2025 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Louisiana
6Colleges in Louisiana
700Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
$34,494Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #15 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Louisiana ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 700 degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies annually.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies rankings. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings by Degree Level
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 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Louisiana list to help you make the college decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
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.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in Louisiana
The schools below may not offer all types of parks & rec degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Louisiana State University is a fairly large public university located in the city of Baton Rouge. A Best Colleges rank of #357 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Louisiana State University is a great university overall.
There were roughly 192 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Louisiana State University in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program state that they receive average early career wages of $31,956.
It is difficult to beat Southeastern Louisiana University if you want to pursue a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Southeastern is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Hammond. This university ranks 13th out of 30 schools for overall quality in the state of Louisiana.
There were about 124 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Southeastern in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program state that they receive average early career earnings of $30,315.
University of Louisiana at Monroe is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. ULM is a medium-sized public university located in the small city of Monroe. A Best Colleges rank of #1356 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means ULM is a great university overall.
There were about 80 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at ULM in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program report average early career earnings of $32,075.
Northwestern State University of Louisiana is a good choice for students interested in a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the town of Natchitoches, NSU is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 14th out of 30 schools for overall quality in the state of Louisiana.
There were approximately 48 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at NSU in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, parks & rec degree recipients usually make an average of $28,009 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the city of Lake Charles, McNeese is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #1653 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means McNeese is a great university overall.
There were about 95 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at McNeese in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, parks & rec degree recipients generally make about $35,544 in their early careers.
Located in the town of Grambling, GSU is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 28th out of 30 colleges for overall quality in the state of Louisiana.
There were roughly 65 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at GSU in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn an average of $26,971 in the first couple years of working.
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).
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies rankings. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
