2023 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the New England Region

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the New England Region” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the 15th most popular major in the country with 72,741 degrees awarded in 2021-2022. In , parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates who were awarded their degree in , earned an average of $31,466 and had an average of $24,117 in loans still to pay off.

Across the New England region, there were 2,933 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,776 and $26,541 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 6 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $78,470 and $116,265 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the New England Region” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the New England Region” list to help you make the college decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons 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.

Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the New England Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for new england region doctor’s degree parks & rec students.

Top 3 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the New England Region

1

Springfield College
Springfield, Massachusetts

Out of the 3 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the New England Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Springfield College landed the #1 spot on the list. Springfield College is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Springfield, Massachusetts. It awarded 1 doctorate’s parks & rec degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

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

2

University of Massachusetts - Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Massachusetts - Boston. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the New England Region list. University of Massachusetts - Boston is a public institution located in Boston, Massachusetts. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 3 doctorate’s degrees in 2021-2022.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.0% 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 UMass Boston

3

University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Connecticut. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the New England Region. UCONN is a large school located in Storrs, Connecticut that handed out 2 doctorate’s parks & rec degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 92%.

Full UCONN Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate 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.