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2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota

8 Ranked Colleges
321 Degrees Awarded
$19,200 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor's in South Dakota

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the 15th most popular major in the country with 72,122 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $29,823 and had an average of $24,576 in loans still to pay off.

Across South Dakota, there were 386 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 321 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota” ranking looked at 8 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.

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

More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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. 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 Bachelor’s in South Dakota

The colleges and universities below are the best for south dakota bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

Top 8 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in South Dakota

#1

South Dakota State University

Brookings, South Dakota
#2 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend South Dakota State University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota list. Brookings, South Dakota is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s parks and rec degrees to 50 students in 2019-2020.

South Dakota State also took the #2 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” ranking. It costs about $19,252 for South Dakota Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students per year to attend South Dakota State University.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at South Dakota State

#2

University of South Dakota

Vermillion, South Dakota
#3 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of South Dakota. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota. University of South Dakota is a public institution located in Vermillion, South Dakota. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 91 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

USD did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” list. It costs about $18,555 for south dakota bachelor’s degree parks & rec students per year to attend University of South Dakota.

The low student loan default rate of 4.8% 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%.

Full University of South Dakota Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

#3

Dakota State University

Madison, South Dakota
#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Dakota State University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota list. This small school is located in Madison, South Dakota, and it awarded 11 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

Dakota State also took the #4 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” ranking. It costs about $17,691 for south dakota bachelor’s degree parks & rec students per year to attend Dakota State University.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Dakota State

#4

Northern State University

Aberdeen, South Dakota
#5 in overall quality

Out of the 8 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota that were part of this year’s ranking, Northern State University landed the #4 spot on the list. This small school is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and it awarded 24 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

NSU also made our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” list, coming in at #5. It costs about $15,851 for south dakota bachelor’s degree parks & rec students per year to attend NSU.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at NSU

#5

Black Hills State University

Spearfish, South Dakota
#7 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Black Hills State University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota. This small school is located in Spearfish, South Dakota, and it awarded 44 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

BHSU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #7 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” list. The estimated yearly cost for Black Hills State University is $16,641 for South Dakota Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Black Hills State University

#6

University of Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls, South Dakota
#8 in overall quality

University of Sioux Falls came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota ranking. Located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 28 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s parks and rec students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our south dakota bachelor’s degree parks & rec students list, University of Sioux Falls has also earned the #8 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” ranking. It costs about $19,893 for south dakota bachelor’s degree parks & rec students per year to attend University of Sioux Falls.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Sioux Falls

#7

Augustana University

Sioux Falls, South Dakota
#1 in overall quality

Augustana University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota list. This small school is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and it awarded 38 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Augustana Sioux Falls, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Augustana Sioux Falls is $24,072 for south dakota bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

The low 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 full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Augustana Sioux Falls

#8

Dakota Wesleyan University

Mitchell, South Dakota
#6 in overall quality

With a ranking of #8, Dakota Wesleyan University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota list. Dakota Wesleyan University is a small school located in Mitchell, South Dakota that handed out 15 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

Dakota Wesleyan University did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” list. It costs about $21,574 for South Dakota Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students per year to attend Dakota Wesleyan University.

Full Dakota Wesleyan University Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

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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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