Community college, by all means. Of course, do your own research, and see if you can speak with any alumni for whatever school you're interested in. One thing the Seattle area community college system offers is transferrable AAS degrees you can apply toward an AA, and then a BA in Food & Beverage Management. Many of the credits you'd earn through such a path will furthermore be transferrable to other university institutions if you decide on another career change in the future; the private expensive schools cannot say the same (with the exception of the Hotel School at Cornell University). If your local votechs do something similar, it will be a huge plus to stick with them.
The previous poster's mention of comparing actual hands on kitchen hours in the curriculum is a valid one; as with the private places, there are crappy votechs out there too. But past a certain point, you're also dealing with the law of diminishing returns. For example, it's true that you'll get lots of experience in fish butchery at the CIA, whereas maybe you'll only get a few fish at a CC, but nothing is stopping you from just going to a reputable fish monger and trailing there for free, and thus saving tens of thousands of dollars in the process. The same would apply for pastry.
Also, 24 is not at all old; I got my start in culinary school at 32 and am still going strong at 37. That said, I also don't have any spawn. Health insurance, money and just plain ole parent time will be a bigger concern, so do take a hard look at whether or not it suits you to follow this career path while spending a few years making 9-12$/hr (lower in other locales) with no benefits, and no holiday/vacation time or even normal day to day coinciding time with your kid. In fact, all of this I think would also factor into whether or not you go to a school where you can parlay your degree into something suitable for a work environment which allows for more reasonable hours and benefits, e.g. hotels and such.
Good luck,
Pat  |