SUNY Broome, Finger Lakes, and Nassau, offer culinary programs but no baking-titled credential.
Questions to Ask Before Applying
- Do I need a Certificate of Residence to get the resident tuition rate?
- Is the microcredential or certificate eligible for Pell Grants or Part-Time TAP?
- Which campus holds the baking labs, and which semesters can new students start?
- What lab fees, uniforms, and tool kits are required?
- Will my microcredential or certificate credits count toward the degree later?
- Does the program include an internship or a student-run bakery or restaurant?
Alfred State College
Alfred State’s School of Applied Technology offers a 72-credit Culinary Arts: Baking, Production, and Management A.O.S. with 1,350 production hours, about 80 percent in bakery training, and a nine-credit lab every semester. Classes use the Wellsville and Alfred campuses with housing in Alfred, and graduates can add a culinary arts degree in one more year or enter the technology management B.B.A.
See the Alfred State College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
The Culinary Institute of America
The CIA’s main campus in Hyde Park offers a 64-credit Baking and Pastry Arts AOS with four campus semesters, a paid internship semester, and September, January, or April starts. It is also the only CIA campus with a 123-credit Baking and Pastry Arts BPS, a degree completion program for students with at least 30 transfer credits. Published 2026–27 charges are $23,235 per campus semester, including board.
See the Culinary Institute of America baking and pastry profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Erie Community College
SUNY Erie’s 32-credit Baking and Pastry Arts Certificate is a two-semester, retail-focused program with 120 hours of field experience at a Western New York bakery or restaurant, and the college states it is accredited by the ACF Education Foundation. It is listed at the City (Buffalo) and North (Williamsville) campuses, and five of its courses also count in the Culinary Arts AOS.
See the Erie Community College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Institute of Culinary Education
The Institute of Culinary Education’s Lower Manhattan campus offers the Career Pastry & Baking Arts diploma: 400 hours of kitchen classes and a 210-hour externship, finished in 8 months on a day schedule or 10–11 months on weekends or evenings. ICE is a private, ACCSC-accredited career school, and the diploma is Title IV eligible. The all-inclusive price for 2026 starts is $45,450 (day) or $41,100 (evening or weekend), and the campus also offers continuing education certificates in artisan bread and cake decorating.
See the Institute of Culinary Education pastry and baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Kingsborough Community College
Kingsborough, a CUNY community college in Brooklyn, offers a Baking and Pastry Concentration within its 60-credit Culinary Arts AAS, with six baking courses covering artisan bread, cake decorating, sugar and chocolate work, and plated desserts. Several baking labs run as six-week express courses, and the degree includes a required industry internship. The college’s one-year culinary certificate does not include a baking concentration.
See the Kingsborough Community College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Mohawk Valley Community College
MVCC’s 63-credit Baking & Pastry Arts Management AOS is taught mainly at its Rome Campus and includes advanced bread, classical cakes, plated desserts, two bakeshop operations courses, and an internship. Three credit-bearing baking microcredentials (Introduction to Baking, Advanced Baking, and Bakeshop Facility Design & Planning) stack fully into the degree.
See the Mohawk Valley Community College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Monroe University
Monroe University, a private university, teaches baking through its Culinary Institute of New York on the New Rochelle campus. The 60-credit Baking and Pastry Arts AAS, which the university says is ACF-accredited, ends with a 120-hour internship in the student-run Pastry Kiosk café, and Monroe’s three-semester calendar lets full-time students finish in under a year and a half.
See the Monroe University baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Niagara County Community College
SUNY Niagara teaches baking at the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute in downtown Niagara Falls, where students staff the La Patisserie bakeshop and the Savor restaurant. It offers an ACF-accredited Baking and Pastry Arts AAS (64 credits, with a 16-month accelerated plan), a two-semester 27-credit certificate that stacks into the degree, and credit-bearing Baking Basics and Advanced Pastry microcredentials.
See the Niagara County Community College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Paul Smith’s College
Paul Smith’s College, a private college in the Adirondacks, offers a 62-credit Baking and Pastry Arts AAS and a 120-credit Baking Arts and Service Management BPS that share the same first four semesters. Students help run A.P. Smith’s, an on-campus retail bakery, and complete 400 (AAS) or 800 (BPS) hours of industry work experience. Tuition is a flat $35,319 a year for 2026–27, the same for all students, and merit scholarships of $10,000–$24,000 a year are awarded automatically.
See the Paul Smith’s College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Rockland Community College
SUNY Rockland offers two for-credit baking microcredentials, Baking Fundamentals (11 credits) and Baking Specialization (12 credits), taught through its Hospitality and Culinary Arts Center in Nyack. Each requires three courses with a B- or better plus ServSafe Food Handler certification, is open to anyone, and is marked eligible for NYS part-time TAP. Both stack into RCC’s Culinary Arts certificate and Hospitality and Culinary Arts AAS.
See the Rockland Community College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
SUNY Adirondack
SUNY Adirondack teaches culinary and baking at its Culinary Center in downtown Glens Falls, home to the student-run Seasoned restaurant. The 61-credit Culinary and Baking Arts AOS is a fall-start combined degree with a Baking and Pastry elective focus and a required internship. Two 7-credit Culinary and Baking Fundamentals microcredentials stack into it.
See the SUNY Adirondack baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
SUNY Cobleskill
SUNY Cobleskill offers a credit-bearing, 9-credit Baking and Pastry Skills microcredential made up of Baking and Pastry I and II and Commercial Baking, which students run with campus dining services. The credits stack into the Culinary Arts A.O.S. and other degrees, and SUNY lists the microcredential as eligible for Part-time TAP Non-Degree; catalog prerequisites mean most students will need more than one semester.
See the SUNY Cobleskill baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
SUNY Delhi
SUNY Delhi, a state-operated SUNY campus, offers a 64-credit Baking & Pastry Arts AAS and a 124-credit Baking & Pastry Arts Management BBA. The BBA builds directly on the AAS, adding 60 credits of business and hospitality coursework. Both include a summer professional experience, and students train in labs and at Bluestone, the college’s event center with a student-run kitchen and restaurant.
See the SUNY Delhi baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
SUNY Schenectady County Community College
SUNY Schenectady offers a Baking Concentration within its ACF-accredited Culinary Arts A.O.S., with eight baking courses, production shifts for the on-campus Pane e Dolci bakery, and a 600-hour work requirement. A 12-credit Fundamentals of Baking and Confections microcredential includes two courses in the college’s bean-to-bar Chocolate and Confections Lab.
See the SUNY Schenectady County Community College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Suffolk County Community College
Suffolk teaches baking at its Culinary Arts Center in downtown Riverhead, where students intern in the Baker’s Workshop, a public retail bakery café on Main Street. It offers a 63–64 credit Baking and Pastry Arts A.A.S. with a café internship and a 200-hour industry internship, and a 24-credit, two-semester Baking and Pastry Arts Certificate whose courses all appear in the degree plan.
See the Suffolk County Community College baking profile for curriculum, costs, and admissions details.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many New York schools offer baking or pastry programs?
Fifteen schools currently list baking or pastry credentials: Alfred State College; The Culinary Institute of America; Erie Community College; Institute of Culinary Education; Kingsborough Community College; Mohawk Valley Community College; Monroe University; Niagara County Community College; Paul Smith’s College; Rockland Community College; SUNY Adirondack; SUNY Cobleskill; SUNY Delhi; SUNY Schenectady County Community College; and Suffolk County Community College.
What is the shortest baking program in New York?
SUNY Adirondack’s Culinary and Baking Fundamentals microcredentials are 7 credits each, and SUNY Niagara’s Baking Basics microcredential is 8 credits. SUNY Erie, SUNY Niagara, and Suffolk offer one-year certificates of 24 to 32 credits.
Can I earn a bachelor’s degree in baking in New York?
Yes. SUNY Delhi offers a Baking & Pastry Arts Management BBA, Paul Smith’s College offers a Baking Arts and Service Management BPS, and the Culinary Institute of America offers a Baking and Pastry Arts BPS for students with at least 30 transfer credits.
How much does a baking program cost in New York?
For New York residents, estimated public tuition and fees range from about $2,013 for a SUNY Adirondack microcredential to about $18,342 for SUNY Delhi’s AAS, or about $36,166 for its four-year BBA. Private programs cost more, from about $39,900 for Monroe University’s AAS to about $92,940 for the CIA’s AOS, which includes board, and about $144,990 for Paul Smith’s four-year BPS. Lab fees, tool kits, uniforms, and books add to those totals.
Are these programs available online?
The programs on this page are taught in person because they require hands-on kitchen labs. The Institute of Culinary Education also offers an online baking diploma and AOS, run through its Los Angeles campus, in states where it is authorized.
Program requirements and costs can change. Confirm all details with the school before applying.