2022 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in Iowa

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in Iowa” ranking - to help you make that 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 Iowa, there were 1,572 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $30,615 and $25,199 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 16 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $71,469 and $117,729 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in Iowa” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness 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, leisure, and fitness studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in Iowa” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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. 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.

Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in Iowa

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

Top 3 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in Iowa

#1

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$22,648 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Northern Iowa landed the #1 spot on the list. Cedar Falls, Iowa is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out doctorate’s parks and rec degrees to 5 students in 2019-2020.

UNI also took the #1 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at University of Northern Iowa are $22,648, but some majors have different tuition rates.

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

#2

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 #2 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in Iowa. Iowa City, Iowa is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out doctorate’s parks and rec degrees to 5 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our iowa doctor’s degree parks & rec students list, Iowa has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. 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 University of Iowa

#3

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

#3 in overall quality

$25,948 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Iowa State University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Parks & Rec Schools for a Doctorate in Iowa. Iowa State University is a public institution located in Ames, Iowa. The school has a large population, and it awarded 6 doctorate’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa State also took the #3 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at Iowa State are $25,948, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Iowa State University

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