2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 3,224 people earned their degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies, making the major the 152nd most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $29,957 and had an average of $22,487 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 167 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,733 and $24,414 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 128 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking analyzed 4 colleges that offered a degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality parks, recreation and leisure studies programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the parks, recreation and leisure studies program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools

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 Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” list to help you make the college decision.

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. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students whose families make $48-$75k.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies (Income $48-$75k) in Illinois

#1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$13,351 Average Net Price

$38,751 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k list. Champaign, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s parks and rec degrees to 99 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students whose families make $48-$75k list, UIUC has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UIUC is $13,351 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

#2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Carbondale, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$14,985 Average Net Price

$28,960 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k. SIUC is a fairly large school located in Carbondale, Illinois that handed out 21 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUC also took the #2 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $14,985 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend SIUC.

Read more about Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

#3

Aurora University

Aurora, Illinois

#4 in overall quality

$15,881 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Aurora University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k. Aurora is a medium-sized school located in Aurora, Illinois that handed out 4 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

Aurora not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $15,881 for illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend Aurora University.

The low student loan default rate of 4.4% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Aurora University

#4

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$17,841 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Olivet Nazarene University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k. Olivet Nazarene is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Bourbonnais, Illinois. It awarded 4 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

Olivet Nazarene not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $17,841 for illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend Olivet Nazarene University.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Olivet Nazarene

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies (Income $48-$75k) in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies (Income $48-$75k)

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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