Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of the Southwest

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

USW is located in Hobbs, New Mexico and approximately 904 students attend the school each year. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 18 students received a bachelor's degree in parks and rec from USW.

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.

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

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

Online Classes Are Available at USW

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.

For those who are interested in distance learning, USW does offer online courses in parks and rec for the following degree levels:

• Master’s Degree

USW Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings

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

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 USW 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 Focused Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	7
Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	113
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	290
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	291
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	512
	537
Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools	542
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	554
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools	573
Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	604

In 2021, 25 students received their master’s degree in parks and rec from USW. This makes it the #113 most popular school for parks and rec master’s degree candidates in the country.

Parks & Rec Student Demographics at USW

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

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

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 18 parks and rec majors earned their bachelor's degree from USW. Of these graduates, 50% were men and 50% were women.

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	3
Hispanic or Latino	4
White	9
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

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

Of the 25 students who earned a master's degree in Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies from USW in 2020-2021, 52% were men and 48% were women.

In the parks and rec master's program at this school, racial-ethnic minorities make up 60% of degree recipients. That is 21% better than the national average.*

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	1
Black or African American	8
Hispanic or Latino	6
White	8
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

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

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Health & Physical Education	43

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 NM, the home state for University of the Southwest.

Occupation	Jobs in NM	Average Salary in NM
General and Operations Managers	13,880	$101,720
Managers	2,850	$96,490
Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors	1,350	$39,010
Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Supervisors	690	$45,820

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 Bildungsroman under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.