Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is about average in terms of popularity for associate degrees programs. That is, it ranks #21 out of the 38 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
College Factual reviewed 4 schools in the Far Western US Region to determine which ones were the best for associate degree seekers in the field of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Combined, these schools handed out 3,788 associate degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School for Your Associate Degree
The parks & rec associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality parks & rec program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students working on their associate degree.
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 the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Far Western US Region
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students seeking a an associate degree.
Top Far Western US Region Schools for an Associate in Parks & Rec
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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 the rest 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).