by our College Data Analytics TeamLake Area Technical College is a public institution in Watertown, South Dakota enrolling 1,812 undergraduates. It has an on-time graduation rate of 73%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #770 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 15%), 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.
Lake Area Technical College ranks #770 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 15%.
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.
Lake Area Technical College was awarded 40 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, LATC/Lake Area Tech is ranked #770 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.
Within the state, LATC/Lake Area Tech holds the #6 spot on the Best Colleges in South Dakota ranking.
See all of the rankings for Lake Area Technical College.
Learn more about Lake Area Technical College admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Lake Area Technical College 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 Lake Area Technical College is 79%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 81% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Lake Area Technical College 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 LATC/Lake Area Tech the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 73%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Lake Area Technical College.
The current enrollment includes 1,812 undergraduates at LATC/Lake Area Tech.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Lake Area Technical College.
The overall average net price of LATC/Lake Area Tech 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $11,193 | $12,971 | $14,129 | $18,118 | $18,230 |
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 LATC/Lake Area Tech, 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 LATC/Lake Area Tech, approximately 57% of students took out student loans averaging $5,870 a year. That adds up to $23,480 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 6.1%. 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 Lake Area Technical College.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Lake Area Technical College make about $45,473 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. 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 Lake Area Technical College make the most money.
Lake Area Technical College is an public institution situated in Watertown, South Dakota. Watertown is a great place for students who enjoy small town life. Get more details about the location of Lake Area Technical College.
Contact information for Lake Area Technical College are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1201 Arrow Ave, Watertown, SD 57201-0730 |
| Phone: | 6058825284 |
| Website: | www.lakeareatech.edu |
In the latest year of available data, students from 14 majors graduated from Lake Area Technical College. 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 | 825 | NA |
| Vehicle Maintenance & Repair | 159 | $41,649 |
| Agricultural Economics | 111 | $36,747 |
| Precision Metal Working | 78 | $37,581 |
| Nursing | 51 | NA |
| Nursing & Nursing Assistants | 51 | $35,901 |
| Marketing | 48 | $29,474 |
| Cosmetology | 35 | $18,226 |
| Dental Support Services | 33 | $32,684 |
| Allied Health Services | 31 | $32,677 |
1,094 students took at least one online class at Lake Area Technical College.
Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.
Learn more about online learning at Lake Area Technical College.
Curious how schools stack up against LATC/Lake Area Tech? Compare them side by side using 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.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.