2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in North Dakota

When it comes to choosing a college, veterans have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec for a Bachelor’s” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

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 North Dakota, there were 292 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $36,588 and $26,244 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 220 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $45,120 and $27,473 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec for a Bachelor’s” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs and a strong support system for veterans and active service members.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran satisfaction. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec for a Bachelor’s” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec for a Bachelor’s

The colleges and universities below are the best for north dakota bachelor’s degree vets studying parks & rec.

Top 3 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in North Dakota

1

University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, North Dakota

796 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of North Dakota. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec for a Bachelor’s. University of North Dakota is a fairly large public school situated in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It awarded 29 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

UND did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in North Dakota” list.Among the 13,615 students enrolled at UND, 796 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 395 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $7,112. To help with additional expenses, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. UND offers credit for military training for eligible students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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%.

Full University of North Dakota Veteran Student Life Report

2

North Dakota State University - Main Campus
Fargo, North Dakota

4 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

$56,246 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend North Dakota State University - Main Campus. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec for a Bachelor’s list. North Dakota State University is a fairly large school located in Fargo, North Dakota that handed out 87 bachelors’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at North Dakota State University, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in North Dakota” ranking.Of the 12,846 students enrolled at North Dakota State University - Main Campus, 4 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. To help with additional expenses, 0 students received scholarships through 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%.

Read More…

3

Minot State University
Minot, North Dakota

198 GI Bill® Students**

#3 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Minot State University. The school came in at #3 for the Most Veteran Friendly in North Dakota for Parks & Rec for a Bachelor’s. Minot, North Dakota is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s parks and rec degrees to 20 students in 2020-2021.

MSU also took the #3 spot in our “Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in North Dakota” ranking.Of the 2,920 students enrolled at MSU, 198 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 115 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $4,267. On top of their other funding sources, 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 MSU]](/colleges/minot-state-university/student-life/veterans/)

• Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Plains States Region
• Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s 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.