2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia” ranking.

In 2021-2022, 72,741 people earned their degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies, making the major the 15th most popular in the United States. 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 West Virginia, there were 1,256 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $31,545 and $25,331 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 231 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $54,814 and $43,099 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia” ranking looked at 4 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.

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

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 Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia” list to help you make the college 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. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia”.

Top 4 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in West Virginia

1

West Virginia State University
Institute, West Virginia

#23 overall quality in West Virginia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend West Virginia State University. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia. Institute, West Virginia is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s parks & rec degrees to 15 students in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 4.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

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

2

American Public University System
Charles Town, West Virginia

#1 overall quality in West Virginia

Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, American Public University System landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Charles Town, West Virginia, this large private for-profit school handed out 205 diplomas to qualified masters’s parks & rec students in 2021-2022.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at American Military University

3

Marshall University
Huntington, West Virginia

#5 overall quality in West Virginia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Marshall University. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia. Marshall University is a fairly large school located in Huntington, West Virginia that handed out 10 masters’s parks & rec degrees in 2021-2022.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% 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 Marshall University Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

4

West Virginia University
Morgantown, West Virginia

#2 overall quality in West Virginia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend West Virginia University. The school came in at #4 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in West Virginia. WVU is located in Morgantown, West Virginia and, has a large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 1 masters’s parks & rec degrees to qualified students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.9% 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 West Virginia University

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.