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Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region

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2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

11 Colleges
$22,356 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$41,687 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master's Degree School for You

Out of all the majors we analyze each year, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies was ranked #18 in the country. In fact 10,452 degrees and certificates were handed out in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 11 schools in the Rocky Mountains Region to see which master's degree 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. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master’s Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region

Check out the parks and rec master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Brigham Young University - Provo the best value school in the Rocky Mountains Region for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. BYU is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Provo.

BYU graduate students pay an average of $7,700 in tuition and fees each year.

BYU did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region list.

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#2

Adams State University

Alamosa, CO

The excellent master’s degree programs at Adams State University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in the Rocky Mountains Region . Located in the remote town of Alamosa, Adams State is a public school with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Adams State are $10,896 per year.

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

#3

University of Wyoming

Laramie, WY

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Wyoming. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region list. Located in the remote town of Laramie, UW is a public school with a fairly large student population.

UW graduate students pay an average of $17,569 in tuition and fees each year.

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#4

Colorado Mesa University

Grand Junction, CO

The excellent master’s degree programs at Colorado Mesa University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in the Rocky Mountains Region . Colorado Mesa is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Grand Junction.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Colorado Mesa are $14,535 a year.

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

Out of the 11 schools in the Rocky Mountains Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Northern Colorado landed the # 5 spot on the list. University of Northern Colorado is a fairly large public school located in the city of Greeley.

University of Northern Colorado graduate students pay an average of $22,379 in tuition and fees each year.

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Colorado State University - Fort Collins did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Colorado State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Fort Collins.

Colorado State graduate students pay an average of $29,043 in tuition and fees each year.

Colorado State did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region list.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Colorado State University - Fort Collins

#7

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, UT

With a ranking of #7, University of Utah did quite well on this year’s best value schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Salt Lake City, U of U is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at U of U are $25,705 a year.

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#8

University of Idaho

Moscow, ID

University of Idaho ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region list. Located in the distant town of Moscow, U of I is a public school with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at U of I are $29,148 per year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Idaho Report

Utah State University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region ranking. USU is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Logan.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at USU are $23,225 per year.

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Boise State University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. Boise State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Boise.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Boise State are $26,558 per year.

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

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 Rocky Mountains region.

State Degrees Awarded
Utah 49
Colorado 151
Montana 4
Idaho 38
Wyoming 11

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 11 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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