2023 Most Popular Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in Illinois

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Master’s” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

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. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 67 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $59,317 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Master’s” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies. This ranking identifies schools that graduate the most students in parks, recreation and leisure studies.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 for a Master’s” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Master’s

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

Top 2 Most Popular Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in Illinois

1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois

#3 overall quality in Illinois

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 for a Master’s. Located in Champaign, Illinois, this large public school awarded 41 diplomas to qualified masters’s parks and rec students in 2020-2021.

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

Read full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, Illinois

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Master’s that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #2 spot on the list. SIUC is located in Carbondale, Illinois and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 26 masters’s parks and rec degrees to qualified students.

Full SIUC Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Report

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