2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region” ranking.

Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies is the 218th most popular major in the country with 3,106 degrees awarded in 2020-2021.

Across the Southwest region, there were 247 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 16 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $56,204 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies. That schools that top this list have a program in parks, recreation and leisure studies in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. 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 for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for southwest region master’s degree parks & rec students.

Top 4 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Southwest Region

1

Oklahoma State University - Main Campus
Stillwater, Oklahoma

Top 20% overall quality in Southwest

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Oklahoma State University - Main Campus. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region list. Stillwater, Oklahoma is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s parks and rec degrees to 7 students in 2020-2021.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 85%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at OSU

2

Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona

Top 20% overall quality in Southwest

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northern Arizona University. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region. NAU is a public institution located in Flagstaff, Arizona. The school has a large population, and it awarded 3 masters’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 4.6% 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%.

Full Northern Arizona University Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Report

3

Arizona State University - Tempe
Tempe, Arizona

#14 overall quality in Southwest

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Arizona State University - Tempe. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region. ASU - Tempe is a large school located in Tempe, Arizona that handed out 6 masters’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 4.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at ASU - Tempe

4

Texas A&M University - College Station
College Station, Texas

#7 overall quality in Southwest

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Texas A&M University - College Station. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in the Southwest Region list. Texas A&M University - College Station is a public institution located in College Station, Texas. The school has a large population, and it awarded 80 masters’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.2% 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Texas A&M University - College Station

• Most Focused Master’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

• *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.