2022 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Plains States Region

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 Doctorate in the Plains States Region” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the 15th most popular major in the country with 72,122 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $29,823 and had an average of $24,576 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Plains States region, there were 5,808 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $29,644 and $24,923 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 17 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $72,701 and $106,703 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in the Plains States Region” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Doctorate in the Plains States Region”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. 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.

Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in the Plains States Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in the Plains States Region.

Top 4 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Plains States Region

#1

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$22,648 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Northern Iowa. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in the Plains States Region. University of Northern Iowa is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 5 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees to qualified students.

UNI not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” list. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at University of Northern Iowa are $22,648.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Northern Iowa

#2

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

#3 in overall quality

$25,948 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Iowa State University landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Ames, Iowa, this large public school awarded 6 degrees to qualified doctorate’s parks and rec students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Iowa State, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at Iowa State are $25,948.

Full Iowa State Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

#3

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

#2 in overall quality

$27,613 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Iowa. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in the Plains States Region. Iowa is a large public school situated in Iowa City, Iowa. It awarded 5 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at Iowa are $27,613, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Iowa

#3

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Omaha, Nebraska

#4 in overall quality

$16,374 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Nebraska at Omaha landed the #3 spot on the list. UNOMAHA is a public institution located in Omaha, Nebraska. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 1 doctorate’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our plains states region doctor’s degree parks & rec students list, UNOMAHA has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at University of Nebraska at Omaha are $16,374, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness 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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to NPS Photo/Zurbuch.

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