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Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region

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2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

4 Colleges
$18,822 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.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

The Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 4 schools in the Plains States Region 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.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. 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.

For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. 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 Plains States Region

Check out the parks and rec graduate certificate programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Best Plains States Region Schools for Affordable Quality for a Postbaccalaureate Certificates in Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness

Our analysis found Winona State University to be the best value school for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in the Plains States Region . Located in the distant town of Winona, Winona State is a public college with a moderately-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 20% of all schools on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region list.

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

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Missouri State University - Springfield. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the medium-sized city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Missouri State are $12,618 a year.

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#3

Missouri Baptist University

Saint Louis, MO

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Missouri Baptist University 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 Plains States Region . MBU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.

MBU graduate students pay an average of $10,670 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Missouri Baptist University Report

#4

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

Out of the 4 schools in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Iowa landed the # 4 spot on the list. Iowa is a very large public school located in the city of Iowa City.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Iowa are $31,012 a year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Iowa also did well on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools for a specific state in the Plains States region.

State Degrees Awarded
Kansas 50
Missouri 247
Minnesota 151
Iowa 136
North Dakota 36
Nebraska 36
South Dakota 61

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 4 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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