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Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in Virginia

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2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in Virginia

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

8 Colleges
$14,701 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$41,687 Avg Salary

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

With 1,729 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies is the #18 most popular major in Virginia.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. 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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in Virginia to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 8 schools in Virginia to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for parks and rec students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. 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.

For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for parks and rec majors pursuing a master's degree.

Best Virginia Schools for Affordable Quality for a Master's in Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness

#1

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA

Our 2023 rankings named James Madison University the best value school in Virginia for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. Located in the small city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at JMU are $12,514 a year.

JMU did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia list.

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The excellent master’s degree programs at University of Virginia - Main Campus helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in Virginia. University of Virginia is a very large public school located in the small suburb of Charlottesville.

University of Virginia graduate students pay an average of $20,906 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

University of Virginia did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia list.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Virginia - Main Campus

#3

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA

The excellent master’s degree programs at Old Dominion University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in Virginia. Old Dominion is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Norfolk.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Old Dominion are $13,224 a year.

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#4

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA

The excellent master’s degree programs at George Mason University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in Virginia. GMU is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Fairfax.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at GMU are $16,644 per year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at George Mason University Report

#5

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Liberty University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia list. Liberty University is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Lynchburg.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Liberty University are $8,360 a year.

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With a ranking of #6, Virginia Commonwealth University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. VCU is a fairly large public school located in the city of Richmond.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at VCU are $15,518 per year.

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

#7

Hampton University

Hampton, VA

Hampton University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia list. Located in the midsize city of Hampton, Hampton is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Hampton are $13,134 per year.

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

#8

Randolph College

Lynchburg, VA

Randolph College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Randolph is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Lynchburg.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Randolph are $17,310 per year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Randolph College Report

Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
North Carolina 3,436
West Virginia 1,238
South Carolina 1,339
Florida 2,340
Arkansas 1,012
Mississippi 1,128
Tennessee 2,462
Louisiana 703
Alabama 959
Kentucky 1,141
Georgia 1,981

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 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to NPS Photo/Zurbuch.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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