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Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in North Carolina

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2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in North Carolina

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

11 Colleges
$12,514 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$41,687 Avg Salary

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

In 2020-2021, 289 degrees and certificates were awarded to parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students who went to a North Carolina college or university. This makes it the #18 most popular major in the state.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking. This report analyzed 11 schools in North Carolina to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for parks and rec students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master's Degree Colleges.

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

Our 2023 rankings named North Carolina State University the best value school in North Carolina for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. NC State is a very large public school located in the city of Raleigh.

NC State graduate students pay an average of $11,703 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

NC State also made our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina list, coming in at #4.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western Carolina University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina list. WCU is a large public school located in the distant town of Cullowhee.

WCU graduate students pay an average of $7,480 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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

The excellent master’s degree programs at University of North Carolina at Greensboro helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in North Carolina. UNC Greensboro is a large public school located in the large city of Greensboro.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UNC Greensboro are $8,265 per year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of North Carolina at Greensboro Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Appalachian State University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina list. Located in the town of Boone, Appalachian State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Appalachian State graduate students pay an average of $8,007 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina list. UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public school located in the small city of Chapel Hill.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UNC Chapel Hill are $12,566 per year.

UNC Chapel Hill also took the #2 spot in our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina rankings.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

#6

East Carolina University

Greenville, NC

East Carolina University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina list. Located in the small city of Greenville, ECU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at ECU are $7,594 a year.

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With a ranking of #7, North Carolina Central University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. North Carolina Central University is a moderately-sized public school located in the large city of Durham.

North Carolina Central University graduate students pay an average of $7,641 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#8

Gardner - Webb University

Boiling Springs, NC

With a ranking of #8, Gardner - Webb University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. Gardner - Webb is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Boiling Springs.

Gardner - Webb graduate students pay an average of $10,130 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Gardner - Webb University

#9

Wingate University

Wingate, NC

With a ranking of #9, Wingate University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. Wingate is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Wingate.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Wingate are $11,700 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Wingate also did well on our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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

Lenoir - Rhyne University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. Located in the city of Hickory, Lenoir - Rhyne University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Lenoir - Rhyne University are $12,060 a year.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Lenoir - Rhyne University Report

Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Mississippi 160
Florida 448
Virginia 433
Tennessee 287
Georgia 308
South Carolina 220
Louisiana 152
West Virginia 236
Kentucky 279
Arkansas 292
Alabama 216

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

Majors Similar to Parks & Rec

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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