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

If you plan to study parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies, take a look at what Northern Illinois University has to offer and decide if the program is a good match for you. Get started with the following essential facts.

NIU is located in Dekalb, Illinois and approximately 16,769 students attend the school each year. In 2021, 71 parks and rec majors received their bachelor's degree from NIU.

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.

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

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

NIU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks parks and rec programs across the country. The following shows how NIU 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 NIU 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 Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	166
	228

In 2021, 27 students received their master’s degree in parks and rec from NIU. This makes it the #104 most popular school for parks and rec master’s degree candidates in the country.

Parks & Rec Student Demographics at NIU

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

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

Of the 71 parks and rec students who graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2020-2021 from NIU, about 56% were men and 44% were women.

About 52% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in parks and rec at NIU are white. This is typical for this degree on the nationwide level. Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 7% more racial-ethnic minorities in its parks and rec bachelor's program than the national average.*

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	3
Black or African American	11
Hispanic or Latino	18
White	37
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

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

The parks and rec program at NIU awarded 27 master's degrees in 2020-2021. About 63% of these degrees went to men with the other 37% going to women.

Of the students who received a parks and rec master's degree from NIU, 70% 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 Northern Illinois University with a master's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	1
Black or African American	2
Hispanic or Latino	2
White	19
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

NIU 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 Northern Illinois University. A concentration may not be available for your level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Health & Physical Education	98

Related Majors

• Public Administration & Social Service
• Legal Professions

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 Northern 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 Andy McMurray under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.