2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s” 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 master’s degree level specifically, there were 101 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $53,865 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s” ranking, we looked at 7 colleges that offer a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. To top this list, a school must have a successful parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies program that graduates more students in the field than other colleges that offer the same major.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s” list to help you make the college decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s”.

Top 7 Most Popular Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in Iowa

1

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 #1 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s list. This large school is located in Iowa City, Iowa, and it awarded 38 masters’s parks and rec degrees 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 88%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

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

2

Upper Iowa University
Fayette, Iowa

#12 overall quality in Iowa

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Upper Iowa University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s list. UIU is a small school located in Fayette, Iowa that handed out 22 masters’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

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

3

William Penn University
Oskaloosa, Iowa

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend William Penn University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s list. Oskaloosa, Iowa is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out masters’s parks and rec degrees to 18 students in 2020-2021.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at William Penn University

4

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 #4 for the Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s. This medium-sized school is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and it awarded 15 masters’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

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

5

Grand View University
Des Moines, Iowa

#25 overall quality in Iowa

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Grand View University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s list. Located in Des Moines, Iowa, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 4 degrees to qualified masters’s parks and rec students in 2020-2021.

Full Grand View University Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

5

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 #5 for the Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s. Iowa State University is a public institution located in Ames, Iowa. The school has a large population, and it awarded 4 masters’s 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 full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Iowa State

7

Briar Cliff University
Sioux City, Iowa

#24 overall quality in Iowa

Briar Cliff University ranked #7 on this year’s Most Well Attended Parks & Rec Major in Iowa for a Master’s list. Sioux City, Iowa is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out masters’s parks and rec degrees to 3 students in 2020-2021.

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

• Most Popular Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Plains States Region
• Most Popular Master’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.