2024 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies isn't the most popular associate program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #21 in popularity out of 38 majors in the country. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 671 associate degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Average Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students working on their associate degree.

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 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Southwest Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies.

Top Southwest Region Schools for an Associate in Parks & Rec

1

South Texas College
McAllen, TX

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

40 Annual Graduates

South Texas College is a good decision for students interested in an associate degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the medium-sized city of McAllen, South Texas College is a public college with a fairly large student population.More information about a associate in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies from South Texas College

2

Bryan University
Tempe, AZ

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

145 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies has to take a look at Bryan University. Bryan University is a small private for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Tempe.More information about a associate in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies from Bryan University

Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies colleges for a specific state in the Southwest Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Texas	38	432
Oklahoma	37	56
Arizona	36	177
New Mexico	35	6

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Parks & Rec Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Health & Physical Education	670
Recreation Administration	1

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration & Social Service	603

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to NPS Photo/Zurbuch. More about our data sources and methodologies.