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Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

2023 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

8 Colleges
$31,256 Avg Salary
$23,333 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor's Degree School for You

Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies is the #169 most popular major in the country with 3,106 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This report analyzed 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best bachelor's degree programs for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor's Degree Colleges.

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies

Our 2023 rankings named University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign the best school in the Great Lakes Region for parks, recreation and leisure studies students working on their bachelor’s degree. UIUC is a very large public school located in the small city of Champaign.

On average, parks and rec graduates from UIUC take out $19,274 in student loans while working on their Bachelor's Degree. This translates to an average monthly loan payment of $226, based on a 10-year repayment plan.

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Out of the 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Indiana University - Bloomington landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public college with a very large student population.

While working on their Bachelor's Degree, parks and rec majors at IU Bloomington accumulate an average of around $18,947 in student debt. The average monthly payment of a loan this size is about $478, assuming that the borrower is on a 10-year repayment plan.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Ohio University - Athens Campus. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. OHIO Athens is a very large public school located in the distant town of Athens.

After completing their Bachelor's Degree, parks and rec graduates from OHIO Athens carry an average student debtload of $23,277.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Ohio University - Athens Campus

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Out of the 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Bowling Green State University - Main Campus landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the town of Bowling Green, BGSU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average monthly payment of a loan this size is about $513, assuming that the borrower is on a 10-year repayment plan.

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#5

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Aurora University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

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#6

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, IL

Olivet Nazarene University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best bachelor’s degree parks, recreation and leisure studies programs. Olivet Nazarene is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small suburb of Bourbonnais.

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Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best bachelor’s degree parks, recreation and leisure studies programs. Located in the small city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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Northern Michigan University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Northern Michigan University is a moderately-sized public school located in the remote town of Marquette.

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Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best parks, recreation and leisure studies schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 16
Ohio 101
Illinois 196
Indiana 161

One of 4 majors within the area of study, parks, recreation and leisure studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Health & Physical Education 67,146
Recreation Administration 3,122
Outdoor Education 265
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 174

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 8 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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