Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Southern Mississippi

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

Southern Miss is located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and approximately 14,606 students attend the school each year. In 2021, 160 parks and rec majors received their bachelor's degree from Southern Miss.

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.

Southern Miss Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Degrees Available

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

Southern Miss Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the parks and rec progam at Southern Miss 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 Southern Miss 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 Doctor’s Degree Schools	10
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools	13

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

There were 1 student who received their doctoral degrees in parks and rec, making the school the #51 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Parks & Rec Student Demographics at Southern Miss

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

Southern Miss Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 42% of parks and rec bachelor's degrees went to men and 58% went to women.

About 54% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in parks and rec at Southern Miss are white. This is typical for this degree on the nationwide level. Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 6% 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 University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	4
Black or African American	61
Hispanic or Latino	5
White	87
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	3

Southern Miss Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 40 parks and rec majors earned their master's degree from Southern Miss. Of these graduates, 55% were men and 45% were women.

Of the students who received a parks and rec master's degree from Southern Miss, 60% 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 University of Southern Mississippi with a master's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	9
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	24
International Students	3
Other Races/Ethnicities	4

Southern Miss also has a doctoral program available in parks and rec. In 2021, 1 students 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 University of Southern Mississippi. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from University of Southern Mississippi. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Health & Physical Education	192
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	14

Related Majors

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

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 MS, the home state for University of Southern Mississippi.

Occupation	Jobs in MS	Average Salary in MS
General and Operations Managers	23,850	$77,800
Coaches and Scouts	1,370	$51,120
Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors	1,250	$32,090
Managers	1,230	$82,230
Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Supervisors	990	$37,890

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 Dudemanfellabra under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.