Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Eastern Illinois University

What traits are you looking for in a parks and rec school? To help you decide if Eastern Illinois University is right for you, we've gathered the following information about the school's parks and rec program.

EIU is located in Charleston, Illinois and has a total student population of 8,626. In 2021, 79 parks and rec majors received their bachelor's degree from EIU.

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.

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

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

EIU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the parks and rec progam at EIU compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Although rankings can help you see some information about a school, it's not a good idea to depend on them alone. Be sure to check out other things about the school before making your decision to attend.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The parks and rec major at EIU 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
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	32
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	128
	151
Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools	189
Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	199

In 2021, 28 students received their master’s degree in parks and rec from EIU. This makes it the #99 most popular school for parks and rec master’s degree candidates in the country.

Parks & Rec Student Demographics at EIU

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

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

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 79 students earned a bachelor's degree in parks and rec from EIU. About 33% of these graduates were women and the other 67% were men.

About 65% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in parks and rec at EIU are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	3
Black or African American	15
Hispanic or Latino	3
White	51
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	5

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

Of the 28 parks and rec students who graduated with a master's degree in 2020-2021 from EIU, about 61% were men and 39% were women.

Of the students who received a parks and rec master's degree from EIU, 86% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level.

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	2
White	24
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

EIU 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

The following parks and rec concentations are available at Eastern Illinois University. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Eastern Illinois University. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Health & Physical Education	95
Recreation Administration	12

Related Majors

• 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 IL, the home state for Eastern Illinois University.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
General and Operations Managers	122,790	$125,990
Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors	16,430	$46,670
Coaches and Scouts	10,670	$38,760
Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Supervisors	3,570	$54,340
Athletic Trainers	1,480	$44,380

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 Nyttend under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.