2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Middle Atlantic Region

When it comes to choosing a college, veterans have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Most Veteran Friendly in the Middle Atlantic Region for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2020-2021, 73,813 people earned their degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies, making the major the 15th most popular in the United States. 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 the Middle Atlantic region, there were 8,010 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $32,049 and $25,045 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in the Middle Atlantic Region for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs as well as strong veteran support.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran population. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The parks & rec school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Most Veteran Friendly in the Middle Atlantic Region for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate”.

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

Most Veteran Friendly in the Middle Atlantic Region for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in the Middle Atlantic Region for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate”.

Top 2 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Middle Atlantic Region

1

University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, Maryland

16 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Maryland - College Park. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in the Middle Atlantic Region for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate. UMCP is a large public school situated in College Park, Maryland. It awarded 2 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our middle atlantic region doctor’s degree vets studying parks & rec list, UMCP has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region” ranking.Of the 40,709 students enrolled at University of Maryland - College Park, 16 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 13 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $1,716. During this same period, 8 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Full UMCP Veteran Student Life Report

2

Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

830 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Temple University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in the Middle Atlantic Region for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate list. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out doctorate’s parks and rec degrees to 2 students in 2020-2021.

Temple not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region” list.Our most recent data shows that 830 of the 37,236 students enrolled at Temple were GI Bill® students, of which 510 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $13,479. During this same period, 9 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Temple does offer credit for military training for eligible students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, 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 [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

[Read full report on veteran student life at Temple]](/colleges/temple-university/student-life/veterans/)

• Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans

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).
• Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• 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.
• **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
• 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.