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Van Buren, Arkansas has 8 accredited schools offering hospitality management programs, with tuition ranging from $3,504 to $17,290 per year for indexed programs. Van Buren has a population of about 23,545. Median household income is $59,420 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 19.8% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Fort Smith, AR-OK metro area, the top-earning hospitality management-related role is Food Service Manager at a median $50,390 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer hospitality management programs near Van Buren, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Van Buren city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Van Buren. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:Accreditor: Higher Learning CommissionIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Arkansas schools on the Arkansas hospitality management page.
Van Buren is part of the Fort Smith, AR-OK metro area (BLS area code 22900). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Arkansas statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lodging Manager | $49,990 | Fort Smith, AR-OK | $58,196 |
| Food Service Manager | $50,390 | Fort Smith, AR-OK | $58,661 |
| Meeting, Convention, and Event Planner | $47,750 | Fort Smith, AR-OK | $55,588 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 23,545 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $59,420 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 19.8% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 85.9 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 8 accredited schools offering hospitality management programs near Van Buren. The closest is Carl Albert State College in Poteau, OK (32.4 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Tulsa Technology Center (97.6 miles). 7 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying hospitality management-related roles near Van Buren are: Food Service Manager ($50,390), Lodging Manager ($49,990), Meeting, Convention, and Event Planner ($47,750). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Arkansas statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Fort Smith, AR is 6.9 miles from Van Buren and has its own set of local hospitality management programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Van Buren’s median household income of $59,420 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Van Buren while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Arkansas public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Van Buren:
Data verified: August 11, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Hospitality & Tourism Management Schools in Arkansas (2026)
