2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2020-2021, 3,106 people earned their degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies, making the major the 218th most popular in the United States.

Across Illinois, there were 196 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois” ranking analyzed 4 colleges that offered a degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have one of the most popular parks, recreation and leisure studies programs in the United States.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois parks & rec students.

Top 4 Most Popular Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in Illinois

1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois

#3 overall quality in Illinois

$53,270 Average Early-Career Earnings

$19,646 Average Student Debt

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 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is located in Champaign, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 142 ’s parks and rec degrees to qualified students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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%.

Full UIUC Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Report

2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, Illinois

$42,413 Average Early-Career Earnings

$23,104 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois list. Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public institution located in Carbondale, Illinois. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 44 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Full Southern Illinois University Carbondale Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Report

3

Olivet Nazarene University
Bourbonnais, Illinois

$44,879 Average Early-Career Earnings

$26,483 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Olivet Nazarene University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois list. Bourbonnais, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s parks and rec degrees to 6 students in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% 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 more about Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Olivet Nazarene University

4

Aurora University
Aurora, Illinois

#18 overall quality in Illinois

$47,673 Average Early-Career Earnings

$25,457 Average Student Debt

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Aurora University. The school came in at #4 for the Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois. This medium-sized school is located in Aurora, Illinois, and it awarded 4 ’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 4.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Aurora University

• Most Popular Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Great Lakes Region
• Most Popular 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.