2023 Schools Highly Focused on Outdoor Ed Major in the Plains States Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools Highly Focused on Outdoor Ed Major in the Plains States Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2021-2022, 313 people earned their degree in outdoor education, making the major the 313th most popular in the United States. In , outdoor education graduates who were awarded their degree in , earned an average of $27,786 and had an average of $0 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Plains States region, there were 35 outdoor education graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Schools Highly Focused on Outdoor Ed Major in the Plains States Region” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in outdoor education. That schools that top this list have a program in outdoor education in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Outdoor Education Schools

The outdoor ed school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Schools Highly Focused on Outdoor Ed Major in the Plains States Region”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Schools Highly Focused on Outdoor Ed Major in the Plains States Region

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools Highly Focused on Outdoor Ed Major in the Plains States Region”.

Top 3 Most Focused Colleges for Outdoor Education in the Plains States Region

2

Black Hills State University
Spearfish, South Dakota

$34,476 Average Early-Career Earnings

$23,954 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Black Hills State University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools Highly Focused on Outdoor Ed Major in the Plains States Region list. This small school is located in Spearfish, South Dakota, and it awarded 14 ’s outdoor ed degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Outdoor Education at BHSU

3

Minnesota State University - Mankato
Mankato, Minnesota

$46,060 Average Early-Career Earnings

$22,648 Average Student Debt

Out of the 3 schools in the Schools Highly Focused on Outdoor Ed Major in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Minnesota State University - Mankato landed the #3 spot on the list. Minnesota State Mankato is located in Mankato, Minnesota and, has a fairly large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 7 ’s outdoor ed degrees to qualified students.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Outdoor Education at Minnesota State University - Mankato

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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate 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 SLenartowicz.