2023 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Southwest Region

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 the Southwest Region for Parks Administration for a Bachelor’s” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2020-2021, 2,937 people earned their degree in parks, recreation and leisure facilities management, making the major the 231st most popular in the United States.

Across the Southwest region, there were 204 parks, recreation and leisure facilities management graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 171 parks, recreation and leisure facilities management graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,112 and $26,227 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in the Southwest Region for Parks Administration for a Bachelor’s” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in parks, recreation and leisure facilities management. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality parks, recreation and leisure facilities management programs as well as strong veteran support.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as veteran satisfaction, veteran affordability, and overall quality of the parks, recreation and leisure facilities management program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management Schools

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 “Most Veteran Friendly in the Southwest Region for Parks Administration for a Bachelor’s” list to help you make the college decision.

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. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Most Veteran Friendly in the Southwest Region for Parks Administration for a Bachelor’s

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in the Southwest Region for Parks Administration for a Bachelor’s”.

Top 3 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Southwest Region

1

University of North Texas
Denton, Texas

2,038 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 North Texas. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in the Southwest Region for Parks Administration for a Bachelor’s. Denton, Texas is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s parks administration degrees to 60 students in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UNT, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” ranking.Among the 40,953 students enrolled at UNT, 2,038 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 1,138 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $9,999. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students received scholarships through 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.

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2

Texas State University
San Marcos, Texas

2,559 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

Out of the 3 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in the Southwest Region for Parks Administration for a Bachelor’s that were part of this year’s ranking, Texas State University landed the #2 spot on the list. San Marcos, Texas is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s parks administration degrees to 81 students in 2020-2021.

Texas State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” list.Our most recent data shows that 2,559 of the 37,812 students enrolled at Texas State University were GI Bill® students, of which 1,197 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $7,635. During this same period, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Texas State University does offer credit for military training for eligible students.

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3

Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Weatherford, Oklahoma

11 GI Bill® Students**

#3 in overall quality

$2,832 Average GI Bill® Award

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southwestern Oklahoma State University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in the Southwest Region for Parks Administration for a Bachelor’s list. This small school is located in Weatherford, Oklahoma, and it awarded 17 bachelors’s parks administration degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at SWOSU, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” ranking.According to our most recent data, SWOSU supports 4,898 students, and 11 of those are GI Bill® students, of which 7 are Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $2,832. During this same period, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.

[Read full report on veteran student life at SWOSU]](/colleges/southwestern-oklahoma-state-university/student-life/veterans/)

• Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management Bachelor’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 Glen Santy.