Colleges in South Dakota
This page aggregates every Title IV–eligible college and university with a primary campus in South Dakota, drawing from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, IPEDS institutional reports, and de-identified IRS earnings linkage for federal-aid recipients. Coverage includes public flagships, regional comprehensives, community and technical colleges, private nonprofit institutions, and for-profit schools.
The state-aggregate statistics below include all reporting institutions in South Dakota as a single denominator — community colleges, public universities, private nonprofits, and for-profit institutions are pooled. State averages are therefore useful for high-level framing (in-state tuition is X, average admission rate is Y, average earnings are Z) but should not be read as representative of any specific sector or institution. Drill into individual school profiles for the full picture: admissions, costs (sticker and net), federal-aid usage, completion, retention, demographics, and earnings outcomes 6 and 10 years after enrollment.
The most-recent Scorecard release is from September 2024. Tuition figures reflect institutional reports for the 2022–23 academic year and may differ from current-year prices. Earnings data has an inherent lag — the 10-year earnings horizon reflects students who enrolled approximately a decade prior to the data publication, as the IRS-matching process requires time to accumulate post-enrollment income.
Largest Colleges in South Dakota by Enrollment
Highest Earnings 10-Year Median — South Dakota
What the IPEDS Data Shows for Colleges in South Dakota
South Dakota has 25 Title IV-participating postsecondary institutions in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the federal directory that captures every college eligible to award federal student aid. The ownership mix is 13 public institutions, 0 private nonprofits, and 0 private for-profit schools — a structural split that drives most of the tuition variation visible in the table below. Public institutions typically report substantially lower in-state tuition because state appropriations subsidize the published price, while private nonprofits often show higher sticker prices that are partially offset by institutional aid.
Cost and selectivity signals vary widely even within a single state. The average in-state tuition across South Dakota institutions is $13,072, and the average admission rate (weighted by institutions that report one) sits at 82.3%. Admission rates from IPEDS exclude open-enrollment institutions, which is why community colleges and many for-profits show as unreported rather than at 100 percent. Looking at the table, the acceptance-rate column is blank for schools that don’t screen applicants, a meaningful distinction when evaluating selectivity alongside earnings.
Post-graduation outcomes tie cost to return. Graduates of South Dakota colleges earn a mean of $43,842 ten years after enrollment, based on U.S. Treasury tax records linked to federal aid applicants through the College Scorecard data file. Because earnings depend heavily on field of study and local labor markets, state-level averages should be read alongside each school’s program mix. The table sorts every institution with reported IPEDS enrollment so prospective students can compare acceptance rates, enrollment scale, and median earnings side by side rather than relying on third-party rankings.
All Schools in South Dakota
| School Name | City | Type | Enrollment | Acceptance Rate | 10yr Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota State University | Brookings | Public | 9,198 | 98.3% | $55,070 |
| University of South Dakota | Vermillion | Public | 5,439 | 98.8% | $51,926 |
| Southeast Technical College | Sioux Falls | Public | 2,310 | — | $46,709 |
| Dakota State University | Madison | Public | 2,071 | 88.0% | $50,970 |
| South Dakota School of Mines and Technology | Rapid City | Public | 2,071 | 79.9% | $72,257 |
| Augustana University | Sioux Falls | Private Nonprofit | 1,965 | 67.8% | $59,217 |
| Black Hills State University | Spearfish | Public | 1,928 | 96.3% | $46,674 |
| Lake Area Technical College | Watertown | Public | 1,812 | — | $45,473 |
| Northern State University | Aberdeen | Public | 1,273 | 93.0% | $47,618 |
| University of Sioux Falls | Sioux Falls | Private Nonprofit | 1,218 | 82.9% | $54,521 |
| Oglala Lakota College | Kyle | Public | 1,097 | — | $22,517 |
| Mitchell Technical College | Mitchell | Public | 990 | — | $50,743 |
| National American University-Rapid City | Rapid City | Private For-Profit | 764 | — | $37,325 |
| Western Dakota Technical College | Rapid City | Public | 753 | — | $40,240 |
| Mount Marty University | Yankton | Private Nonprofit | 697 | 42.6% | $48,179 |
| Dakota Wesleyan University | Mitchell | Private Nonprofit | 670 | 73.4% | $53,728 |
| Sinte Gleska University | Mission | Public | 487 | — | $20,948 |
| Sisseton Wahpeton College | Sisseton | Public | 194 | — | $31,546 |
| California Intercontinental University | Sioux Falls | Private For-Profit | 151 | — | — |
| Stewart School | Sioux Falls | Private For-Profit | 133 | — | $31,843 |
| Kairos University | Sioux Falls | Private Nonprofit | 82 | 84.6% | — |
| The Salon Professional Academy | Rapid City | Private For-Profit | 80 | — | $23,641 |
| Paul Mitchell the School-Rapid City | Rapid City | Private For-Profit | 66 | — | $29,547 |
| Sanford Medical Center | Sioux Falls | Private Nonprofit | 28 | — | — |
| Avera Sacred Heart Hospital | Yankton | Private Nonprofit | — | — | — |
Featured Colleges in South Dakota
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About This Data
School data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard and IPEDS institutional characteristics files. Enrollment, admissions, and earnings figures are the most recently available. Earnings represent median income 10 years after enrollment for students who received federal financial aid, drawn from U.S. Treasury tax records linked to federal student aid applicants.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.