2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate

When it comes to choosing a college, veterans have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate” ranking is part of that endeavor.

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 Massachusetts, there were 1,210 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,408 and $25,263 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts 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. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs, but they also offer a lot of support to veterans and active service members.

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. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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 “Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate

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

Top 2 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in Massachusetts

1

Springfield College
Springfield, Massachusetts

1 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

$45,043 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate 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 2 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

Springfield College also made our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts” list, coming in at #1.Our most recent data shows that 1 of the 3,068 students enrolled at Springfield College were GI Bill® students, of which 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 85%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

[Read full report on veteran student life at Springfield College]](/colleges/springfield-college/student-life/veterans/)

2

University of Massachusetts - Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

678 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

$12,414 Average GI Bill® Award

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Parks & Rec for a Doctorate that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Massachusetts - Boston landed the #2 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Boston, Massachusetts, and it awarded 2 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

UMass Boston not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts” list.Our most recent data shows that 678 of the 16,259 students enrolled at University of Massachusetts - Boston were GI Bill® students, of which 362 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $12,414. To help with additional expenses, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. University of Massachusetts - Boston does offer credit for military training for eligible students.

[Read full report on veteran student life at UMass Boston]](/colleges/university-of-massachusetts-boston/student-life/veterans/)

• Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the New England Region
• 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.