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

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.

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 city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

JMU also took the #5 spot in our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia rankings.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at James Madison University Report

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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.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at University of Virginia are $20,906 a year.

University of Virginia also made our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia list, coming in at #1.

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#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 medium-sized 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 large suburb of Fairfax.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at GMU are $16,644 a year.

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#5

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

The excellent master’s degree programs at Liberty University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in Virginia. Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Lynchburg.

Liberty University graduate students pay an average of $8,360 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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Virginia Commonwealth University 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 #6 on the list. VCU is a very large public school located in the city of Richmond.

VCU graduate students pay an average of $15,518 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#7

Hampton University

Hampton, VA

Hampton University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. Located in the medium-sized city of Hampton, Hampton is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Hampton graduate students pay an average of $13,134 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#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 fairly 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.

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

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

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

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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