2025 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Plains States Region
9Colleges in the Plains States Region
396Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
A degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #218 out of 1506 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 396 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. We derive our Best Overall Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
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
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Plains States Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Plains States Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the parks & rec degree levels they offer.
University of Iowa is a great option for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Iowa is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Iowa City. A Best Colleges rank of #80 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Iowa is a great university overall.
There were roughly 55 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Iowa in the most recent year we have data available.
Any student who is interested in parks, recreation & leisure studies has to look into University of Northern Iowa. Located in the city of Cedar Falls, UNI is a public university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #270 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UNI is a great university overall.
There were approximately 36 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UNI in the most recent data year.
It is difficult to beat University of Missouri - Columbia if you wish to pursue a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Mizzou is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbia. A Best Colleges rank of #131 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Mizzou is a great university overall.
There were approximately 83 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Mizzou in the most recent data year.
It's difficult to beat Northwest Missouri State University if you want to pursue a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the town of Maryville, Northwest is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 20th out of 48 colleges for overall quality in the state of Missouri.
There were roughly 44 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Northwest in the most recent data year.
Winona State is a moderately-sized public university located in the town of Winona. A Best Colleges rank of #330 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Winona State is a great university overall.
There were about 35 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Winona State in the most recent data year.
Located in the town of Pittsburg, Pitt State is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 12th out of 44 schools for overall quality in the state of Kansas.
There were roughly 29 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Pitt State in the most recent year we have data available.
UNK is a moderately-sized public university located in the town of Kearney. This university ranks 11th out of 19 schools for overall quality in the state of Nebraska.
There were about 53 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UNK in the most recent data year.
Located in the midsize city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 10th out of 48 schools for overall quality in the state of Missouri.
There were roughly 20 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Missouri State in the most recent year we have data available.
UMN Duluth is a medium-sized public university located in the city of Duluth. This university ranks 17th out of 52 schools for overall quality in the state of Minnesota.
There were approximately 12 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UMN Duluth in the most recent year we have data available.
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. We derive our Best Overall Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
