2023 Best Value Outdoor Education Schools
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
Finding the Best Outdoor Education School for You
In 2020-2021, 265 people earned a degree or certificate in outdoor education, making the major the #313 most popular in the United States.
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Outdoor Education Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 12 schools in the United States to see which programs offered the best value experiences for outdoor ed students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
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2023 Best Value Outdoor Education Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Best Value Outdoor Education Colleges.
Top 10 Best Outdoor Education Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Minnesota State University - Mankato the best value school in the United States for outdoor education students. Located in the small city of Mankato, Minnesota State Mankato is a public college with a large student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Minnesota State Mankato are $18,200 per year.
Minnesota State Mankato excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Outdoor Education Schools list.
Read full report on Outdoor Education at Minnesota State University - Mankato
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Central Michigan University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Outdoor Education Schools list. Central Michigan is a fairly large public school located in the distant town of Mount Pleasant.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Central Michigan are $13,094 a year.
The excellent programs at Weber State University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best outdoor education schools in the United States. WSU is a fairly large public school located in the city of Ogden.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at WSU are $16,644 per year.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Black Hills State University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Outdoor Education Schools list. BHSU is a small public school located in the town of Spearfish.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at BHSU are $12,018 a year.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Plymouth State University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Outdoor Education Schools list. Located in the town of Plymouth, Plymouth State is a public school with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Plymouth State are $24,432 a year.
SUNY Cortland landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value outdoor education programs. SUNY Cortland is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Cortland.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at SUNY Cortland are $18,725 a year.
Liberty University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value outdoor education programs. Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Lynchburg.
Liberty University undergraduate students pay an average of $16,160 in tuition and fees each year.
With a ranking of #8, Northern Vermont University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for outdoor education students. Northern Vermont University is a small public school located in the rural area of Johnson.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Northern Vermont University are $26,892 a year. Outdoor Ed majors at Northern Vermont University take out an average of $23,227 in student loans while working on their egree.
Full Outdoor Education at Northern Vermont University Report
Murray State University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Outdoor Education Schools ranking. Murray State is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Murray.
Murray State undergraduate students pay an average of $18,528 in tuition and fees each year.
The University of Montana ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Outdoor Education Schools list. UM is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Missoula.
UM undergraduate students pay an average of $28,476 in tuition and fees each year.
Outdoor Education by Region
View the Best Value Outdoor Education Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Outdoor Education Rankings
Majors Related to Outdoor Ed
One of 4 majors within the area of study, outdoor education has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Health & Physical Education | 67,146 |
| Recreation Administration | 3,122 |
| Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies | 3,106 |
| Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies | 174 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 12 schools only.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
- Credit for the banner image above goes to SLenartowicz.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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