Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Central Washington University

Every parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies school has its own distinct culture and strengths. We've pulled together some statistics and other details to help you see how the parks and rec program at Central Washington University stacks up to those at other schools.

CWU is located in Ellensburg, Washington and approximately 11,174 students attend the school each year. Of the 3,157 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Central Washington University in 2021, 89 of them were parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies section at the bottom of this page.

CWU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Parks & Rec
• Master’s Degree in Parks & Rec

Online Classes Are Available at CWU

If you are a working student or have a busy schedule, you may want to consider taking online classes. While these classes used to be mostly populated by returning adults, more and more traditional students are turning to this option.

Are you one of the many who prefer to take online classes? CWU offers distance education options for parks and rec at the following degree levels:

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Master’s Degree

CWU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks parks and rec programs across the country. The following shows how CWU performed in these rankings.

Note: Rankings don't always give a complete picture of a school's strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to extend your research and also look at other factors when trying to decide if the school is right for you.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The parks and rec major at CWU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	20
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	182
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	190
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	201

In 2021, 40 students received their master’s degree in parks and rec from CWU. This makes it the #58 most popular school for parks and rec master’s degree candidates in the country.

Parks & Rec Student Demographics at CWU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the parks and rec majors at Central Washington University.

CWU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Program

The parks and rec program at CWU awarded 89 bachelor's degrees in 2020-2021. About 67% of these degrees went to men with the other 33% going to women.

About 52% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in parks and rec at CWU are white. This is typical for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Central Washington University with a bachelor's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	5
Black or African American	5
Hispanic or Latino	12
White	46
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	20

CWU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master’s Program

The parks and rec program at CWU awarded 40 master's degrees in 2020-2021. About 55% of these degrees went to men with the other 45% going to women.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Central Washington University with a master's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	7
White	15
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	17

CWU also has a doctoral program available in parks and rec. In 2021, 0 student graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies

If you plan to be a parks and rec major, you may want to focus your studies on one of the following concentrations. The table shows all degrees awarded in this field awarded for all degree levels at Central Washington University. A concentration may not be available for your level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Health & Physical Education	120
Recreation Administration	9

Related Majors

• Public Administration & Social Service
• Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting

Careers That Parks & Rec Grads May Go Into

A degree in parks and rec can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for WA, the home state for Central Washington University.

Occupation	Jobs in WA	Average Salary in WA
General and Operations Managers	47,770	$124,810
Coaches and Scouts	12,520	$43,420
Managers	11,280	$125,490
Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors	8,670	$54,220
Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Supervisors	2,120	$55,720

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Bobak Ha’Eri under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.