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

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. 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 152nd most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $29,957 and had an average of $22,487 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 167 parks, recreation and leisure studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,733 and $24,414 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. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality parks, recreation and leisure studies programs that also have a lower cost than 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. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools

The parks & rec 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 “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. 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 following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois.

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

$38,751 Average Early-Career Earnings

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. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is located in Champaign, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 99 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees to qualified students.

UIUC also made our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for UIUC is $15,880 for illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

The low student loan default rate of 2.4% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

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

#2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Carbondale, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$16,945 Average Net Price

$28,960 Average Early-Career Earnings

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, Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #2 spot on the list. Southern Illinois University Carbondale is located in Carbondale, Illinois and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 21 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees to qualified students.

SIUC also made our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #2. The yearly cost to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale is $16,945 for illinois bachelor’s degree parks & rec students.

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

#3

Aurora University

Aurora, Illinois

#4 in overall quality

$17,215 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, Aurora University landed the #3 spot on the list. Aurora University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Aurora, Illinois. It awarded 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 estimated yearly cost for Aurora is $17,215 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students.

The low student loan default rate of 4.4% 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 full report on Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Aurora University

#4

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$20,195 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Olivet Nazarene University. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Located in Bourbonnais, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 4 degrees to qualified bachelors’s parks and rec students in 2019-2020.

Olivet Nazarene did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Olivet Nazarene is $20,195 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Parks & Rec students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at Olivet Nazarene

• 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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