Edmonds College in Lynnwood, just north of Seattle, gives baking students a working storefront: the student-run Pastry Corner in Brier Hall, which sells scratch-made breads, cakes, tarts, and chocolates from Tuesday through Thursday. Its Baking and Pastry Arts program offers three baking credentials, all built on the same three quarters of 10-credit kitchen labs.
Students can stop after the 41-credit Baking Certificate or continue into a 96-credit Associate of Technical Arts (ATA) in Baking. A 106-credit Baking and Pastry Arts AAS-T adds general education for transfer to a Central Washington University applied bachelor’s degree. Details below come from the Edmonds 2026–27 catalog and the college’s program and tuition pages.
Quick Facts
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| School | Edmonds College |
| Location | Lynnwood, Washington |
| Credentials | Baking and Pastry Arts AAS-T (CWU transfer); Culinary Arts – Baking ATA; Culinary Arts – Baking Certificate |
| Credits | 106, 96, or 41 quarter credits |
| Typical length | About 2 years for either degree; about 1 year for the certificate |
| Entry | Fall, winter, or spring quarter; program maps are built for a fall start |
| Lab schedule | Kitchen labs 8:30 a.m.–2:15 p.m., Monday through Thursday |
| Delivery | In-person labs; most lecture classes online |
Baking and Pastry Program Options
The Baking and Pastry Arts program page compares the three options. Every certificate course also appears in both degrees, so a certificate graduate can move into the ATA or AAS-T without repeating baking coursework.
Culinary Arts – Baking Certificate
The Baking Certificate requires 41 credits. The catalog describes a first quarter of sanitation, terminology, tools, and mixing methods, a second quarter of yeast breads, viennoiserie, and sourdough, and a third quarter of cakes, entremets, custards, frozen and plated desserts, and an introduction to chocolate. The college says most graduates qualify for entry-level work in a grocery store bakery or small bakery.
Culinary Arts – Baking ATA
The Baking ATA totals 96 credits: 78 in the program and 18 in general education and career success. It adds two more 10-credit labs, Specialty Baking and Pastry Chef, along with restaurant operations, nutrition, and beverage courses. The catalog states that this degree is not designed to transfer. Its program map spreads the work over six quarters.
Baking and Pastry Arts AAS-T
The Baking and Pastry Arts AAS-T requires 106 credits and is designed for direct transfer to CWU’s Bachelor of Applied Science in Information Technology and Administrative Management. It keeps the full baking sequence and swaps in English Composition, a college-level math course, Computer Fundamentals, a lab science, and sociology. The AAS-T program map runs seven quarters, including one summer.
Curriculum and Baking Courses
The baking sequence is taken in order, one lab per quarter:
- Beginning Baking (10 credits), batters and doughs, paired with Beginning Baking Theory (3 credits)
- Intermediate Baking (10 credits), doughs at an intermediate level
- Advanced Baking (10 credits), covering plated and frozen desserts, sauces, custards, and hand-tempered chocolate, with Advanced Baking Theory (3 credits)
- Food Service Sanitation (2 credits), plus a work experience seminar and 2 credits of supervised work experience
- Degrees only: Specialty Baking (10 credits), with custom cakes, chocolates, confectionery, and boutique mini desserts
- Degrees only: Pastry Chef (10 credits), covering bakery supervision, purchasing, recipe development, and showpiece design
- Degrees only: Principles of Cooking, Restaurant Operations, Food Service Nutrition, beverages, and procurement or sustainable food service
Students must earn at least a 2.0 in every Culinary Arts class to complete any of the three credentials. The program page adds that Edmonds generally does not accept baking credits from other schools, because baking programs differ so much.
Tuition and Additional Costs
Edmonds’ 2026–27 tuition table charges Washington residents $136.14 per credit for the first 10 credits in a quarter and $67.18 per credit for credits 11–18. Nonresidents pay $350.12 and $75.93. The fees page adds $16.77 per credit in mandatory fees (assessment, student center, sustainability, Triton Field, learning technology, and student services). The degree estimates follow the catalog program maps quarter by quarter. Because the certificate has no published map, its estimate assumes three quarters of 14, 14, and 13 credits.
| Program | Credits | Estimated in-state tuition and fees | Estimated out-of-state tuition and fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baking and Pastry Arts AAS-T (7 quarters) | 106 | $13,726 | $29,020 |
| Culinary Arts – Baking ATA (6 quarters) | 96 | $12,197 | $25,351 |
| Culinary Arts – Baking Certificate (3 quarters) | 41 | $5,511 | $12,026 |
These figures cover tuition and the per-credit mandatory fees only. They leave out lab or special course fees, which Edmonds lists in the quarterly class schedule rather than in the catalog, as well as books, parking, and transcripts.
For start-up costs, the program page estimates a $345 toolkit, a $170 textbook, a $200 uniform, and a $10 Washington State Food Worker Card, about $725 in total.
Admissions and Financial Aid
According to the program’s new student checklist, the process starts with a faculty advising session. Students then apply for admission (the application is free), complete an online orientation, and take placement. Placement into ENGLP 093 or AENGL 093 is required before starting, while math placement is not. After advising, faculty issue the permission code needed to register for Beginning Baking. No previous kitchen experience is required.
The checklist points students to financial aid and to StartNextQuarter for funding options. Each credential carries its own program code, and the catalog asks students to make sure it is recorded correctly for financial aid purposes. Edmonds does not publish Pell eligibility separately for each baking credential, so confirm it with the financial aid office.
Career Preparation and Transfer Considerations
Edmonds names baker, bread baker, cake decorator, caterer, pastry cook, and bakery retail associate as certificate outcomes. For degree graduates it adds bakery manager, bakery or cottage bakery owner, and pastry chef. The student-run Pastry Corner and the required supervised work experience give students retail and on-the-job practice.
Students who may want a bachelor’s degree should look closely at the AAS-T. The catalog notes that CWU requires at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA for admission. The ATA program map says that degree may transfer only to a limited number of specific programs.
Which Edmonds Pathway May Fit You?
| Pathway | May fit students who want |
|---|---|
| Culinary Arts – Baking Certificate | A one-year program with three lab quarters, leading to entry-level bakery work |
| Culinary Arts – Baking ATA | Advanced cake, chocolate, and showpiece work plus management training for a pastry chef or bakery owner role |
| Baking and Pastry Arts AAS-T | The full baking sequence with transferable general education aimed at CWU’s applied bachelor’s degree |
Questions to Ask Before Applying
- If I start in winter or spring rather than fall, how does the lab sequence change?
- Which baking courses carry lab or special fees this year, and how much are they?
- How are the certificate’s lecture courses and work experience spread across quarters?
- How much time do students spend working in the Pastry Corner each quarter?
- What kinds of employers host the supervised work experience?
Program details and costs can change. Confirm current requirements with Edmonds College before applying.