2023 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in Iowa

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in Iowa” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the 15th most popular major in the country with 73,813 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $31,423 and had an average of $24,388 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 1,493 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $31,634 and $25,812 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 9 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $69,610 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in Iowa” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.

See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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 “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in Iowa”.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons 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.

Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in Iowa

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in Iowa”.

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

1

Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa

#1 overall quality in Iowa

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Iowa State University. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in Iowa. This large school is located in Ames, Iowa, and it awarded 5 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

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

2

University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, Iowa

#4 overall quality in Iowa

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Northern Iowa. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in Iowa. Located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, this medium-sized public school awarded 1 degrees to qualified doctorate’s parks and rec students in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

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

3

University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

#2 overall quality in Iowa

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Iowa. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in Iowa list. Located in Iowa City, Iowa, this large public school awarded 3 degrees to qualified doctorate’s parks and rec students in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 88%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

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

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

• *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.

Credits

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