2024 Best Recreation Administration Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

a bachelor's degree in recreation administration is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #128 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

In 2024, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Recreation Administration Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 137 bachelor's degrees in recreation administration during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Recreation Administration School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The recreation admin bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on recreation administration students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of recreation administration students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for recreation administration to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized recreation administration related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for recreation administration students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Recreation Administration Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Recreation Administration Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Recreation Administration in the Plains States Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in recreation administration.

Top Plains States Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Recreation Admin

1

Minnesota State University - Mankato
Mankato, MN

36 Annual Graduates

$36,914 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in recreation administration needs to check out Minnesota State University - Mankato. Located in the small city of Mankato, Minnesota State Mankato is a public university with a large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the recreation admin program make about $36,914 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in recreation administration from Minnesota State University - Mankato

2

South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD

12 Annual Graduates

$25,093 Median Student Debt

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in recreation administration has to look into South Dakota State University. South Dakota State is a fairly large public university located in the town of Brookings.More information about a bachelor’s in recreation administration from South Dakota State University

3

Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS

22 Annual Graduates

$33,465 Median Starting Salary

$26,000 Median Student Debt

Kansas State University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in recreation administration. K -State is a large public university located in the city of Manhattan.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the recreation admin program report average early career earnings of $33,465.

More information about a bachelor’s in recreation administration from Kansas State University

3

Saint Cloud State University
Saint Cloud, MN

16 Annual Graduates

$36,965 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

Saint Cloud State University is a great choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in recreation administration. St. Cloud State University is a large public university located in the small city of Saint Cloud.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the recreation admin program state that they receive average early career earnings of $36,965.

More information about a bachelor’s in recreation administration from Saint Cloud State University

4

Missouri Western State University
Saint Joseph, MO

19 Annual Graduates

Missouri Western State University is a wonderful option for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in recreation administration. Missouri Western is a small public university located in the small city of Saint Joseph.More information about a bachelor’s in recreation administration from Missouri Western State University

Best Recreation Administration Colleges by State

Explore the best recreation administration colleges for a specific state in the Plains States Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	228	39
Minnesota	215	52
Kansas	184	22
Nebraska	180	8
North Dakota	149	0
South Dakota	148	16

View All Rankings >

Recreation Administration Related Rankings by Major

Recreation Administration is one of 4 different types of Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies programs to choose from.

Recreation Admin Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management	129
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Facilities Management	8

Most Popular Majors Related to Recreation Admin

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Health & Physical Education	4,303
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	430
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	7
Outdoor Education	6

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 Glen Santy. More about our data sources and methodologies.