2022 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies (With Aid)

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate For Those Getting Aid” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

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.

At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 14 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $72,680 and $116,043 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate For Those Getting Aid” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent parks, recreation and leisure studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the parks, recreation and leisure studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The parks & rec school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate For Those Getting Aid”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate For Those Getting Aid.

Top 3 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies (With Aid)

#1

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$22,648 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Northern Iowa. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate For Those Getting Aid list. Cedar Falls, Iowa is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out doctorate’s parks and rec degrees to 5 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our doctor’s degree parks & rec students with aid list, UNI has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at University of Northern Iowa are $22,648, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read more about Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at University of Northern Iowa

#2

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$30,083 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate For Those Getting Aid. This large school is located in Champaign, Illinois, and it awarded 2 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our doctor’s degree parks & rec students with aid list, UIUC has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are $30,083, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

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

#3

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

#2 in overall quality

$24,695 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Utah. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate For Those Getting Aid list. U of U is a large public school situated in Salt Lake City, Utah. It awarded 4 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our doctor’s degree parks & rec students with aid list, U of U has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools” ranking. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at U of U are $24,695.

Read more about Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at U of U

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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