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

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

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

8 Colleges
$27,900 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$31,256 Avg Salary

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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which bachelor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for parks and rec 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. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

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

Our analysis found Ohio University - Athens Campus to be the best value school for parks, recreation and leisure studies students who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the Great Lakes Region . OHIO Athens is a fairly large public school located in the town of Athens.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at OHIO Athens are $22,810 a year. After completing their Bachelor's Degree, parks and rec graduates from OHIO Athens carry an average student debtload of $23,277.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the small city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at SIUC are $15,240 a year.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Bowling Green State University - Main Campus. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the town of Bowling Green, BGSU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

BGSU undergraduate students pay an average of $21,050 in tuition and fees each year. 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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Out of the 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the # 4 spot on the list. UIUC is a fairly large public school located in the city of Champaign.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UIUC are $37,632 per year. 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.

In addition to its great value ranking, UIUC is in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Full Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report

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The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at Indiana University - Bloomington helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation and leisure studies schools in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public college with a very large student population.

IU Bloomington undergraduate students pay an average of $38,352 in tuition and fees each year. 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.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, IU Bloomington also is in the top 10% of our Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

Full Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Indiana University - Bloomington Report

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#6

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Aurora University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value 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 college with a moderately-sized student population.

Aurora undergraduate students pay an average of $26,760 in tuition and fees each year.

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Northern Michigan University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Northern Michigan University is a moderately-sized public school located in the remote town of Marquette.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Northern Michigan University are $18,828 per year.

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#8

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, IL

Olivet Nazarene University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for parks, recreation and leisure studies students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Olivet Nazarene is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small suburb of Bourbonnais.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Olivet Nazarene are $37,440 a year.

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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.

  • 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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