2026 Best Value Outdoor Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region
[Outdoor Education](/majors/parks-recreation-fitness/outdoor-education/) programs reward a close look at where your money goes furthest. The best values balance affordable tuition against strong post-graduation earnings.
To produce this 2026 ranking, College Factual evaluated 2 schools on the balance of cost and outcomes for outdoor education students.
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2026 Best Value Outdoor Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Below are the schools that deliver the strongest value in outdoor education, balancing cost against outcomes.
Best Value Outdoor Education Schools
Central Michigan University earned the #1 spot for value among outdoor education schools in the Great Lakes Region. Located in the town of Mount Pleasant, Central Michigan University is a large public university. Students from in state pay about $15,480 in tuition and fees. Students borrow a median of $27,857 to complete the outdoor education program here. Early-career outdoor education graduates make about $50,688. That is a strong return on a $27,857 median debt. Roughly 90% of applicants are accepted.
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Notes and References
This ranking is produced by College Factual (MF_RANKING_2025), 2026 edition. The methodology weighs the cost of a degree against the earnings graduates go on to achieve, drawn primarily from the U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS and College Scorecard).
Ranking method: College Major Best Value · 2 schools evaluated.
*Averages shown above reflect the top 1 ranked schools only.
- 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).
More about our data sources and methodologies.
