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.
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 fairly large student population.
Minnesota State Mankato undergraduate students pay an average of $18,200 in tuition and fees each year.
Minnesota State Mankato also claimed a spot on our Best Outdoor Education Schools list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
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The excellent programs at Central Michigan University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best outdoor education schools in the United States. Central Michigan is a fairly large public school located in the town of Mount Pleasant.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Central Michigan are $13,094 per year.
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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 very large public school located in the small city of Ogden.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at WSU are $16,644 a year.
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Out of the 12 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Black Hills State University landed the # 4 spot on the list. BHSU is a small public school located in the distant town of Spearfish.
BHSU undergraduate students pay an average of $12,018 in tuition and fees each year.
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Out of the 12 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Plymouth State University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the remote town of Plymouth, Plymouth State is a public college 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.
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SUNY Cortland came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Outdoor Education Schools ranking. SUNY Cortland is a moderately-sized public school located in the distant town of Cortland.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at SUNY Cortland are $18,725 a year.
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Liberty University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Outdoor Education Schools ranking. Liberty University is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Lynchburg.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Liberty University are $16,160 per year.
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Northern Vermont University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Outdoor Education Schools ranking. 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.
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With a ranking of #9, Murray State University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for outdoor education students. Murray State is a moderately-sized public school located in the remote town of Murray.
Murray State undergraduate students pay an average of $18,528 in tuition and fees each year.
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The University of Montana did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for outdoor education students. It came in at #10 on the list. UM is a fairly large public school located in the city of Missoula.
UM undergraduate students pay an average of $28,476 in tuition and fees each year.
Request InformationOutdoor 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 |
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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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