a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #123 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual looked at 11 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 328 bachelor's degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The parks & rec bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality parks & rec program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
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 Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 parks, recreation & leisure studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other parks, recreation & leisure studies students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
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 much debt parks, recreation & leisure studies students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized parks, recreation & leisure studies related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for parks, recreation & leisure studies students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools
The parks & rec school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.
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.
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Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies has to look into University of Arkansas. Located in the city of Fayetteville, UARK is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those parks, recreation & leisure studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Arkansas receive $2,319 more than the standard parks & rec student.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. UNC Greensboro is a large public university located in the large city of Greensboro.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Greensboro get an earnings boost of approximately $2,313 over the average income of parks, recreation & leisure studies graduates.
East Carolina University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. ECU is a fairly large public university located in the city of Greenville.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies bachelor's degree recipients from East Carolina University get an earnings boost of around $5,503 above the average earnings of parks, recreation & leisure studies majors.
It is difficult to beat Georgia Southern University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the town of Statesboro, GaSou is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the parks & rec program state that they receive average early career wages of $31,086.
Shepherd University is a small public university located in the rural area of Shepherdstown.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Shepherd University receive an earnings boost of about $5,039 over the typical earnings of parks, recreation & leisure studies graduates.
Located in the suburb of Jacksonville, Jacksonville State University is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the parks, recreation & leisure studies major at Jacksonville State University earn $2,055 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
USA is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Mobile.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of South Alabama get an earnings boost of approximately $4,309 over the average earnings of parks, recreation & leisure studies majors.
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.
The parks & rec bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality parks & rec program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
