2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in South Dakota

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major 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 72,741 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 South Dakota, there were 326 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $32,046 and $23,943 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 56 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $60,452 and $37,011 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in South Dakota” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies.

See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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 South Dakota” list to help you make the college decision.

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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in South Dakota

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

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

1

Northern State University
Aberdeen, South Dakota

#11 overall quality in South Dakota

Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in South Dakota that were part of this year’s ranking, Northern State University landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, this small public school handed out 13 diplomas to qualified masters’s parks & rec students in 2021-2022.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.1% 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 Northern State University Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

2

Augustana University
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

#3 overall quality in South Dakota

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Augustana University. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in South Dakota. Augustana Sioux Falls is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and, has a small student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 10 masters’s parks & rec degrees to qualified students.

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

3

University of South Dakota
Vermillion, South Dakota

#5 overall quality in South Dakota

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of South Dakota. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in South Dakota. Vermillion, South Dakota is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s parks & rec degrees to 23 students in 2021-2022.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of South Dakota

4

South Dakota State University
Brookings, South Dakota

#1 overall quality in South Dakota

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend South Dakota State University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in South Dakota list. South Dakota State University is a public institution located in Brookings, South Dakota. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 10 masters’s degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.7%, 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

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.