Texas Culinary Academy

This is a horrible scam school which has had multiple class action lawsuits against them nationally. They misrepresent the value of their education which is worthless at best. Most people that I know who went to this school have either defaulted on their student loans or are in a lifetime amount of debt. Most job prospects for graduates from this school are minimum wage jobs. Please do not go to this school. It is a complete rip off and is not worth the pain, heartbreak, and lifelong debt. I hate having to give this even 1 star…

This school has ruined my life. The financial lady promised me when signing up for the student loan with Sallie Mae that even though the interest rate was 21%, it could be refinanced for a much lower rate after paying on it religiously for a couple of years. (Let’s just say that was a lie, and even if I pay on the loans religiously … I will never be able to pay the loan off… my $ 12,000 loan is now almost at $ 30,000 and still growing)
Second of all… When I went to this school they said they would help you find a job anywhere you moved once you finish. Well I didn’t realize they were expecting me to apply to Mc.Donalds.
Please don’t make the same stupid mistake I made… If you want to excel in the real culinary world… start from the ground up in a restaurant. That is basically what you will have to do anyways once you finish school here. The upside is you will gain real life experiences while getting paid instead of paying for staged experiences that don’t go that smoothly in real life.

I’m an alumni from 2006… Yes I meet some great friends but… TCA IS GARBAGE!!! Bunch of BS… Thanks TCA for my debt for life…

DON’T GO TO THIS CRAPPY SCHOOL!!! You won’t find a job that will even pay your monthly loan payments. My husband and I went to this shitty school and our loan payments add up to about $ 900 together a month. We owe Sallie Mae about $ 70,000 in out standing loans. They promise you that your going to work in a 5 star restaurant but really you are going to work as a bus boy or in a dish pit for 5 years making $ 9.50 an hour. This school is a huge SCAM!!!

Now that I’ve graduated from TCA, I’m a little bitter. In the beginning they promised they would help us get great jobs and be with us every step of the way. Bullshit. Those women in the career services department are worthless (trust me, I used to work with them) I was out of work for 6 months right out of school and they didn’t lift a finger to help me. They wouldn’t even return my phone calls. It was very frustrating.
Also, this didn’t happen to me, but like 5 of my friends. If you are behind on your RIC loan payments when you graduate, they will not let you have your diploma, which I don’t think is fair at all.
I went through 2 very shitty and humiliating jobs (minimum wage baking jobs with other TCA students.) before I gave up on baking, which seems to be the trend among my classmates. We started school with 32 people, less than 20 made it to graduation, less than 5 are actually working in kitchens now, and 3 have gone back to school to change professions. Most of us are unemployed, and some have found jobs that they could’ve gotten without burying themselves in debt.
Save your money and just go get a job. The certificate you receive from this school does not help you get a job, it’s just a huge waste of money. I sent out over 100 resumes last summer to plain ol bakeries and cupcake shops saying «Look, I have this degree, I know how to cook!» but the response I got from 99 of them was «But what’s your experience. We don’t care about this degree, where have you worked, how long have you been in the field» When I finally got a job, I think they hired me out of pity. Seriously, the best advice I can give to someone thinking about going to TCA is just go out and find a job. Save your time and money.

Lack of professionalism. Was visiting this school and took a tour. Everything was great except for the rude Director of Admissions. She put a lot of pressure on me and was nearly emotionally abusing me because I said I would take a few days to think things over.

Yet another reason why I love my city is that this culinary academy periodically holds classes for the public. For a measly $ 10 I spent a part of my Saturday afternoon here drinking red wines paired with dark chocolates as part of the Academy’s Fourth Annual Chocolate Festival. The sommelier was engaging and knowledgeable; the pastry chef serious yet eager to see if she had pulled off a great pairing. I came away buzzed and happy having learned something new and armed with valentine ideas for friends and family. I hope the academy can arrange more public classes like this.
Finding the darn place was the only part of this experience I would change. I don’t habitually go to the northside, much less here. Other visitors seemed to have some problems finding it too. It’s in the Domain area and not well-​marked yet. Hopefully, that will change soon. Still, I can’t give the experience anything less than five stars because that was the best $ 10 I’ve spent in Austin thus far.