2025 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region
7Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
469Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #218 most popular degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 469 degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation & leisure studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Rankings by Degree Level
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Great Lakes Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the parks & rec degrees they offer, see the list below.
Any student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies needs to take a look at Indiana University - Bloomington. IU Bloomington is a very large public university located in the small city of Bloomington. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were approximately 150 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were about 145 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year.
Any student who is interested in parks, recreation & leisure studies needs to check out Ohio University - Athens Campus. OHIO Athens is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Athens. A Best Colleges rank of #184 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means OHIO Athens is a great university overall.
There were about 42 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at OHIO Athens in the most recent year we have data available.
It's hard to beat Bowling Green State University - Main Campus if you want to pursue a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. BGSU is a large public university located in the town of Bowling Green. This university ranks 18th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 59 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at BGSU in the most recent data year.
SIUC is a large public university located in the distant town of Carbondale. This university ranks 36th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 18 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at SIUC in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Toledo, University of Toledo is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 15th out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 19 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at University of Toledo in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the remote town of Marquette, Northern Michigan University is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 35th out of 56 schools for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were approximately 18 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Northern Michigan University in the most recent data year.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation & leisure studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
