Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is about average in terms of popularity for associate degrees programs. That is, it ranks #21 out of the 38 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 334 associate degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies to qualified students.
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Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness 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, & Fitness Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.
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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).
