2025 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in North Carolina
4Colleges in North Carolina
97Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
$34,246Avg Early-Career Salary
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies isn't the most popular major in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #166 in popularity out of 395 majors in the country. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
College Factual reviewed 4 schools in North Carolina to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of parks, recreation & leisure studies. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 97 degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies annually.
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. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that 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 North Carolina list to help you make the college decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in North Carolina
The schools below may not offer all types of parks & rec degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
It is hard to beat University of North Carolina at Greensboro if you want to pursue a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. UNC Greensboro is a large public university located in the large city of Greensboro. This university ranks 17th out of 93 colleges for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were approximately 37 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UNC Greensboro in the most recent data year. After graduating, parks & rec degree recipients typically make an average of $31,561 in the first five years of their career.
East Carolina University is a good option for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. ECU is a very large public university located in the small city of Greenville. A Best Colleges rank of #275 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means ECU is a great university overall.
There were about 31 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at ECU in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program report average early career income of $34,751.
University of Mount Olive is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the rural area of Mount Olive, UMO is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 46th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were about 10 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UMO in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program report average early career income of $27,219.
Shaw University is a wonderful choice for students interested in a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the city of Raleigh, Shaw University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly small student population.
There were roughly 8 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Shaw University in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program state that they receive average early career income of $32,241.
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. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
