2021 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region
69Colleges
7,934Bachelor's Degrees
$28,454Avg Cost*
Finding the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools for Non-Traditional Students
This year's Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region ranking looked at 69 colleges that offer a bachelor's in parks & rec. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies programs as well as strong support for students classified as non-traditional.
Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies program at the school, affordability, and non-traditional population. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools
As a non-traditional student, you have a lot to consider when it comes to choosing an education. That's why we've developed rankings specifically for you. Check out more major-related rankings here..
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
2021 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region
The following schools top our list of the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges for Non-Traditional Students.
Top 10 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools for Non-Traditional Students
Illinois State University tops the 2021 list of our schools in the Great Lakes Region that are best for non-traditional parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public school with a very large student population. Illinois State also made our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region list, coming in at #3.
About 1.7% of Illinois State students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. Approximately 7,464 students take at least one class online at Illinois State. About 2,500 of the students at Illinois State are attending part time.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign comes in at #2 in this year's ranking. UIUC is a very large public school located in the city of Champaign. UIUC also made our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region list, coming in at #1.
The student loan default rate at UIUC is lower than is typical, just 0.6% of students default in three years. Approximately 35,475 students take at least one class online at UIUC. 10,007 of UIUC students are attending part time.
Our rankings recognize Indiana University - Bloomington as the #3 school in this year's rankings. Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public school with a fairly large student population. IU Bloomington not only placed well in our non-traditional rankings. It is also #2 on our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region list.
The student loan default rate at IU Bloomington is lower than is typical, just 1.4% of students default in three years. Approximately 18,013 students take at least one class online at IU Bloomington. 5,256 of IU Bloomington students are attending part time.
Michigan State University landed the #4 spot in our 2021 best parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies schools for non-traditional students. Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public college with a fairly large student population. Michigan State also made our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region list, coming in at #4.
About 0.8% of Michigan State students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. Approximately 33,526 students take at least one class online at Michigan State. About 6,517 of the students at Michigan State are attending part time.
University of Wisconsin - La Crosse comes in at #5 in this year's ranking. Located in the small city of La Crosse, UW - La Crosse is a public school with a fairly large student population. UW - La Crosse also made our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region list, coming in at #6.
About 0.5% of UW - La Crosse students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. There are approximately 4,162 students at UW - La Crosse that take at least one class online. About 1,125 of the students at UW - La Crosse are attending part time.
Western Illinois University comes in at #6 in this year's ranking. WIU is a moderately-sized public school located in the remote town of Macomb. WIU also claimed a spot on our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region list. It's in the top 20% of all schools in this category.
The student loan default rate at WIU is lower than is typical, just 3.2% of students default in three years. There are approximately 4,203 students at WIU that take at least one class online. 1,874 students are part time.
Eastern Illinois University earned the #7 spot in our 2021 rankings. EIU is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Charleston. EIU also took the #9 spot in our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region rankings.
The student loan default rate at EIU is lower than is typical, just 2.4% of students default in three years. There are approximately 2,449 students at EIU that take at least one class online. There are roughly 3,894 part time students in attendance at EIU.
The #8 spot in this year's ranking belongs to Indiana State University. Located in the city of Terre Haute, Indiana State is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
About 3.6% of Indiana State students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. There are approximately 2,947 students at Indiana State that take at least one class online. About 2,349 of the students at Indiana State are attending part time.
Our rankings recognize University of Michigan - Ann Arbor as the #9 school in this year's rankings. U-M is a fairly large public school located in the city of Ann Arbor. U-M did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region list.
The student loan default rate at U-M is lower than is typical, just 0.2% of students default in three years. There are approximately 15,737 students at U-M that take at least one class online. 3,568 of U-M students are attending part time.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale earned the #10 spot in our 2021 rankings. Located in the city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public school with a fairly large student population. As a testament to the quality of education it offers, SIUC also is in the top 20% of our Best Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes Region ranking.
The student loan default rate at SIUC is lower than is typical, just 2.4% of students default in three years. There are approximately 2,640 students at SIUC that take at least one class online. 2,629 students are part time.
Here are some additional great schools for Great Lakes Region non-traditional students studying Parks & Rec that almost earned our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region award.
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 the rest 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).
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