2023 Best Value Colleges for Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism (Income $48-$75k) in the Rocky Mountains Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism is the 847th most popular major in the country with 177 degrees awarded in 2020-2021.

Across the Rocky Mountains region, there were 96 environmental/natural resource recreation and tourism graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in environmental/natural resource recreation and tourism. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality environmental/natural resource recreation and tourism programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the environmental/natural resource recreation and tourism program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k” list to help you make the college decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism (Income $48-$75k) in the Rocky Mountains Region

1

Colorado State University - Fort Collins
Fort Collins, Colorado

#1 in overall quality

$15,086 Average Net Price

$45,865 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Colorado State University - Fort Collins. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k list. Colorado State is a large school located in Fort Collins, Colorado that handed out 60 ’s natural resource recreation and tourism degrees in 2020-2021.

Colorado State also made our “Best Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” list, coming in at #1. It costs about $15,086 for rocky mountains region natural resource recreation and tourism students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend Colorado State University - Fort Collins.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.6% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 85%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Colorado State University - Fort Collins Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Report

2

University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming

#2 in overall quality

$9,394 Average Net Price

$44,258 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Wyoming landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Laramie, Wyoming, this fairly large public school handed out 14 degrees to qualified ’s natural resource recreation and tourism students in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UW, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking. It costs about $9,394 for Rocky Mountains Region Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend University of Wyoming.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.5% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read full report on Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism at UW

3

The University of Montana
Missoula, Montana

#3 in overall quality

$15,281 Average Net Price

$38,416 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend The University of Montana. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k. The University of Montana is a fairly large public school situated in Missoula, Montana. It awarded 22 ’s natural resource recreation and tourism degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our rocky mountains region natural resource recreation and tourism students whose families make $48-$75k list, UM has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UM is $15,281 for Rocky Mountains Region Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism students whose families make $48-$75k.

Read full report on Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism at UM

• Best Value Colleges for Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism (Income $48-$75k)

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Brian M. Powell.