by our College Data Analytics TeamDickinson State University is a public institution in Dickinson, North Dakota enrolling 1,090 undergraduates. It accepts 37% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 51%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #1,238 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 24%), 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.
Dickinson State University ranks #1,238 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 24%.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Dickinson State University was awarded 34 badges in the 2027 rankings.
DSU is ranked #1,238 out of 5,159 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges list.
DSU is also ranked #10 on the Best Colleges in North Dakota list.
See all of the rankings for Dickinson State University.
The acceptance rate at Dickinson State University is a competitive 37%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.
Learn more about Dickinson State University admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Dickinson State University is about average at 16 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.
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Dickinson State University is 50%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at Dickinson State University is 67%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at DSU for first-time, full-time students is 51%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Dickinson State University.
During the most recent academic year, there were 1,090 undergraduates at DSU.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Dickinson State University.
The typical net cost at DSU 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,479 | $8,094 | $12,985 | $15,484 | $16,922 |
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 DSU, 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 DSU, approximately 34% of students took out student loans averaging $6,071 a year. That adds up to $24,284 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 5.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Dickinson State University.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Dickinson State University make around $50,720 per year during the early years of their employment. This is right on par with the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. Also, graduates in your major field may make more.
See which majors at Dickinson State University make the most money.
Dickinson State University is a public institution located in Dickinson, North Dakota. Dickinson is a good match for students who enjoy small-town life. Get more details about the location of Dickinson State University.
Get in touch with Dickinson State University can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 291 Campus Drive, Dickinson, ND 58601-4896 |
| Phone: | 7014832507 |
| Website: | www.dickinsonstate.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickinson_State_University |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/DickinsonU |
In the latest year of available data, students from 20 majors graduated from Dickinson 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 | 406 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 80 | $44,396 |
| Health & Physical Education | 36 | $43,445 |
| Accounting | 33 | $46,405 |
| Teacher Education Subject Specific | 29 | $41,832 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 26 | NA |
| Nursing & Nursing Assistants | 21 | NA |
| Finance & Financial Management | 16 | NA |
| General Agriculture | 15 | $27,348 |
| Human Resource Management | 15 | $43,525 |
899 students took at least one online class at Dickinson 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 Dickinson State University.
Want to see how other colleges compare to DSU? Pit them head to head with College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
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.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.