2023 Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for veterans. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec” ranking - to help you make that decision.

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 North Dakota, there were 292 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $36,588 and $26,244 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree 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. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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 North Dakota for Parks & Rec

The colleges and universities below are the best for north dakota vets studying parks & rec.

Top 3 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges for Veterans in North Dakota

1

University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, North Dakota

796 GI Bill® Students**

YES Student Veterans Organization

$7,112 Average GI Bill® Award

Out of the 3 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec that were part of this year’s ranking, University of North Dakota landed the #1 spot on the list. University of North Dakota is a fairly large school located in Grand Forks, North Dakota that handed out 29 ’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

UND did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Of the 13,615 students enrolled at UND, 796 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 395 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $7,112. During this same period, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. UND does offer credit for military training for eligible students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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 UND Veteran Student Life Report

2

North Dakota State University - Main Campus
Fargo, North Dakota

4 GI Bill® Students**

$56,246 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec that were part of this year’s ranking, North Dakota State University - Main Campus landed the #2 spot on the list. North Dakota State University is a fairly large school located in Fargo, North Dakota that handed out 87 ’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

North Dakota State University also took the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Among the 12,846 students enrolled at North Dakota State University, 4 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $0. During this same period, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.

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 North Dakota State University]](/colleges/north-dakota-state-university-main-campus/student-life/veterans/)

3

Minot State University
Minot, North Dakota

198 GI Bill® Students**

YES Student Veterans Organization

$4,267 Average GI Bill® Award

Out of the 3 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec that were part of this year’s ranking, Minot State University landed the #3 spot on the list. Minot, North Dakota is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s parks and rec degrees to 37 students in 2020-2021.

MSU also took the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 198 of the 2,920 students enrolled at MSU were GI Bill® students, of which 115 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $4,267. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. MSU offers credit for military training for eligible students.

[Read full report on veteran student life at Minot State University]](/colleges/minot-state-university/student-life/veterans/)

• Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges for Veterans in the Plains States Region
• Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies 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.