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

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

NSU is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota and approximately 3,431 students attend the school each year. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 20 students received a bachelor's degree in parks and rec from NSU.

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.

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

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

NSU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the parks and rec progam at NSU 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 NSU 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	19
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools	27
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	29
Most Focused Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	31
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	113
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	120
	138
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools	177
Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools	495
Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	565

In 2021, 13 students received their master’s degree in parks and rec from NSU. This makes it the #211 most popular school for parks and rec master’s degree candidates in the country.

Parks & Rec Student Demographics at NSU

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

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

The parks and rec program at NSU awarded 20 bachelor's degrees in 2020-2021. About 65% of these degrees went to men with the other 35% going to women.

About 90% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in parks and rec at NSU 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 Northern State University with a bachelor's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	18
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

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

The parks and rec program at NSU awarded 13 master's degrees in 2020-2021. About 77% of these degrees went to men with the other 23% going to women.

Of the students who received a parks and rec master's degree from NSU, 92% 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 State University with a master's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	12
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

NSU 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 Northern State University. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Northern State University. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Health & Physical Education	33

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 SD, the home state for Northern State University.

Occupation	Jobs in SD	Average Salary in SD
General and Operations Managers	3,670	$125,490
Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors	1,150	$31,790
Coaches and Scouts	770	$34,370
Managers	370	$99,030
Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Supervisors	170	$50,870

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

More about our data sources and methodologies.