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Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

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2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

66 Colleges
$20,374 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$28,979 Avg Salary

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

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the #15 most popular major in the country with 73,813 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. This report analyzed 66 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to see which ones offered the best value bachelor's degree programs for parks and rec students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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.

2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

Check out the parks and rec bachelor's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools

Our analysis found Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania to be the best value school for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the Middle Atlantic Region . SRU is a medium-sized public school located in the distant town of Slippery Rock.

SRU undergraduate students pay an average of $14,615 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at California University of Pennsylvania helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in the Middle Atlantic Region . Cal U is a moderately-sized public school located in the suburb of California.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal U are $15,726 per year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at California University of Pennsylvania

Out of the 66 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania landed the # 3 spot on the list. Kutztown University is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Kutztown.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Kutztown University are $15,170 a year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Edinboro is a small public school located in the town of Edinboro.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Edinboro are $15,062 a year.

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#5

Farmingdale State College

Farmingdale, NY

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Farmingdale State College is a great value for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their bachelor’s degree. SUNY College of Technology at Farmingdale is a medium-sized public school located in the suburb of Farmingdale.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at SUNY College of Technology at Farmingdale are $18,486 a year.

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#6

Salisbury University

Salisbury, MD

Salisbury University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. Salisbury is a moderately-sized public school located in the small suburb of Salisbury.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Salisbury are $20,458 a year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Salisbury University

Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the fringe town of Shippensburg, Ship is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Ship are $14,122 a year.

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#8

Kean University

Union, NJ

Kean University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Kean is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Union.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Kean are $19,771 a year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Kean University Report

#9

SUNY Cortland

Cortland, NY

SUNY Cortland came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Located in the town of Cortland, SUNY Cortland is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SUNY Cortland are $18,725 per year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at SUNY Cortland

#10

Lock Haven University

Lock Haven, PA

Lock Haven University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Located in the town of Lock Haven, LHU is a public college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at LHU are $20,702 a year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Lock Haven University

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region award.

Rank College Location
11 The College at Brockport Brockport, NY
12 York College of Pennsylvania York, PA
13 West Chester University of Pennsylvania West Chester, PA

Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic region.

State Degrees Awarded
New Jersey 1,047
Pennsylvania 2,734
New York 2,477
Maryland 832
Delaware 342
District of Columbia 319

Parks & Rec Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Health & Physical Education 67,146
Recreation Administration 3,122
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 3,106
Outdoor Education 265
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 174

Related Major Annual Graduates
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 142,610
Public Administration & Social Service 98,583
Legal Professions 61,055
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 4,477

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 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 NPS Photo/Zurbuch.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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