2023 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking.

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the 15th most popular major in the country with 73,813 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $31,423 and had an average of $24,388 in loans still to pay off.

Across Maine, there were 200 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $28,747 and $26,482 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Parks & Rec Schools in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for maine parks & rec students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies (Income $0-$30k) in Maine

1

Saint Joseph's College of Maine
Standish, Maine

#2 in overall quality

$23,364 Average Net Price

$58,620 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Saint Joseph’s College of Maine. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k. Saint Joseph’s College of Maine is a private not-for-profit institution located in Standish, Maine. The school has a small population, and it awarded 21 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our maine parks & rec students whose families make $0-$30k list, Saint Joseph’s Maine has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Maine” ranking. It costs about $23,364 for Maine Parks & Rec students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Saint Joseph’s College of Maine.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 4.3% 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%.

Full Saint Joseph’s Maine Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

2

Thomas College
Waterville, Maine

#3 in overall quality

$19,188 Average Net Price

$37,918 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Thomas College. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k list. Thomas College is a small school located in Waterville, Maine that handed out 13 ’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Thomas College, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Maine” ranking. It costs about $19,188 for maine parks & rec students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Thomas College.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Thomas College

3

University of New England
Biddeford, Maine

#1 in overall quality

$30,554 Average Net Price

$61,270 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of New England. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k list. University of New England is a private not-for-profit institution located in Biddeford, Maine. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 57 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

UNE also made our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Maine” list, coming in at #1. The yearly cost to attend UNE is $30,554 for maine parks & rec students whose families make $0-$30k.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.8% 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 more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of New England

• Best Value Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies (Income $0-$30k) in the New England Region
• Best Value Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies (Income $0-$30k)

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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to NPS Photo/Zurbuch.