2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in Illinois

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 3,224 people earned their degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies, making the major the 191st most popular in the United States.

Across Illinois, there were 167 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 128 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in parks, recreation and leisure studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent parks, recreation and leisure studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the parks, recreation and leisure studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in Illinois

#1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$15,880 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. This large school is located in Champaign, Illinois, and it awarded 99 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

UIUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is $15,880 for illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at UIUC

#2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Carbondale, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$16,945 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a fairly large public school situated in Carbondale, Illinois. It awarded 21 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend SIUC is $16,945 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students.

Full SIUC Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Report

#3

Aurora University

Aurora, Illinois

#4 in overall quality

$17,215 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Aurora University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Aurora University is a medium-sized school located in Aurora, Illinois that handed out 4 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

Aurora did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Aurora is $17,215 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Aurora

#4

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$20,195 Average Net Price

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Olivet Nazarene University landed the #4 spot on the list. Olivet Nazarene is located in Bourbonnais, Illinois and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 4 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Olivet Nazarene, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $20,195 for illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students per year to attend Olivet Nazarene.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Olivet Nazarene University

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies

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.

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