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

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Doctorate” ranking.

In 2020-2021, 73,813 people earned their degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies, making the major the 15th most popular in the United States. 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 Illinois, there were 2,442 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,264 and $24,988 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 37 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $81,698 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Doctorate” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have one of the most popular parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs in the United States.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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 “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Doctorate”.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Doctorate

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

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

1

Concordia University, Chicago
River Forest, Illinois

#9 overall quality in Illinois

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Doctorate that were part of this year’s ranking, Concordia University, Chicago landed the #1 spot on the list. Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit institution located in River Forest, Illinois. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 32 doctorate’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Concordia University, Chicago

2

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois

#3 overall quality in Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Illinois for a Doctorate list. This large school is located in Champaign, Illinois, and it awarded 5 doctorate’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.3%, which is much lower than the national 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, & Fitness Studies at UIUC

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