2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Southeast Region

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, veterans have many different options to choose from. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Most Veteran Friendly in the Southeast Region for Parks & Rec for an Associate” ranking.

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 the Southeast region, there were 19,760 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $30,102 and $25,352 respectively. At the associate degree level specifically, there were 299 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,328 and $20,384 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in the Southeast Region for Parks & Rec for an Associate” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs as well as strong veteran support.

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, veteran affordability, and veteran population. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Veteran Friendly in the Southeast Region for Parks & Rec for an Associate” list to help you make the college decision.

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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Most Veteran Friendly in the Southeast Region for Parks & Rec for an Associate

The colleges and universities below are the best for southeast region associate degree vets studying parks & rec.

Top 3 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Southeast Region

1

Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

75 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in the Southeast Region for Parks & Rec for an Associate list. Located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this fairly large private not-for-profit school handed out 94 degrees to qualified associates’s parks and rec students in 2020-2021.

Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” list.Our most recent data shows that 75 of the 20,330 students enrolled at Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale were GI Bill® students, of which 56 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $17,004. On top of their other funding sources, 21 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.

Full Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale Veteran Student Life Report

2

Bob Jones University
Greenville, South Carolina

75 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

$14,092 Average GI Bill® Award

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Bob Jones University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in the Southeast Region for Parks & Rec for an Associate list. Bob Jones University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Greenville, South Carolina. It awarded 3 associates’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

Bob Jones University also took the #2 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 75 of the 3,029 students enrolled at Bob Jones University were GI Bill® students, of which 37 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $14,092. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Bob Jones University Veteran Student Life Report

3

Webber International University
Babson Park, Florida

32 GI Bill® Students**

#3 in overall quality

$12,178 Average GI Bill® Award

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Webber International University. The school came in at #3 for the Most Veteran Friendly in the Southeast Region for Parks & Rec for an Associate. Webber International University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Babson Park, Florida. It awarded 2 associates’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our southeast region associate degree vets studying parks & rec list, Webber International University has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking.According to our most recent data, Webber International University supports 812 students, and 32 of those are GI Bill® students, of which 9 are Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $12,178. To help with additional expenses, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.

[Read full report on veteran student life at Webber International University]](/colleges/webber-international-university/student-life/veterans/)

• Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Colleges for Veterans

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).
• Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• 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.
• **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
• 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.