by our College Data Analytics TeamDakota State University is a public institution in Madison, South Dakota enrolling 2,071 undergraduates. It accepts 88% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 51%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #1,013 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 20%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Dakota State University ranks #1,013 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 20%.
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
Dakota State University was awarded 8 badges in the 2027 rankings.
Dakota State is ranked #1,013 out of 5,159 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.
Dakota State also holds the #8 spot on the Best Colleges in South Dakota ranking.
See all of the rankings for Dakota State University.
With an acceptance rate of 88%, Dakota State University is easier to get into than many other schools. But that doesn’t mean you can slack off on your application. Make sure to treat this school like any other when submitting requested materials and documents.
About 16% of students accepted to Dakota State submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 570 and 680. Math scores were between 620 and 760.
Dakota State received ACT scores from 67% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 20 and 27.
Learn more about Dakota State University admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Dakota State University is about average at 18 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Dakota State University is 75%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 75% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Dakota State University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Dakota State the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 51%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Dakota State University.
The current enrollment includes 2,071 undergraduates at Dakota State.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Dakota State University.
The typical net cost at Dakota State is $17,140. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $17,317 | $18,792 | $19,165 | $22,601 | $23,269 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Dakota State, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Dakota State, approximately 34% of students took out student loans averaging $6,353 a year. That adds up to $25,412 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 6.3%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you’ll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans. Get more details about paying for Dakota State University.
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Dakota State University with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $50,970 in their early years. This is in the same neighborhood of the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. However, certain majors may produce higher-paying graduates.
See which majors at Dakota State University make the most money.
Dakota State University is a public institution situated in Madison, South Dakota. The surrounding location of Madison is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town. Get more details about the location of Dakota State University.
Contact information for Dakota State University can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 820 N Washington Ave, Madison, SD 57042-1799 |
| Phone: | 6052565111 |
| Website: | dsu.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_State_University |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/DakotaState |
In the most recent reporting year, students from 14 majors graduated from Dakota State University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 733 | NA |
| Information Technology | 206 | $49,983 |
| Computer Information Systems | 134 | $65,263 |
| Information Science | 89 | $66,218 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 42 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 41 | $37,841 |
| Computer Software Applications | 39 | $25,986 |
| Special Education | 34 | $38,694 |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 30 | NA |
| Instructional Media Design | 19 | NA |
2,309 students took at least one online class at Dakota State University.
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
Learn more about online learning at Dakota State University.
Want to see how other colleges compare to Dakota State? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
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