Lake Area Technical Institute Data & Information Overview
If you want to know more about Lake Area Technical Institute, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource. If you’re interested in learning more about a particular stat, just click on its tile to go to a new page that covers the topic more in-depth. Also, you can jump to any section of this page by clicking one of the links below.- Rankings
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
How Well Is Lake Area Technical Institute Ranked?

2022 Rankings
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 Institute was awarded 561 badges in the 2022 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is agricultural economics and business.
Overall Quality
College Factual ranked LATI as #206 out of 2,576 colleges and universities in the country on its 2022 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.
LATI also holds the #2 spot on the Best Colleges in South Dakota ranking.
See all of the rankings for Lake Area Technical Institute.
Is It Hard to Get Into LATI?
Acceptance Rate
Since Lake Area Technical Institute has an open admissions policy, being accepted to the school isn't that hard. However, a full basic things - such as a high school diploma or equivalent - may be required. Also, go over your application to make sure it is complete before you submit it.
Learn more about Lake Area Technical Institute admissions.
Lake Area Technical Institute Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
With a student to faculty ratio of 17 to 1, Lake Area Technical Institute is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it's a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.
Percent of Full-Time Faculty
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 Institute is 73%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at Lake Area Technical Institute
Freshmen Retention Rate
Lake Area Technical Institute has a freshmen retention rate of 82%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Lake Area Technical Institute.
Lake Area Technical Institute Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 2,217 undergraduates at LATI with 1,509 being full-time and 708 being part-time.
How Much Does Lake Area Technical Institute Cost?
The overall average net price of LATI is $12,939. 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.Net Price by Income Group for LATI
$0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
---|---|---|---|---|
$9,287 | $10,862 | $13,306 | $15,407 | $15,679 |
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 for a school. For more information on the sticker price of LATI, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Student Loan Debt
It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At LATI, approximately 87% of students took out student loans averaging $6,065 a year. That adds up to $24,260 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at LATI is 7.1%. 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 Institute.
How Much Money Do LATI Graduates Make?
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from LATI with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $36,900 in their early years. This is about 7% less that the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.
See which majors at Lake Area Technical Institute make the most money.
Location of Lake Area Technical Institute
Lake Area Technical Institute is a public institution located in Watertown, South Dakota. Watertown is a good match for students who enjoy small-town life.Get more details about the location of Lake Area Technical Institute.

Contact details for LATI are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 1201 Arrow Avenue, Watertown, SD 57201-0730 |
Phone: | 605-882-5284 |
Website: | www.lakeareatech.edu/ |
Lake Area Technical Institute Majors
Learn more about the majors offered at Lake Area Technical Institute along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.Online Learning at LATI
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.
In 2019-2020, 978 students took at least one online class at Lake Area Technical Institute. This is a decrease from the 1,033 students who took online classes the previous year.
Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
---|---|---|
2019-2020 | 978 | 456 |
2018-2019 | 1,033 | 349 |
2017-2018 | 718 | 291 |
2016-2017 | 500 | 204 |
2015-2016 | 347 | 0 |
Learn more about online learning at Lake Area Technical Institute.
Find Out More About Lake Area Technical Institute
Notes and References
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
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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