Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Western Carolina University

Every parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies school has its own distinct culture and strengths. We've pulled together some statistics and other details to help you see how the parks and rec program at Western Carolina University stacks up to those at other schools.

WCU is located in Cullowhee, North Carolina and has a total student population of 12,243. Of the 2,501 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Western Carolina University in 2021, 77 of them were parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies majors.

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.

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

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

Online Classes Are Available at WCU

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.

WCU does offer online education options in parks and rec for the following degree levels for those interested in distance learning:

• Master’s Degree

WCU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks parks and rec programs across the country. The following shows how WCU 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 WCU 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
	328
Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	364

In 2021, 22 students received their master’s degree in parks and rec from WCU. This makes it the #132 most popular school for parks and rec master’s degree candidates in the country.

Parks & Rec Student Demographics at WCU

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

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

Of the 77 parks and rec students who graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2020-2021 from WCU, about 58% were men and 42% were women.

About 84% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in parks and rec at WCU 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 Western Carolina University with a bachelor's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	4
Hispanic or Latino	6
White	65
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

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

Of the 22 parks and rec students who graduated with a master's degree in 2020-2021 from WCU, about 55% were men and 45% were women.

Of the students who received a parks and rec master's degree from WCU, 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 Western Carolina University with a master's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	3
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	19
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

WCU 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

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies majors may want to concentrate their studies in one of these areas. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Western Carolina University. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Health & Physical Education	52
Recreation Administration	47

Related Majors

• 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 NC, the home state for Western Carolina University.

Occupation	Jobs in NC	Average Salary in NC
General and Operations Managers	54,330	$131,600
Managers	11,990	$121,500
Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors	9,690	$37,020
Coaches and Scouts	6,340	$46,420
Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Supervisors	2,780	$53,210

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.