Meat Cutting

Earn Your Meat Cutting Certificate — for FREE

Qualified students pay nothing. Our full-ride scholarship covers the entire cost of your Meat Cutting or Advanced Meat Cutting Certificate — an over $3,500 value! This scholarship covers your entire certificate at no cost. With experience, graduates can advance or pursue the Advanced Meat Cutting Certificate, also fully covered. You must be at least 18 years of age to enroll.

Ridgewater’s Meat Cutting program offers hands-on training in the art of butchery, equipping students with the skills to break down carcass, trim and prepare various cuts of meat. Meat cutters play a critical role in the food and agriculture industries by ensuring that livestock are harvested, meat products are prepared, presented and sold in a safe and appealing manner.

Student learns skills in:

Food safety and carcass breakdown into retail cuts
Livestock, poultry and game slaughter and processing

* Tuition/fees and additional costs are approximate and based on 2025-26 school year.

18 credit certificates
Online courses
In person weekly labs

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Financial Aid

Program Delivery

Online coursework
- No set meeting time; students attend lectures and access class materials according to their schedules
In-person labs
- 10 hours of weekly lab time at a meat shop near you for a 100% hands-on experience
Fall start – Beginning
Spring start – Advanced

Program Cost^*

Tuition/Fees

Beginning Meat Cutting Certificate: $3,771
Advanced Meat Processing Certificate: $3,771

Additional Costs

A Microsoft^® Windows 11 laptop computer is required for all students enrolled in Ag programs. Tablets, Chromebooks, and Mac/Apple devices are not supported by D2L Brightspace, the system-wide online learning management system.