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2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

36 Colleges
$17,905 Avg Tuition & Fees*

Finding the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Graduate Certificate School for You

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the #18 most popular major in the country with 10,452 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

The Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 36 schools in the United States to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for parks and rec students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Graduate Certificate Schools in the United States

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Graduate Certificate Colleges.

Top 10 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Graduate Certificate Schools

Our 2023 rankings named American Public University System the best value school in the United States for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their graduate certificate. American Military University is a very large private for-profit school located in the fringe town of Charles Town.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at American Military University are $7,050 per year.

American Military University also claimed a spot on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Winona State University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the distant town of Winona, Winona State is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Winona State graduate students pay an average of $12,836 in tuition and fees each year.

Winona State excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Winona State University Report

#3

Concordia University, Chicago

River Forest, IL

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Concordia University, Chicago helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in the United States. Concordia University, Chicago is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of River Forest.

Concordia University, Chicago graduate students pay an average of $9,378 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Concordia University, Chicago

#4

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Liberty University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Lynchburg.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Liberty University are $8,360 per year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Liberty University

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Missouri State University - Springfield helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in the United States. Located in the medium-sized city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Missouri State graduate students pay an average of $12,618 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Missouri State University - Springfield Report

Citadel Military College of South Carolina ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. The Citadel is a small public school located in the medium-sized city of Charleston.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at The Citadel are $18,540 per year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Citadel Military College of South Carolina Report

#7

Missouri Baptist University

Saint Louis, MO

Missouri Baptist University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #7 on the list. MBU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at MBU are $10,670 a year.

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#8

Belhaven University

Jackson, MS

With a ranking of #8, Belhaven University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the medium-sized city of Jackson, Belhaven is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Belhaven are $10,980 a year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Belhaven University Report

Salem State University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. Salem State is a medium-sized public school located in the suburb of Salem.

Salem State graduate students pay an average of $10,477 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Salem State University

#10

National University

La Jolla, CA

National University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. National University is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of La Jolla.

National University graduate students pay an average of $15,480 in tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, National University also is in the top 20% of our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools ranking.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at National University

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies by Region

View the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Parks & Rec Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Health & Physical Education 9,742
Recreation Administration 441
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 206
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 35
Outdoor Education 28

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration & Social Service 53,252
Legal Professions 45,189
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 13,045
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 1,613

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 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 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.

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